2023 DTLA FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES FEATURE LINE-UP
15th edition of annual nonprofit event set for November 1-5 at Regal L.A. LIVE
with dozens of films of all genres making their Los Angeles premieres
Rosemary Rodriquez’s genre bender ‘Hail Mary’ opens festival
with Centerpiece and Closing Night films also by women directors
LOS ANGELES | October 2, 2023 — The 15th annual DTLA Film Festival, set to run from November 1 through 5 at the Regal L.A. Live, announced its full feature lineup today. A total of 15 feature-length films are slated to screen alongside 15 shorts, webseries and TV pilots, with each making their World Premiere, US Premiere, West Coast Premiere, or Los Angeles Premiere.
Opening the festival is Rosemary Rodriguez’s “Hail Mary,” a genre-bending retelling of the Mary and Joseph story following an undocumented pregnant migrant’s journey to make it safely across the U.S. Border, starring Jack Huston, Angela Sarafyan, Natalia del Riego, and Benny Emmanuel.
With this year’s festival dates coinciding with Day of the Dead, the festival reaffirms its dedication to diversity through recognition of the holiday. In addition to spotlighting “Hail Mary,” Dia de los Muertos is reflected in the festival’s slate of several shorts programs and the 2023 key art created by noted Calavera artist Agustin Equihua Ortiz.
“As a festival, we embrace the cultural diversity of the neighborhoods of downtown L.A. and surrounding areas. So, of course our festival had to recognize Dia de los Muertos and its significance to the Latin communities of L.A. With its themes of immigration and religiosity, even our opening night film, ‘Hail Mary,’ reflects our own way of recognizing Day of the Dead,” said festival co-founder Henry Priest.
Nearly half of the films at this year’s festival are from women directors, including the festival’s Opening Night (“Hail Mary”), Centerpiece “Summer of Violence”), and Closing Night (“Women in Fire”) films.
“Our nonprofit organization was established in 2008 with the mission to promote movies by filmmakers from groups underserved by Hollywood. Sadly, 15 years later, women continue to be among those groups underrepresented by the studios, both in front of and behind the camera. Until that day when Hollywood movies look like what America actually looks like, we’ll continue to fight the good fight,” said Carolyn Schroeder, Director of Programming.
Additional feature highlights include the sci-fi romantic-comedy “Molli and Max in the Future” starring Zosia Mamet, Aristotle Athari, and Okieriete Onaodowan; Maxim Pozdorovkin’s animated documentary “The Conspiracy” featuring talented voice actors Mayim Bialik, Liev Schreiber, Jason Alexander, Ben Shenkman, and more; “The Activated Man” starring Tony Todd, Jamie Costa, and Sean Young; AARP and Elliot V. Kotek’s “The Hidden Power of Purpose,” narrated by actress Debbie Allen; acclaimed documentarian Rory Kennedy’s “Adrift”; “It’s Basic” from multi-award-winning director and producer Marc Levin.
Amidst the uncertainty in the film and television community, the festival decided to proceed with its yearly fall dates in accordance with strike guidelines.
“The SAG-WGA strike presented numerous challenges for all film festivals but especially one like ours located in Los Angeles. Nevertheless, we felt that the best way of supporting the strike was to push forward with the festival. To be clear, we unequivocally support the SAG-WGA labor actions and, in fact, all strikes by unions this summer, including those by hotel and auto workers,” said Greg Ptacek, festival director.
This year’s festival also spotlights films by Latin / Latinx filmmakers in two shorts programs, co-hosted by the Mexican-American Cultural Education Foundation. “MACEF is honored to partner with the internationally known DTLA Film Festival to expand the exposure and screening of films with Latino stories, made by Latino filmmakers,” says Dr. Jose-Luis Ruiz, President of MACEF
As well, the festival highlights film by Asian and Asian-American filmmakers in a program co-hosted by Incandescent Entertainment and anchored by the world premiere of the action-thriller feature “The Last Assassin” (details of the film below).
Established in 2008 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the festival has grown to become the largest film and television event in burgeoning downtown Los Angeles, the historic core and new creative nexus of the city.
Tickets for all of the festival’s programs are now on sale through the festival website: www.dtlaff.com.
Additional programming – including the complete short film line-up and industry panels – will be announced soon.
2023 DTLA FILM FESTIVAL FEATURE LINEUP
Narrative Features
The Activated Man // USA (Director & Screenwriter: Nicholas Gyeney) – As Ors Gabriel struggles with the grief and pain from losing his best friend and beloved dog, Louie, to cancer, the shock from the trauma brings on strange visions only Ors can see. While he questions whether his mind has fractured or if it’s actually real, a mysterious rise in murder-suicides takes hold of the city, and Ors becomes haunted by images of a shadowy figure known to many as ‘The Fedora Man.’ Through torments and terror, Ors uncovers dark secrets from his past, forcing him to embrace who he really is, and what he is meant to do. But, with escalating visions of ‘The Fedora Man,’ Ors must face his fears as he spirals downwards, testing the very limits of his sanity. Cast: Tony Todd, Jamie Costa, Kane Hodder, Sean Young, Edward Michael Scott, Andrew Keegan.
Darla in Space // USA (Directors & Screenwriters: Eric Laplante & Susie Moon) – Darla Peterson has just found out she owes the IRS $349,000.22. She teams up with a sentient kombucha scoby named Mother who has the ability to grant mind-blowing orgasms to pay off the debt. Is this a match made in heaven, or the other place? Cast: Alex E. Harris, Rasheda Crockett, Constance Shulman, Thomas Jay Ryan, JS Oliver.
Hail Mary // USA (Director: Rosemary Rodriguez, Screenwriter: Knate Lee) – A genre-bending retelling of the Mary and Joseph story that begs the question – who are the real monsters? Cast: Natalia del Riego, Jack Huston, Angela Sarafyan, Benny Emmanuel.
The Last Assassin // China (Director: Yue Cao) – The story of an assassin who stops killing because of his goodness, but is used by others in a conspiracy that results in irreparable killings, after which he sees through human nature and returns to the Ghost Assassin Alliance. Cast: Yang Gao, Wandong Guo.
Molli and Max in the Future // USA (Director & Screenwriter: Michael Lukk Litwak) – A sci-fi romantic comedy about a man and woman whose orbits repeatedly collide over the course of 12 years, 4 planets, 3 dimensions, and one space-cult. Cast: Zosia Mamet, Aristotle Athari, Erin Darke, Okieriete Onaodowan, Arturo Castro.
Numb // UK (Director & Screenwriter: Cai O’Leary) – Having lost her own mother to suicide at a young age, Jess, a young single mother suffering with postpartum depression, now finds herself in a similar position. She lives in a small town with her older brother, working an aimless 9-5 job in a cafe, without dreams and without hope of any of this changing. Cast: Rachael Holoway, Paul Holowaty, Ronan Barbour, Gin Mung.
Shudderbugs // USA (Director & Screenwriter: Johanna Putnam) – Sam returns to her childhood home in the wake of her mother’s mysterious death, spiraling down a rabbit hole of grief, suspicion and isolation. Cast: Johanna Putnam, Brennan Brooks.
Summer of Violence // USA (Director & Screenwriter: Nicki Micheaux) – In 1993, a college grad feels the wrath of her father when she refuses law school to focus on her poetry. Disowned, she moves to Denver and uses her creativity to speak out against the gang violence. When those close to her die, she finds herself in deep and spirals out of control. Reconciling with her family she self-acceptance, and within her a passion to live and honor those that can’t. Cast: Kasey Inez, Damon Gupton, Jahking Guillory, Mallory Corinne, Pedro Correa.
This Is Your Song // USA (Director: Hassan Said, Screenwriters: Lourdes Figueroa & Hassan Said) – On the night of their wedding anniversary, a bohemian theatre actress and a beatnik inspired writer confront the strife of their relationship, dreams, and the city they once loved. Cast: Joanna Kay, Edward Hightower, Eve Richards.
Documentary Features
Adrift // USA (Director: Rory Kennedy) – “Adrift” captures the contemporary refugee experience in a personal and visceral way. This feature-length documentary uses the lens of history to shed light on the moral obligation of the international community and the dire consequences of barriers, quotas, and xenophobic policy as they impact refugee populations.
Birthing Justice // USA (Director: Monique N. Matthews) – America’s medical inequities has turned giving birth into a battlefield for too many Black women and their babies. “Birthing Justice” flips that narrative, centering the expertise and lived experiences of Black women and their advocates as they fix a broken system and transform the future, one birth at a time.
The Conspiracy // USA (Director: Maxim Pozdorovkin) – This startling animated documentary addresses an insidious, centuries-old conspiracy theory that continues to rear its ugly head today: the idea that Jews have a secret international plot to control the world. Filmmaker Maxim Pozdorovkin and a host of talented voice actors including Mayim Bialik, Liev Schreiber, Jason Alexander, and Ben Shenkman connects the dots of hate and fear to walk us through almost 250 years of anti-Semitic ideology, focusing on how times of uncertainty give rise to anxieties in marginalized populations.
The Hidden Power of Purpose // USA (Director: Elliot V. Kotek) – A feature-length documentary film narrated by Debbie Allen, profiling four stories of incredible human beings who are living lives driven by purpose and making the world a better place through their ideas and efforts.
It’s Basic // USA (Director: Marc Levin) – The film examines several pilot programs launched in the U.S. that test the effects of giving everyday people an extra $500 to $1,000 monthly, with no strings attached. It aims to present an unbiased account of the benefits, criticisms, and outcomes of providing unconditional money to people in need, and examines whether Basic Income pilot programs eradicate child poverty and level the racial playing field through community-centric solutions.
Method Sampling: How to Build the Future Together // USA (Directors: Matt Boman & Josh Nesmith) – Method Sampling is explored through the works of a hip-hop orchestra, a disabled choreographer, a self-taught Black mycologist, a tiny house builder and a critical theorist.
Women in Fire // USA (Director: Deborah Attoinese) – They rappel out of helicopters into burning hell to protect our forests, our wildlife, our future. But who protects them? This is the story of Abby Bolt, a former Rodeo Queen and single mom who climbed the ranks to Battalion Chief of an elite team of firefighters for the U.S. Forest Service. In 2012, this incredibly brave 22-year-veteran was sexually assaulted and raped by a fellow firefighter. But the assault didn’t stop there. She subsequently filed a police report and found she was now a pariah within her own ranks. Unsupported. Unappreciated. And unsafe.
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About DTLA Film Festival
Established in 2008, DTLA Film Festival is a 501(c )(3) nonprofit media arts organization dedicated to promoting diversity in cinema. Since its inception, the organization’s annual eponymous film festival has showcased thousands of films of all genres, virtually all making their Los Angeles, West Coast, national or world premieres in the historic center of the Film Capital of the World. The 15th edition of DTLA Film Festival is scheduled for Nov. 1-5, 2023 at Regal Cinemas L.A. LIVE and event venues throughout the culturally diverse neighborhoods of downtown Los Angeles.