Los Angeles is a film town, and every week brings at least one interesting film festival to our neck of the woods. This week, however, brings one of the most specific and topically relevant festivals of the year right to our neighborhood doorstep: the 5th Annual New Urbanism Film Festival, running from October 19-22 at the Acme Theater, 135 N. La Brea Ave.
The festival’s offerings include both short and feature-length films on several “politically charged issues” of interest to city dwellers everywhere, but which also seem especially important to urban Angelenos at the moment…including rising housing costs, gentrification, transportation, water and more.
“Small projects and changes can have drastic influence for creating a better place,” said Festival Director Josh Paget (who’s also a member of the Mid-City West Community Council) in a press release about the festival. “I want to make [that] more accessible and make it a communal experience. I love movies and that is the language of our city, so it makes a lot of sense to have a film festival about this subject.”
This year’s schedule includes:
Thursday
Short films on “Tactical Urbanism,” including pop-up parks, temporary bike lanes, re-use retail, mobile gardening, impromptu parking space, public pianos and more. Also, the BUSted storytelling show, where the host and audience members share their experiences with public transportation.
Friday
Short films series on Transportation and Street Art.
Saturday
Three feature-length documentaries: “The Longest Straw” (about water importation in Los Angeles), “Bicycle Revolution” (three films on bicycle transportation around the world), “Priced Out” (gentrification in Portland, OR), “Tony – The Movie” (a homeless man’s search for housing in San Diego). Also, Urban Design-themed short films and awards, and a comedy show about “The Worst Building in Los Angeles.”
Sunday
Feature-length drama, “Columbus” (about “a little-known Midwestern town haunted by the promise of modernism”), Architecture short films, Global Urbanism short films and, finally, the Urbanism Filmmaking Challenge films, NUFF Awards and closing reception.
Tickets are available by the film/event, by the day, or with a full-festival pass. For more information, see the individual film and program links above, http://www.newurbanismfilmestival.com or contact [email protected].
