The 6th Annual
October 3-5, 2019
Opening Night, October 3rd
Red Carpet, 6:30 P.M.
Film Screening, 8:00 P.M.
HPIFF
By Elia Esparza
After six years, the Highland Park Independent Film Festival has one of its biggest opening nights ever! Presenting “A Night with Danny Trejo“, who we’ve been told will arrive in his personal lowrider at 6:30 p.m. to greet his fans!
Opening Night consists of a memorable Red Carpet celebrity walk led by Trejo, who will receive the film festival’s Humanitarian Award. The film screening in his honor is Robert Rodriguez’s iconic Machete, a “70’s-style movie,” according to The Hollywood Reporter review, “whose mock trailer was lovingly showcased in the homage of Quentin Tarantino’s Grindhouse film.”
“To have become a mainstay of this community which I love brings me great pride. Every year for the past six years, our hard work pays off as our grass-roots efforts culminate in a film festival that brings the community together and celebrates great, independent cinema. We are thrilled to bring this year’s line-up and to honor a wonderful human being in Mr. Danny Trejo as our 2019 Humanitarian Award,” said Marita De La Torre, Highland Park Independent Film Festival Executive Director & Producer.”
We caught up the film festival’s artistic director, Alessandro Gentile to get the 4-1-1 on what they got brewing for this year’s event!
LatinHeat: With so many film festivals and film events/screenings going on in L.A. almost daily, what is at the core of your film festival that puts you a cut above the rest in L.A. or nationwide for that matter?
Alessandro Gentile: Think of Telluride Film Festival back in 1974. A small film festival, single screen, 3-4 members producing an event together. That’s the best example I can come up with. In our case, we are a group of filmmakers producing a film festival for the filmmaker. We assessed all the things we didn’t like with our personal experiences at other festivals and just did the complete opposite. We are not ushering herds of people in and out of theaters because the next screening is up and we are on a tight schedule. We are providing filmmakers with adequate passes for cast/crew. We are not charging an arm and a leg to purchase a ticket. As founders we are in the trenches selling t-shirts, setting up the website, doing ticket sales, and always around participating in the Q&A discussions. The Highland Park Independent Film Festival is a grass-roots community-driven film festival that is constantly keeping the filmmaker’s experience at heart. If you attend you will feel the love and warmth from our devoted magnificent team.
LH: Who is your core audience targeted?
AG: We never once wanted to pigeon hole ourselves into being a Latino film festival, or a Hipster film festival, we are consistently catering to all the demographics in a well-balanced film line-up.
LH: Tell us about your surprise guest(s) for your “A Night With Danny Trejo” presentation.
LH: You have an impressive list of films lined up, some who will have their world premiere at Highland Park Indie Film Fest… tell us why some of these were selected in what had to be dozens of submissions?
The biggest surprise for us is Danny Trejo himself. To think that we have been trying to book him for the past 3 years and this year, with the help of LA Media Group, it finally came together. What amazes me is the amount of support his management has given us. Very receptive to what we are about and what we represent. Also being able to secure Machete for a special 9-year screening is unbelievable. This sets a milestone for us and what the future holds is even more exciting.
LH: After six years, have there been any surprises in how your film fest has evolved from the first time you launched it?
AG: We have had some tremendous changes. Year one we showcased 23 films, this year we have a whopping 50. We have won over our community of Highland Park and finally made a name for ourselves in Los Angeles. It’s always nice to see someone rocking the t-shirt randomly on the streets.
As the artistic director, one thing I take pride in every year is that the entire film festival is compiled into a seamless edited screening flow. All the programs and features mesh together like one gigantic movie. This is especially apparent in the short film programs.
Also as a cinematographer, I really take the projection image quality seriously. I reject compressed files from filmmakers and we only showcase the highest resolution possible for each film. It’s not easy work but the filmmakers really take notice and appreciate it so much. If you look on our Film Freeway profile you can see all the heartfelt comments.
In six years, the Highland Park Independent Film Festival has become an important community asset, and not just because they host the event in Highland Park (an L.A. community), but also because they also are in a community partnership to host screenings in the neighborhood. For example, this summer they co-hosted a feature film screening of Con Safos at Thorne Hally on the Occidental Campus.
“We also do screenings at La Culebra Art Park. It is mainly driven by indie films from our archives and has helped spark a large interest with our local Latino filmmakers.
Also, another important program our film fest offers is the Franklin High School Film Mentor Ship Program, where we mentor youth in the fundamentals of filmmaking. It primarily consists of Latino youth.”
Additionally, Gentile states that every year this group of young filmmakers creates the intro sizzle piece for the film festival. “The assignment is that they have to showcase the Highland Park Independent Film Festival logo in some creative way. It’s usually a minute in length. The mentorship program we have been nurturing since the festival’s inception. We have helped spark the love of filmmaking for these kids and aided as a conduit to receiving a film scholarship to schools like Cal State Northridge and UCLA.” he adds. “What’s great about our team is that we are primarily comprised of Latinos and can relate to the ever-changing Northeast Los Angeles community of Highland Park. We understand both sides of the coin but at the same time like to keep the balance with our events.”
2019 Highland Park Independent Film Festival Highlights
- A total of 180 Film Submissions, and selected a record 50 films to showcase
- 8 of which are World / L.A. Premiere
- The film, Cicada Song, an LGTQ contemporary Mystery/Thriller film, is a World Premiere. Directed by Michael Starr
- Other feature films unique to this year’s film festival include Nathan’s Kingdom, directed by Oliver Munoz, is a Sci-Fi, coming-of-age drama about a young autistic man struggling with his teenage opiate-addicted sister, and rather than surrendering to social services, they risk their lives to find a kingdom that once existed only in their imaginations. Nathan’s Kingdom uses an actor on the autistic spectrum to play the lead actor
- Rich Kids, a film directed by Laura Somers, is about a young man’s transformation from the person he thinks he’s supposed to be into the person he really is, as he comes to terms with realities and consequences of living a community ravaged by the wealth gap and income inequality.
- The Closing Night film, West End, directed by Joe Bastile, is Hamlet mobbed up on the Jersey Shore. Vic Trevi is an undercover FBI agent positioned to betray the people he calls family. Stars Eric Roberts amongst a strong cast
- 5 short film programs scheduled, each dedicated to Foreign Films, L.A. Shorts, Latino, and a Local Highland Park film program. A total of 43 shorts
- World/LA Premieres are Highland Park films!
- We Three (shot at The Offbeat Bar, female African-American director), Look Up (16-year old Highland Park student director), Kara the Invicinble (superhero film shot in Highland Park), The Happy Side (comedy filmed in the neighborhood, featuring Frankie Quinones-Cholo Fit) Papi Papilloma (PSA short film feature Alejandro Patino), The Oficina (Web Series pilot)L.A. Shorts: Pull Yourself Together (as quirky dramedy by a local award-winning alumni director), The Great Smoky Mountain (adventure documentary, alumni filmmaker)
Thank you, Alessandro!
“Indie filmmaking is brave and unique in its own right. If you deeply love cinema with all your heart nothing will stop you from materializing your vision.” — Alessandro Gentile
Highland Park Independent Film Festival Mission Statement
“The Highland Park Independent Film Festival is dedicated to inviting filmmakers who are producing the most unique and captivating independent cinema today to share their work with the Highland Park community.”
CLICK HERE to get Highland Park Independent Film Festival schedule of films and activities — some educational, and some to network and celebrate Latinos in the film industry!