Attention filmmakers, film buffs and Phoenix and LA peeps! It’s almost time for the Los Angeles Film Festival @lafilmfest and @elise_f. (I am not sure they have created #laff as their Twitter hashtag yet but let me suggest it.) I am a LAFF virgin but I always wanted to do it in LA! Sorry. OK here’s some info and some launch flix pix. I am thrilled to report it sounds like I will be officially tweeting for the entire time from June 18-28 @launchflix Also, my beautiful special guest photog, Bubbles @csamuels13 will be with me the entire time. Say hi to us and get an invite to Bubblespalooza, a special bday celebration for none other than B herself.

Most events are $12, with the only exception of course, the fundraising workshop being the big one at $200.00. (They certainly know how to raise money.) Seriously, the fundraising panel is quite a group, I will give more details this event soon.

So for sure I’ll be at

June 18 7:30pm opening night gala
June 20 fundraising workshop 9-4pm
June 28 6:30pm closing gala

as for movies, so far my top picks are:
Robert Rodriguez: Family Man documentary Sunday June 21 from 1-3pm.

Legendary filmmaker Rodriguez, is one of my case studies in our biz plan, and I didn’t even know he had something new coming out. He will be there speaking, I’m very excited.

The 40 year old producer from San Antonio began his career with the film “El Mariachi” in 1992. The Mexican action adventure cost only $7,000 but found its way to the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the up-and-coming producer a distribution deal with Colombia pictures. He is seen in the film world as an example of how success is possible for independent filmmakers who are innovative in theme, plot, and filming techniques. He has done a ton of stuff, check out his info at IMDB.

Oops, tangent.

The other film I can’t wait for:
Paper Heart, comedy with Michael Cera (young lead in Juno) one of my favs – Wed. June 24 7pm. Follow actress Charlyne Yi on twitter @paperheartmovie

The Youngest Candidate #TYC is getting great buzz, filmmaker Jason Pollack (that’s @jason_Pollack, note the underscore) has 50K followers and is looking for distribution. I think I will talk to my friends at MarVista Entertainment and see if they can join me for the screening, maybe I can make a match there.

Here are other types of things I will be scheduling for the rest of the time.
Sunday 5pm Screenwriters CoffeeTalk at W LA Westwood Hotel
Weekdays 12:30pm lunch time discussions (free events)
Sat. June 26 either 1pm filmmaker discussion with cinematographer (free)or 1:30pm screening of Cold Souls/Paul Giamoni, the actor from Sideways and my fav, Howard Stern movie Private Parts @sternshow, stars.

I’ve been researching them and picking out the comedies, I might see:

Weather Girl June 19 7:30pm
Humpday June 19 at 10pm
Hollywood Je’taime 6/21 Sunday at 7pm
Tursistas 6/22 4:30pm
Wah Do Dem June 24 4:30pm
Mid-August lunch 6/26 4:45pm
A Mate June 28 3:30pm

Surprisingly, they don’t have any Jewish films listed this year so I guess we can’t do our heavy research. (Hey, this might be a nice opp for us in the future, filling that gap with my passion project, An Unbroken Chain: The Movie!)

Their site is a bit challenging and time consuming so check back and I’ll clean up my research and more picks. Thanks in advance to Guido, Whitney and Elise, the LAFF PR team for sending any additional info my way. There could be more, plus if I recall, there are sometimes other parties happening all week long.