Apr 25, 2017
The festival kicks-off on Wednesday,
April 26th, at the TCL Chinese 6
Theatres at 6:15p.m with the World Premiere of feature film, “Gun,” starring, written & directed
by Sam Upton—a washed up, alcoholic ex-prizefighter who
makes a comeback to boxing after his top heavyweight contender son is wrongfully blinded in the ring. The film also stars Mark Boone Junior (“Memento,” “Batman Begins,” “Sons of Anarchy), Kate Vernon (“Battlestar
Gallactica,” “Malcolm X”), Laila Ali (daughter of Mohammed Ali, “American
Gladiators,” CBS’ “All in with Laila Ali”), Cassi Thomson (ABC’s “Switched at
Birth,” HBO’s “Big Love”) and Jared
Abrahamson (“Hello Destroyer,” “Finding a Family”).
Festival president
Nino Simone says, “We are excited
about this year’s diverse line-up. The festival is proud to announce that for
the first time, there will be cash prizes—$10,000 across the various
categories—awarded to our filmmakers. As always, we are proud to feature a wide
range of filmmakers and talent—everyone from Sharon Stone and Deepak
Chopra to the late Alexis Arquette,
in one of her last films, are gracing the festival screens.”
At 6:45
p.m., there is a special screening of Leslie Zemeckis’ “Mabel, Mabel, Tiger
Trainer,” a story of the world’s first female tiger trainer who survived
multiple maulings and claimed her love for her tigers was so great she wanted
“to be killed by my animals,” produced by Leslie’s husband Robert Zemeckis.
At 8:30pm, there is a special
screening of the popular and controversial documentary feature-length film, “The Reality of Truth,” which follows Mike "Zappy" Zapolin and his
friends, including Michelle Rodriguez,
as they attempt to go inside their minds to expand their consciousness. Guided
by Deepak Chopra the “Psychenauts” have direct experience with
techniques including meditation, breathing, and shamanism over a four year
period and learn from today’s top thought leaders, including Joel Osteen, Ram Dass, Marianne Williamson,
David Lynch, Foster Gamble, Sri Sri Ravi
Shankar, Peter Coyote, and many
more.
Another highlight film of Opening
Night is “An Undeniable Voice,” a
short documentary by directors Price
Arana and Adam Rothlein. Sam Harris, believed to be one of the youngest to survive the camps during
the Holocaust, shares his amazing story of survival with philanthropist and
activist Sharon Stone. The film screens in the 8:45 p.m.
Block.
The Opening
Night after-party is hosted by the Hollywood
Roosevelt Hotel at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard.
On Sunday, April 30th, at 7:45 p.m., the closing night film is the feature “Zen Dog” — Trapped by daily routine,
a man experiences complete freedom by dreaming himself across the country in a
psychedelic Volkswagen with the guiding words of philosopher Alan Watts — written & directed
by Rick Darge, and starring Kyle Gallner, Adam Herschman, Celia Diane,
Clea DuVall, and the voice of Alan
Watts.
Other features include: “The Girl Who Invented Kissing,” by
director Tom Sierchio, and starring Dash Mihok, Suki Waterhouse, Vincent
Piazza, Abbie Cornish, Johnny Messner and Luke Wilson; “Delinquent” from filmmaker Kieran Valla; “The 86: Los Ocho Seis” from filmmaker Javier Mujica; and “Apricot Groves from filmmaker Pouria Heidary Oureh.”
Documentary
features include: “John G. Avildsen:
King of the Underdogs,” from filmmaker Derek
Wayne Johnson, featuring John G. Avildsen, Burt Reynolds, Jerry Weintraub, Martin Scorcese and Sylvester Stallone; “Tupamaro,” directed by Martin Markovitz and featuring Hugo Chavez and Anderson Cooper; “Where Have You
Gone Lou DiMaggio?” directed by Brad
Kuhlman and featuring comedians, Larry
David, Jeff Garlin, Joy Behar, Richard Belzer, Howie Mandel, Colin Quinn, and
others;
“Rod Taylor: Pulling No Punches,” directed by Robert de Young and featuring Angela
Lansbury, Maggie Smith, Veronica Cartwright, Tippi Hedren, Baz Luhrmann, Bryan
Brown, and many more Hollywood luminaries; and “Legendary AD,” written/directed by Leonardo Corbucci and starring the Assistant Directors (ADs) from
the top crossing films of all time.
Highighted shorts include: “The Curse of Don Scarducci,” written/directed
by Chris Fondulas and featuring the Golden Globe Winner Alec Baldwin, Maulik Pancholy, Halley Feiffer, and Purva Bedi; “It Happened Again
Last Night,” featuring Chris Mulkey,
Randy Wayne, and Amanda Wyss; “Model Citizen,” written/directed by Matt Berman and starring Super Model, Angie Everhart, Traci Lords,
Costas Mandylor, Eddie Jemison, Kevin Farley, Scott Michael Campbell, Diane
Salinger, and Kelly Perine; “Six Matches,” directed by Denis Agarkov and featuring the Oscar-nominated Eric Roberts; “Wannabe,” written/directed by Matthew Manson and starring Malcolm-Jamal
Warner; “The Shadow Hours,” written/directed by Kyle Higgins, music by Bear McCreary and starring Tom Riley and Britt Lower; multiple film festival award winner, “Cuckold Picasso,” directed by Lance Larson; “Popsy,” based on Stephen King’s short story directed by David Merriman; “No Song to Sing,” directed by Lukasz Gasiorowski with
Composer/Producer, Ewen Bremner of “Trainspotting” fame; and
“The Pretender,” directed by Nathan Morse and starring the late Alexis Arquette in one of her last films.
Please visit beverlyhillsfilmfestival.com for a
complete line-up of the 2017 official selections.
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