Downtown Film Festival Los Angeles features Hicks, So Long, Lonesome, 'Weed'

By April MacIntyre Sep 11, 2010, 0:29 GMT

So Long, Lonesome stars Patrick Carlyle (pictured), Nadine Heimann, Daniel Tuch, Mike Bash, Sarah Baldwin, Natalie Buller.

The 3rd annual Downtown Film Festival Los Angeles (DFFLA) will be held in venues throughout downtown Los Angeles, Sept. 8-12.

With “Urban WILDLife” as its theme, the 2010 edition of the annual event will focus on delivering a different “downtown experience” every day across five days and evenings.

Programming highlights will include a gourmet street food and film fest at Los
Angeles Center Studios; the Los Angeles premiere screenings of the
films of Alice Guy Blaché, a pioneering Silent Era filmmaker, at a movie palace in the historic Theatre District on Broadway; “Sustainable L.A.,” an all- day film and green fair dedicated to ecologically aware urban living; a film and live musical performance
at The Grammy Museum at L.A. Live; a free-to-the-public outdoor screening of a classic film in Chinatown, and an interactive digital moving images experience in conjunction with Los Angeles Center for the Digital Art (LACDA) and the September edition of Art Walk. 

“Nobody knows downtown L.A. like our festival. We live here, work here and play here,” said Festival Co-Director Henry Priest. “We’re all about embracing the downtown vibe from Chinatown to South Park and Westlake Village to the Arts District. We want our audience to come with us on our adventure as we explore the many varied environs of downtown L.A. We’ll supply the magical carpet through our unique film festival programming.”

“American: The Bill Hicks Story” will be presented as the 2010 festival’s Opening Night Film, Wed., Sept, 8th, 8:00 pm at the new 400-seat Civic Center F. Deaton Auditorium, at corner of 1st and Main St., across from City Hall in downtown L.A.

His life and career, which promised even more to come, was tragically cut short when he was diagnosed at age 32 with pancreatic cancer and died in 1994 within a matter of months.

Hicks wasn’t afraid to tackle “big ideas” on politics, religion and even the meaning of life in a stand-up comedy routine, Hicks started with a cult following, first through word-of-mouth, bootlegs and VHS, and is now tipping into a much wider mainstream following.

The filmmakers comment: “Although Bill was a superstar outside America, the challenging nature of his material meant he never got the chance to be seen unedited by mainstream US audiences, but since the rise of Jon Stewart and ‘The Daily Show,’ Stephen Colbert and Lewis Black, the landscape has changed. Considered by many in the comedy community to be one of the most important stand-ups America ever produced, this firebrand comic’s freethinking message of acceptance and hope is more relevant in today’s world than ever. Above all though, his is the human story of an artist who had to overcome great obstacles, personal and professional, to try and make the world a better place. As such, its for everyone.”

In “American,” Hicks’ story is told by the 10 people who knew him best; his family and closest friends who recount the twists and turns of his life with a freshness that hasn’t faded in 15 years. From Los Angeles filmmaker Kevin Booth, Bill’s lifelong friend, to the Outlaw Comics who introduced Bill into their heady world of drugs and alcohol, to photographer David Johndrow who perceptively captures some of the most revelatory moments of Bill’s life, each speaker is a compelling narrator who still carries a piece of Bill with them and, woven together, they bring a palpable sense of Bill’s presence to the screen.

Saturday September 11, 2010
1PM-9PM
The Medallion Loft Complex
Tickets: $10
Food: 1-6 pm. Live DJ and Beer Garden: 1-8 pm. Outdoor Film Screening: 7:30 pm
Click here to purchase your ticket

L.A.'s street food phenomenon gets the big screen treatment - a gourmet street food & film festival rolled into one. Located at the new Medallion Lofts, you will get access to:

    * Food trucks serving every conceivable international variation on L.A.'s favorite dish - the taco!
    * Beer garden
    * Live DJ
    * Evening premiere of new environmental documentary films about "Slow Food" and other green urban living issues at the Downtown Independent Theater

Celebrity Judges include finalists from Season 6 of the "Next Food Network Star" - Doreen Fang, Chef Das, Aarti Sequeira

The third annual Downtown Film Festival Los Angeles is headquartered at the lesser-known but more historic L.A. Center Studios.

Here are just a few anticipated highlights of the Downtown Film Festival Los Angeles. Check the DFFLA website for more news and special announcements.

Opening Night Gala: American: The Bill Hicks Story
Tickets from $15
Wednesday September 8 (8PM)
Civic Center Theater
100 W 1st St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Red Hot Chili Peppers : Untitled Documentary
Tickets from $15
Thursday September 9 (7:30PM)
GRAMMY Museum
800 W. Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90015

Taco Cinema with the film 140
Tickets from $10
Saturday September 11 (1-10PM)
The Medallion
334 S. Main St.
Los Angeles, CA 90013

How Weed Won The West
Tickets from $15
Saturday September 11 (11PM)
Downtown Independent
251 S Main St
Los Angeles, CA 90012-3707

So Long, Lonesome
Tickets from $15
Sunday September 12 (2:30PM)
Civic Center Theater
100 W 1st St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012