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Two of IDA's Fiscally Sponsored Documentaries to Premiere at LAFF

By IDA Editorial Staff


Two of IDA's fiscally sponsored documentaries, Lost Angels and A Small Act, premier this weekend at Los Angels Film Festival. Screenings are FREE!

Find out what Fiscal Sponsorship with IDA can do for you. Get Funded!

Lost Angels
(USA, 2010, 76 mins, HDCam)
Directed By: Thomas Napper
Thomas Napper’s empathetic but tough-minded documentary invites us into a part of Los Angeles that many choose to ignore—downtown’s skid row. As we meet the distressed area’s residents, including a former Olympic runner, a transgendered punk rocker, and an eccentric animal lover and her devoted companion, their remarkable stories paint a multifaceted portrait of life on the streets. There are undeniable problems—mental illness and addition are common themes—but there is also hope and a surprising sense of community. 

Lost Angels is also a scathing condemnation of the Safer Cities Initiative of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chief William Bratton. Although its stated purpose is to reduce crime in the area, for many the program is nothing more than officially sanctioned class warfare, unfairly targeting the low income and homeless population of skid row in what some feel is an effort to pave the way for gentrification. 

Passionate, polemic, and generous in spirit, Lost Angels finds a unique vitality to life on skid row and a stirring humanity in those who live there.

Screening Schedule
Fri, Jun 25th 7:45pm
Regal 11
FREE

Sat, Jun 26th 1:45pm
Regal 11
FREE

More info about: Lost Angels

A Small Act
(USA, 2010, 88 mins, HDCam)
In Swahili, Swedish, English with English subtitles
Directed By: Jennifer Arnold
Decades ago, Hilde Back, a gray-haired Holocaust survivor, began sending $15 a month from Sweden to Kenya to fund a child's primary school education. To her, that amount felt inconsequential but for Chris Mburu, it changed his life. When no other Kenyan family could afford to send their children to high school, Mburu went, and that was enough to springboard him to Harvard. Now a U.N. human rights lawyer, he's founded a new scholarship fund for the next generation of smart kids with few options. And he's named it for the benefactor he never met. Until now.

Jennifer Arnold's colorful and moving documentary weaves Back and Mburu’s intertwined stories with the current plight of three Kenyan eighth graders desperate to be their village's next success story. Their shot at a bright future come courtesy of the Hilde Back Education Fund and the generosity of a distant benefactor. As the elderly Hilde visits the village in which she sowed hope, sighing, "I'm simply not used to being a hero," we're inspired to witness firsthand that one person, without a doubt, can make a difference.

Screening Schedule
Sat, Jun 26th 7:30pm
Regal 11
FREE

More info about: A Small Act

About LAFF

Now in its 16th year, Film Independent's Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by Los Angeles Times, showcases the best of American and international cinema. The 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival takes place June 17-27, 2010 in downtown Los Angeles. The Festival screens more than 200 features, shorts, documentaries and music videos from more than 40 countries. The Festival connects the movie-loving public to critically acclaimed filmmakers, film industry professionals, and emerging talent in the heart of Los Angeles, the entertainment capital of the world.

Passes on sale now. Tickets on sale June 1. For full Festival details, please call1.866.FilmFest or visit www.LAFilmFest.com

Check out the complete list of Festival Documentaries:

1428
Ain’t in it for my Health: A Film about Levon Helm
Camera, Camera
Cane Toads: The Conquest
Circo
Climate Refugees
Disco & Atomic War (Disko ja Tuumasõda)
Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone
Farewell
Gasland
Kings of Pastry
Life With Murder
* Lost Angels
** Make Believe
Marwencol
One Day Less (Un día menos)
One Lucky Elephant
The Peddler (El ambulante)
The People vs George Lucas
Presumed Guilty (Presunto culpable)
The Red Chapel (Det Røde Kapel)
Secrets of the Tribe
* A Small Act
Space Tourists
Thunder Soul
The Tillman Story
The Toledo Report (El informe Toledo)
The Two Escobars
Utopia in Four Movements
Vlast (Power)
Waiting For Superman
Where Are You Taking Me?
* IDA Sponsored Documentaries
** IDA Hosted Documentaries

Click here for more info on the LAFF Documentary line-up.

Find out what Fiscal Sponsorship with IDA can do for you. Get Funded!