Those are just a few of the wildly original themes from the 9th annual DANCES WITH FILMS Film Festival, the “defiant fest of raw talent”– taking place July 21st thru 27th at Laemmle’s Fairfax Theater in Hollywood.
“No Politics. No Stars. No sh*t.”
For eight years, that’s been the ballsy motto and the brazen promise of this feisty little festival. Season 9 finds the fest bigger and better than ever with nearly seventy films culled from over a thousand entries from around the world. But amazingly, while ticket sales have doubled nearly every year, the motto still fits! Festival rules require that all competition films have no “known” actors, directors, writers or producers!
“We give enormously talented people a shot at being discovered,” says Leslee Scallon, one of the Festival’s founders. “The other festivals are busy programming mostly celebrity oriented films. It’s not that we’re dissing celebrities, we’re just giving films a chance to be seen that are getting squeezed out of the circuit.”
So, while you won’t see Vince Vaugh, Kate Beckinsale or Matthew McConaughey in a DWF competition film, you could very easily be treated to the next Vince, Kate or Matt. Past DWF alumni include Arie Posin & Zac Stanford of “THE CHUMSCRUBBER”; Kathryn Morris, star of CBS’s “COLD CASE”; Dan Harris writer of “X-2,” “SUPERMAN RETURNS” and “LOGAN’S RUN”, Lauren Moews, producer of CABIN FEVER, which made over $20 million at the box office; Will Scheffer and Mark V. Olsen, creators of HBO’s “BIG LOVE” as well as several short films that were later nominated for Oscars.
“We’re very proud of our alumni,” says Leslee, “ and we love it when they bring their next big feature home to us. In fact this year we’re having a spotlight screening of John Putch’s “MOJAVE PHONE BOOTH” starring Steve Guttenberg, Christine Elise, and Annabeth Gish.”
“We have the highest of expectations from this slate, our strongest ever.” says co-creator Michael Trent.
Nearly half of this year’s slate of films include are World Premieres.
The competition features are:
ALWAYS WILL, written and directed by Michael Sammaciccia,
produced by Michael Sammaciccia, Matthew Petrilla and Chip Schofield
EVE OF UNDERSTANDING, written and directed by Alyson Shelton, produced by Jen Prince and Alyson Shelton
FIERCE FRIEND, written by Kevin Kelly, Matthew Martinez, directed by Jacob Cooney, produced by Jane Kelly Kosek
FOLLOWING BLISS, written and directed by Cleve Lamison, produced by Mevlut Akkaya, Michelle Olofson, Cleve Lamison and Patrick DiRenna
HAPPY F***** ENDINGS, written and directed by Chris Thompson, produced by Gemma Mitchell
INSIDE, written, directed and produced by Jeff Mahler
THE LUCKY GIRL, written and directed by Chris Thorndyke, produced by Chris Thorndyke,
Greg Dunigan and Mark Thorndyke
THE MEMSAHIB, written, directed and produced by Kruti Majmudar
REUNION, written and directed by Sheila Marie Norman, produced by Penny Styles McLean
SIXES AND THE ONE EYED KING, written by Ray Nomoto Robison, Patricia Snyder,
directed by Ray Nomoto Robison, produced by Rebecca Geear, Ray Nomoto Robison
THAT FALL, written by Joe McClean, directed by Sarju Patel, produced by Joe McClean and
Sarju Patel
THIS IS A BUSINESS, written by Tom Stern, Daniel L. Stern, directed by Tom Stern, produced by Daniel L. Stern, Jason K. Corey, Tom Stern
For a complete list of all the features, documentaries and shorts, visit the Dances With Films website.
