Indie Film Festival

The American Independent Film Festival celebrates the work of indie filmmakers. It is a unique platform for new talent and a tour-de-force of low-budget creativity and innovation. The Festival attracts an amazing array of filmmakers from across the world and offers film industry professionals in LA an extraordinary chance to glimpse the future of cinema.

The American Independent Film Festival runs at the same time, and just around the corner from, the American Film Market in Los Angeles. This makes AIFF the perfect place to get your film seen by the people who make things happen in the film industry.

AIFF focuses on the work of new filmmakers and films presenting new approaches and innovative solutions to working with limited budgets.

In 2012 we’ll show dozens of low-budget features and shorts films in our top-of-the-line screening venue in Los Angeles (Laemmle Music Hall). Giving a place for new talent to shine is central to the AIFF mission, and our selection reflects a broad survey of the latest in indie film trends.

Here is the 2012 line – up:
(see below for the Official Selection)

Thursday Nov 1

Shorts Block 1 — (book tickets here)
5:00pm – 5:45pm
How They Smiled (15m)
The Note (13m)
Gyre (17m)
Thomas Edison Was a Really Cool Guy (5m)

Feature
6:30pm – 8:00pm
Last Push (89m)– (book tickets here)
Directed by Eric Hayden

Sci-Fi: An adventurous mission to Jupiter’s moon is cut short when disaster strikes, killing the co-pilot. The surviving astronaut struggles to keep his spacecraft and his sanity together for the long journey home.

Shorts Block 2– (book tickets here)
8:30pm – 9:30pm
Ray Bradbury’s Kaleidoscope (17m)
Elegy for a Revolutionary (22m)
I’m not an Accent (11m)
Venus vs. Mars (15m)

Feature
9:55pm – 11:55pm
Assisted Fishing (105m) – (book tickets here)
Directed by Joe Crouch














Lifelong loser Dewey Winfield dreams of finding fame and fortune by beating his arch-rival in a big fishing tournament. In order to compete in the contest, Dewey must first come up with the $200 entry fee. He takes a job watching over a group of eccentric senior citizens who live in an abusive nursing home. When Dewey takes them all fishing, comedy ensues – tragedy strikes – and Dewey discovers that his hopes and dreams of winning the fishing tournament may not be the most important thing in life after all.

—

Friday Nov 2

Shorts Block 3 — (book tickets here)
5:00pm – 6:00pm
Hi, Lillian (25m)
Infinity (14m)
The Holiday Surprise (7m)
Bullet with Butterfly Wings (15m)

Feature
6:45pm – 7:55pm
Pad Yatra: A Green Odyssey (70m) Preview Screening for cast & crew
– (book tickets here)
Directed by Wendy J.N. Lee














Documentary: In the wake of freak climate disasters in the Himalayas, seven hundred people journey across the perilous mountain range on foot to educate villages on global warming and environmental preservation, triggering an activist movement never before seen in the region.

Shorts Block 4 – (book tickets here)
8:30pm – 9:30pm
Fight Night Legacy (23m)
Grandma, Grandma! (10m)
Dog Breath (13m)

Feature
9:55pm – 11:55pm
Monday Morning (108m) – (book tickets here)
Directed by Nat Christian














Drama: Thomas Bach, a right wing radio talk show host and a darling of the Tea Party Movement, is deciding to run for the US Senate. When he loses his memory following an attack, he ends up on the streets of L.A. among the homeless. When Thomas recovers and is touted as a hero of survival, he must choose between career and conscience.
____

Saturday Nov 3

Shorts Block 5 – (book tickets here)
4:30pm – 6:00pm
Tina Mion – Behind the Studio Door (24m)
One (32m)
Pushing Eternity (12m)
Ninety (12m)
The Axe Gang (5m)

Feature
6:30pm – 8:00pm
Dead Inside (82m) – (book tickets here)
Directed by Pearry Teo













Horror: Sarah, a mentally disturbed teen, has a jarring premonition of her friends’ impending deaths one night at a sleepover. As her house guests begin to turn murderously against each other, Sarah must determine whether her visions represent the preventable or the inevitable… or something entirely more sinister.

Shorts Block 6 - – (book tickets here)
8:30pm – 9:30pm
FAR (23m)
The Beast (13m)
Past Their Prime (23m)

Feature
9:55pm – 11:55pm
Fuzz Track City (93m) – (book tickets here)
Directed by Steve Hicks












Comedy:Murphy Dunn, a private dick from the Valley, is hired by a sultry cougar to find her missing son, who disappeared after locating a rare 70′s forty-five record album. To solve the case, Murphy must travel through the city’s underbelly, a dangerous trail of fakers and shakers that will do absolutely anything to keep their dreams alive.

_____

Sunday Nov 4

Shorts Block 7 – (book tickets here)
4:30pm – 6:00pm
Olympia (30m)
Washed Up (26m)
The Last Prayer (13m)
Wake Up Dog (17m)

Feature
6:30pm – 8:00pm
My Way (93m) – (book tickets here)
Directed by Vinny Sisson & Dominique Mollee
















Documentary: Frustrated by years of male-dominated corporate oppression as an AIG analyst on Wall Street, savvy businesswoman Rebekah Starr ditches the dreary and blasts off or LA’s Sunset Strip to shoot a music video of her all-girl rock band, The Rebekah Starr Band. Joined by her wild-at-heart Estonian tambourine-playing bandmate, Annika, the two free-wheeling babes set out on their own Thelma and Louise adventure, picking up temp musicians from town to town with spur of the moment concerts, hustling CDs on unsuspecting locals, partying and befriending new fans across America. The survival plan is a no-holds-barred spit-in-the-face to buttoned-down bastards, thanks to a whole lost of rock n’roll! Film commentary from rockstars Rikki Rockett (Poison,) Steven Adler (Guns N’Roses,) Chip Z’Nuff (Enuff Z’Nuff) and Ron Jeremy

Shorts Block 8 – (book tickets here)
8:30pm – 9:30pm
A.B.S (12m)
Horror Film (9m)
Freak (18m)
Gateway (14m)

Feature
9:55pm – 11:55pm
Dreams Awake (105m) – (book tickets here)
Directed by Jerry Alden Deal













Drama: While on vacation a disconnected family gets stranded near mystical Mt. Shasta and amazing possibilities open up. A family drama expands into a spiritual mystery, finally growing into a mystical adventure. As a glimpse into the subtle but intense possibilities of the human spirit, this story delves into that magical lore between reality and illusion, dreams and awake, and life, death and immortality.

—

Monday Nov 5

Shorts Block 9 – (book tickets here)
5:00pm – 6:00pm
Bordando La Frontera (23m)
I Am Rupert Caldwell (13m)
Nobody’s Child (24m)

Feature
6:30pm – 8:00pm
Finding Focus (81m) – (book tickets here)
Directed by David Henri














Drama: A fashion photographer and a makeup artist shoot ‘behind the scenes’ footage of their own relationship as they document the creative process in assembling a fine art photo project.

Shorts Block 10 – (book tickets here)
8:30pm – 9:30pm
The Life of Eric Richards (5m)
The Golden Age (23m)
BRO (17m)
Reflection of the Life (30m)

Feature
9:55pm – 11:55pm
Underbelly Blues (90m) – (book tickets here)
Directed by Phil Messerer
















Comedy: What does an albino thug, a British meth cook, a gangster rapper, a sexual deviant redneck, a pair of lesbian strippers, a Corporate CEO, a frustrated pickpocket and his Jewish dominatrix mother have in common? They are all after the same briefcase. Let the mayhem ensue.

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The American Indepdent Film Festival 2012 Official Selection includes:

Feature Films

Underbelly Blues (90m)
dir. by Phil Messerer

PAD YATRA: A Green Odyssey (70m)
dir. by Wendy J.N. Lee

My Way (85m)
dir. by Vinny Sisson, Dominique Mollee

Dead Inside (82m)
dir. by Pearry Reginald Teo

Fuzz Track City (93m)
dir. by Steve Hicks

MONDAY MORNING (108m)
dir. by Nat Christian

Dreams Awake (105m)
dir. by Jerry Alden Deal

Finding Focus (81m, U S A)
dir. by David Henri

The Last Push (89m)
dir. by Eric Hayden

Short Films

Gyre (17m)
dir. by Lindsay Morrison

Thomas Edison Was a Really Cool Guy (5m)
dir. by Josh Skelton

Venus vs. Mars (15m)
dir. by Talin Malekian

Ray Bradbury’s Kaleidoscope (17m)
dir. by Eric Tozzi

The Note (13m)
dir. by Jared Cline

A.B.S (12m)
dir. by Brighid Fleming

Tina Mion – Behind the Studio Door (24m)
dir. by David Herzberg

Past Their Prime (23m)
dir. by Becca Friedman

Grandma, Grandma! (10m)
dir. by Andrea Ou

I Am Rupert Caldwell (13m)
dir. by Garrett Lee

The Holiday Surprise (7m)
dir. by Nick Lines

I’m not an Accent (11m)
dir. by Dena Hysell

Dog Breath (13m)
dir. by P.J. Ochlan

BRO (17m)
dir. by Prasong Suphachadiwong

Hi, Lillian (25m)
dir. by Douglas Wood

FAR (23m)
dir. by Brian Crewe

How They Smiled (15m)
dir. by Nicolas Wendl

Washed Up (26m)
dir. by Mark Alan Richardson

Pushing Eternity (12m)
dir. by Michael Rossi

Elegy for a Revolutionary (22m)
dir. by Paul van Zyl

Horror Film (9m)
dir. by Nathan Kiley

Ninety (12m)
dir. by Carlos Ramos

Bordando La Frontera (23m)
dir. by Rene Rhi

Freak (18m)
dir. by Eric Casaccio

One (32m)
dir. by William Sterling

Nobody’s Child (24m)
dir. by Dennis Nollette

Gateway (14m)
dir. by Tim Attewell

The Beast (13m)
dir. by Peter Dukes

Bullet with Butterfly Wings (15m)
dir. by Fernando Huerto

Infinity (14m)
dir. by Randy Crowder

Wake Up Dog (17m)
dir. by Michael Moeh

Fight Night Legacy (23m)
dir. by Hisonni Johnson

The Golden Age (23m)
dir. by Benjamin Hjelm

The Life of Eric Richards (5m)
dir. by Robert Zimmerman

The Axe Gang (5m)
dir. by Ellis M. Meng

The Last Prayer (13m)
dir. by Sampurn Anand

Reflection of the Life (30m)
dir. by Michel Hulsey

Olympia (30m)
dir. by Hisonni Johnson