L.A. FEST IS CHANGING DIVERSITY DISCUSSION
Showcase sets itself apart by seeking projects from women, people of color
Film festivals may not solve #OscarsSoWhite, but they’re a crucial ladder to the solution.
That’s what festival director Stephanie Allain realized two years ago while programming the Los Angeles Film Festival, which has sought to find its place among sales- and star-driven fests such as Toronto, Sundance and Cannes. “We can be the change we’re looking for by stepping up,” says Allain, a 20-year veteran producer of films such as Hustle &
Flow and Dear White People. She and her team began to pivot from booking glossy studio fare to seeking out projects from women and people of color. “People are so hooked on movie stars,” Allain says. “We’re giving our audience a chance to discover those new voices for themselves.”
Last year, ticket sales for the festival were up 30%, with 25 films selling to buyers such as Showtime and Netflix. Young filmmakers are “actually connecting with the industry because we’re in L.A., and then having a second and third opportunity to make more films,” she says. “That’s really how we’re going to change the game of Hollywood, which is through jobs, not just diversity programs.”
Ava DuVernay’s distribution company, Array, acquired Echo
Park, Ayanda and Out of Hand from last year’s slate. “It’s a big market for us, because it’s a festival that’s doing such great work in programming in an inclusive way,” says DuVernay.
Notable films this year included actress Amber Tamblyn’s punk rock directorial debut, Paint It Black; Deborah Riley Draper’s Olympic Pride, American
Prejudice, a documentary charting 18 black Olympians’ journey to the 1936 Summer Games in Nazi Germany; and
Destined, a drama starring Cory Hardrict in dual roles. Immigration thriller Desierto, starring Gael García Bernal, closes the festival Thursday.
Festivals “become like a test kitchen for distributors,” says Po
litical Animals director Jonah Markowitz, whose documentary chronicles the civil rights victories of the first four openly gay elected California state politicians (all women). “When you can sell out a screening at the L.A. Film Festival ... it shows distributors definitely how wide your market is.” DuVernay, who hops from Sel
ma to Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time (shooting this fall), says her indie background has made her fear- less. “I’m in these spaces at Disney, at Warner (Bros.), at all the places where the deals are, (and) I do walk in with ... that kind of ‘you can always do it’ mentality. That’s what the indie world gave me.”
Allain joined the Membership and Administration Committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which runs the Oscars, in March. “At every meeting, they’re saying, ‘Please go out there and find excellent candidates.’ A lot of people don’t even know you can apply,” she says.
She emphasizes that diverse representation at the Oscars won’t be solved in a year, certainly not by one festival. But LAFF is a step in the right direction.
“People are hungry for fresh, humanistic stories. And that’s what we’re really lacking on the big screen from all the big studios,” Allain says. “We have an opportunity to fill that void.”