Los Angeles, a city synonymous with the global film industry, is undergoing a significant transformation, evolving from its traditional role as primarily a moviemaking capital to a burgeoning hub for movie-watching. This shift is underscored by the flourishing independent film scene and the revitalization of theatrical exhibition, epitomized by events like the third annual Los Angeles Festival of Movies (LAFM). While film production continues its gradual exodus from the city, the vibrancy of its exhibition landscape has never been more pronounced, particularly over the last decade.
The Evolution of Los Angeles’s Cinematic Identity
For over a century, Los Angeles has been the undisputed heart of film production, a sprawling metropolis where dreams are spun into celluloid and digital narratives. However, recent trends indicate a recalibration of this identity. Reports from the California Film Commission and other industry bodies frequently highlight the migration of production — particularly mid-budget and larger studio projects — to regions offering more attractive tax incentives and lower operational costs. This economic reality has sparked a crucial question among industry observers: Is Los Angeles transitioning into a preeminent movie-watching capital, even as its moviemaking infrastructure faces new challenges?
The answer, as evidenced by recent developments, appears to be a resounding yes, at least within the independent and repertory cinema spheres. Over the past 13 years, the landscape for film enthusiasts in Los Angeles has seen unprecedented growth and diversification. Key players in the exhibition sector have made significant moves to enhance the moviegoing experience. The American Cinematheque, widely regarded as the city’s foremost institution for repertory cinema, recently expanded its impressive portfolio by acquiring the historic Village Theatre in Westwood. Plans are actively underway to restore and reopen this iconic venue next year, promising to add another jewel to LA’s crown of classic cinematic spaces. Furthermore, the high-profile acquisition of the Highland Theatre by acclaimed actress Kristen Stewart has injected new excitement into the local scene, signaling a renewed commitment to community-focused independent exhibition. These strategic investments in theatrical spaces affirm a strong belief in the enduring power of communal film viewing, even in the digital age.
The Genesis and Guiding Philosophy of LAFM
Against this backdrop of change and growth, the Los Angeles Festival of Movies (LAFM) has emerged as a pivotal platform, affirming the city’s robust independent filmmaking community and its passionate cinephile base. Now in its third year, LAFM has quickly carved out a distinctive niche, not just as a showcase for films but as a celebration of the interconnectedness of Los Angeles’s creative talent.
The festival is the brainchild of co-founders Micah Gottlieb and Sarah Winshall. Gottlieb, known for his year-round Mezzanine film series, brings a curator’s keen eye for adventurous cinema and a deep understanding of audience engagement. His Mezzanine series acts as a vital feeder for LAFM, cultivating a loyal following of discerning cinephiles who are eager to explore films that challenge conventional narratives and forms. Winshall, an accomplished producer with credits like By Design and Strawberry Mansion, contributes invaluable operational expertise, ensuring that the festival runs with a professional polish that often eludes newer events. Their combined vision centers on attracting an audience of "adventurous cinephiles." Interestingly, the co-founders have noted with pleasant surprise the significant overlap between this core demographic and the city’s vibrant independent filmmaking scene, highlighting a symbiotic relationship where creators are also avid consumers of diverse cinematic works.
LAFM’s programming strategy is intentionally curated to reflect its Los Angeles identity. A substantial portion of its slate comprises films either shot within the city limits or created by local filmmakers and natives, thereby fostering a sense of community and regional pride. This deliberate focus reinforces the idea that while mainstream production might ebb and flow, the independent spirit of filmmaking in LA remains strong and deserving of a dedicated platform.
LAFM 2026: Enhancing Accessibility and Community Engagement
The 2026 iteration of LAFM took significant strides in enhancing accessibility and fostering community connections, moving beyond a mere screening series to become a truly inclusive cultural event. A groundbreaking partnership with Cinecamp provided free childcare services for festivalgoers during screenings, removing a common barrier for parents and expanding the festival’s reach to a broader demographic. This initiative exemplifies LAFM’s commitment to making independent cinema accessible to all segments of the community.
Further enriching the festival experience was the introduction of a new vendor market. This curated marketplace spotlighted local businesses and cultural institutions that share LAFM’s ethos of community engagement and artistic appreciation. Featured partners included Vidéothèque, an Eastside video rental store celebrating physical media; Stories, a beloved bookstore and café that serves as a literary and social hub; and The Big One, a Los Angeles-based literary magazine that champions local voices. These collaborations transformed the festival venues into vibrant cultural marketplaces, fostering connections between film, literature, and local commerce.
In terms of its cinematic offerings, LAFM maintains a thoughtfully curated and manageable slate, a strategic choice that allows attendees to engage deeply with each selection without feeling overwhelmed. This year’s program featured 11 feature films, three shorts blocks, and two artist talks, providing a balanced mix of narrative, documentary, and experimental works. A perennial highlight, the "Animation Today" shorts block, saw the return of guest curator Sean Buckelew. This year, the block featured arguably the festival’s most high-profile Don Hertzfeldt’s Paper Trail, an acclaimed animated short that arrived at LAFM with awards from both Sundance and SXSW, underscoring the festival’s ability to attract significant independent works for their Los Angeles premieres.
A Deep Dive into the Festival’s Cinematic Highlights
The heart of LAFM lies in its diverse and compelling film selections, many of which underscored the collaborative and interconnected nature of the city’s independent film scene.
In the Glow of Darkness: A standout moment for local filmmakers and audiences alike was the sold-out screening of In the Glow of Darkness. This film, a dystopian cyberpunk narrative set in the Los Angeles-stand-in "San Zokyo," exemplifies the collaborative spirit championed by LAFM. Following the screening, writer-director-star Tucker Bennett invited all crew members who worked on the film to join him onstage for the Q&A, resulting in a long line of collaborators stretching across the stage. Many of these individuals are themselves active LA filmmakers, frequently assisting on each other’s projects. For instance, Bennett co-edited Eugene Kotlyarenko’s The Code and is currently working with Sabrina Greco (Lockjaw) on Kotlyarenko’s next feature, which filmed in Japan. Cinematographer Neal Wynne recently completed his second directorial effort, shot locally in Los Angeles. Devon Daniel Green, known for his touring lo-fi film Mid/Evil Times, made an appearance in ITGOD as a bartender. The film’s unique aesthetic and collaborative production model drew inspiration from Bennett and co-writer/composer/producer Chris Corrente’s shared mentorship under the legendary George Kuchar at the San Francisco Art Institute, proving that a strong communal ethos can enable ambitious independent visions.
Creston Brown’s Curatorial Vision and Going Sane: Creston Brown, who appeared in In the Glow of Darkness as an Apple Store-esque salesman peddling a drug-trip experience, also lent his discerning taste to the festival as a shorts curator. His curated block showcased six films by LA-based filmmakers, further solidifying the festival’s commitment to local talent. Among these, Joey Izzo’s Sundance-premiering documentary Going Sane garnered significant attention. The film ingeniously features a roster of local actors and directors, including Lindsey Normington (Anora), Clay Tatum (The Civil Dead), and Kate Adams (Former Cult Member Hears Music for the First Time). These performers lip-sync to archival audio recordings of individuals recounting their experiences within a therapy collective in Los Angeles, whose leadership grew increasingly cult-like, ultimately leading to an internal coup. Going Sane, alongside his documentary short You’ve Never Been Completely Honest, establishes Izzo as a compelling chronicler of the peculiar cult phenomena that characterized 20th-century America.
After Dreaming: Christine Haroutounian’s debut feature, After Dreaming, captivated audiences with its poetic and evocative narrative. The film follows a young girl being transported across rural Armenia by a soldier, a narrative seed planted by Haroutounian’s personal discovery that a familial death had been concealed from her grandmother. During the post-screening Q&A, moderated by Courtney Stephens (Invention), Haroutounian discussed her deliberate pacing, which drew comparisons to the work of Carlos Reygadas (who served as an executive producer on the project). Her sculptural staging of bodies evoked the style of Claire Denis, while the haunting rural architecture reminded some critics of the menacing barn in Philippe Grandrieux’s Sombre. Described as a remarkably self-assured debut, After Dreaming transcends its influences to forge a unique cinematic voice. Celebrated filmmaker Josephine Decker, who presented a new short in Brown’s LA-focused block and participated in an artist talk, was noted for her effusive praise of Haroutounian’s film throughout the festival.
Isaiah’s Phone: Frédéric Da, known for his innovative approach to filmmaking with high school students, presented his follow-up to Teenage Emotions with Isaiah’s Phone. Da previously taught film at a private school in Santa Monica, cultivating a cohort of eager young cinephiles with whom he then made films. Like its predecessor, Isaiah’s Phone was shot entirely on iPhones, but it employs a distinct diegetic framing device: the audience experiences the narrative through the camera roll of a lonely student, Isaiah Brody, who meticulously records his daily life. In post-screening Q&As, Da shed light on his unique creative process, revealing that he largely directed lead actor Isaiah Brody remotely. He would review clips the teenager shot via Dropbox, then FaceTime Brody with notes on performance calibration and cinematographic adjustments. This innovative method showcases a pragmatic and adaptable approach to independent filmmaking.
Drinking and Driving: The festival’s sole feature world premiere, Drinking and Driving, from co-directors Avalon Fast and Jillian Frank, offered a raw and unflinching look at youth culture. The pair, who grew up together outside Vancouver, crafted a lo-fi feature that drew apt comparisons to Larry Clark in the program notes, while also echoing Harmony Korine’s early portrayals of marginalized youth, albeit with a distinct Western Canadian sensibility. Its vision of partying in desolate "no-man’s-land" settings, set to a soundtrack of SoundCloud rap, brought to mind documentaries like Isabel Bethencourt and Parker Hill’s Cusp and the vérité style of Seventeen in its depiction of how nocturnal gatherings evolve. While these comparisons are often made to documentaries, Fast and Frank’s work is arguably more impressive for being a fictional narrative, providing a visceral and honest depiction of self-destructive behavior often fueled by boredom and a lack of economic opportunity.
Blue Heron: Sophy Romvari’s feature debut, Blue Heron, served as the festival’s closing film at Vidiots in Eagle Rock. The film continues Romvari’s previous short-film explorations of complicated childhood memories, specifically those involving her troubled teenage brother. While critics acknowledged Romvari’s impressive clarity of vision in rendering this deeply personal period of her life, some assessments noted an insistent level of control over every cinematic element, from camera movement to color grading. This meticulous approach, while creating an undeniably personal film, was perceived by some as preventing the work from reaching a state of true vulnerability. This critical perspective draws a parallel to the historical context of film printing, where pre-digital color-timing processes, which adjusted films scene by scene rather than shot by shot, yielded an "imperfect" vitality that some argue is less present in today’s hyper-controlled digital post-production. In Blue Heron, the exacting and deliberate nature of every image, following Romvari’s earlier explorations of her youth, led some to feel that the narrative and visual motifs, while accomplished, felt somewhat "workshopped, calculated, and ultimately airless." This critical assessment highlights a contemporary debate within independent cinema regarding intentionality versus spontaneity.
This discussion found a poignant counterpoint just nights after the festival, during a screening of Pete Ohs’s Erupcja. Ohs’s filmmaking process—which emphasizes finding character and narrative through collaborative improvisation with actors on location—embraces precisely the kind of contingency and spontaneity that some critics found lacking in Blue Heron. While Ohs’s method has its own set of limitations, the "spark of life" and "spontaneity" that some desired was undeniably present in his new feature, offering a contrasting approach to cinematic creation.
The Expanding Reach and Future Implications of LAFM
For co-founders Gottlieb and Winshall, a crucial metric differentiating a local screening series from a bona fide film festival is its ability to attract patrons from outside the immediate city. In this regard, LAFM has demonstrated consistent growth year after year. The 2026 festival saw a notable increase in out-of-town filmmakers, programmers, and distributors making the annual pilgrimage to Los Angeles for the event. Prominent figures like New/Next founder Eric Allen Hatch and Factory 25 head Matt Grady were spotted among the attendees, signaling the festival’s rising profile within the broader independent film circuit. This expanding attendance has elevated LAFM beyond a mere local gathering where friends support friends’ work, transforming it into a nationally recognized platform for independent cinema.
While this year’s programming might have featured a slightly lower profile of films compared to previous selections like I Saw the TV Glow or Friendship, its significance lies in a different achievement. LAFM demonstrated a clear evolution in pinpointing its core identity and mission. The increased focus on local filmmakers, coupled with a diverse program that expertly balanced traditional arthouse fare with innovative attempts to reframe cinematic form, solidified its unique position.
The Los Angeles Festival of Movies is more than just an annual event; it is a vital indicator of Los Angeles’s evolving cinematic landscape. It showcases the city’s enduring power to attract and nurture a robust independent filmmaking community, even as its industrial focus shifts. By providing a platform for local talent, fostering community engagement, and offering a thoughtfully curated selection of adventurous cinema, LAFM reinforces Los Angeles’s status as a dynamic and increasingly important movie-watching capital, a place where the art of film continues to thrive in new and exciting ways.
