The Mods and Rockers Film Festival returns this month to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of HandMade Films, and the 50th Anniversary of Monty Python with the cheekily titled “The OTHER HandMade’s Tale” film festival. The festival will kick off ten days of screenings on Thursday, October 10th, with the U.S. Premiere of “An Accidental Studio,” a new documentary about George Harrison’s HandMade Films. All festival screenings will be held at the Laemmle Ahrya Fine Arts Theater, a classic movie house in Beverly Hills. There will be panels with producers and filmmakers, guest appearances, costume contests and more!
Besides the opening night screening of the Handmade Films documentary, the festival will present the L.A Premiere of the documentary, “Monty Python: Almost The Truth,” and the first-ever US retrospective of HandMade Films, including “Life of Brian” (on its 40th anniversary!) and “Live at the Hollywood Bowl” (No anniversary, sorry), Terry Gilliam’s “Time Bandits,” “Withnail and I,” “Mona Lisa,” and several comedies starring Pythons, like “Nuns on the Run” (starring Eric Idle) and “Privates On Parade” (starring John Cleese).
It seems to be the anniversary of almost everything! It is also the 20th anniversary of the Mods and Rockers film festival itself, which brings popular retro English movies to the states along with exciting guests for panels and Q&As. Guests have included Eric Burdon, Stewart Copeland, Roger Daltrey, Rod McKuen, Olivia Newton-John, Nancy Sinatra, Grace Slick, and a real coup–a short reunion set by all four of the original Rutles! You might not get any Pythons this year due to various personal reasons, but there will be lots of filmmakers and Python-adjacent guests like Terry Gilliam’s brother, who will give us insights on “Growing up Gilliam.”
The Festival runs Thursday October 10th to Sunday October 20th 2019 at The Laemmle Ahrya Fine Arts Theater. TICKETS: $13. Available on-line or at the box-office.
