Photo courtesy of the Pasadena International Film Festival.
The eleventh edition of the Pasadena International Film Festival (PIFF) returns to the NoHo Arts District, presenting more than 130 films from 10 countries during its eight-day run at Laemmle NoHo 7 theater, Thursday, April 4, 2024, through Thursday, April 11, 2024.
The Opening Night Party is Thursday, April 4, at 7:00 p.m., at the Brews Brothers in North Hollywood, and the speakeasy-style venue, Der Wolf Restobar in Old Pasadena, will once again host the Great Gatsby Gala & Award Ceremony following the festival’s full week of events on April 11, 2024. To fit the theme, 1920’s attire is suggested and black-tie is optional.
Currently, an All Access Pass provides entry to the Opening Night Party, admittance to all screenings with guaranteed and priority seating for the entire festival, the Q&As, and panels, access to the Passholders Lounge at the Brews Brothers NoHo, a PIFF “made to order” commemorative T-Shirt, and a ticket to the Great Gatsby Gala & Award Ceremony. Individual tickets are also available, as well as tickets to the Gala.
Left to right, Gloria Lee and Bruce McGill at the Pasadena International Film Festival. Photo by Marina Labossier, courtesy of the Pasadena International Film Festival
Founded in 2013 by industry veterans and Pasadena residents, Jessica Hardin and Marco Neves, the PIFF is the only competitive film festival based in Pasadena, California. The festival will highlight nearly 130 feature, documentary, animated, and short films in 29 programming Blocks, and will include after-film Q & A’s, panel discussions, and more. The overall herculean effort to organize the annual event takes a team that begins with Hardin and Neves.
“It’s just us two and some of our volunteers who come here periodically to the office to help us out throughout the week, and a couple of interns we have,” said Neves. “There’s basically like three to four of us working every week, every day, trying to get this all squared and ready.”
The festival returns to the multiple theater space at the NoHo 7 theatres–it’s home since last year, post-pandemic adjustments and leaving the Playhouse 7 in Pasadena before it was sold to Landmark by Laemmle Theatres. But it is unclear what may be the festival’s future location. Late last year, theater co-owner, Greg Laemmle, told Yahoo! Entertainment that the NoHo 7 has been sold, among others, where it is reported that the location is due to become an apartment complex.
Between the pandemic and a reduction in movie-going in general, the number of available spaces–especially for a Mom-and-Pop exhibitor such as Laemmle–is waning. In the meantime, Hardin and Neves are happy that they have been able to return the Laemmle Theatre for this year’s festival.
“We love the staff and that auditorium!” said Hardin.
“We want to continue working with Greg Laemmle,” said Neves. “I mean, we would love to go back to Pasadena one day. But it’s just all about having enough resources and, unfortunately, with the shrinking of the theaters here in Pasadena, it’s very difficult to work with corporations. It becomes cost-prohibitive, basically.”
According to Neves, the origin of the festival started with the now-closed Knightsbridge Theatre and through its Theatre Director, Joseph P. Stachura’s western film, Redemption and a film festival in Spain, where it took two years of initial planning.
“That’s how the idea for the film festival started with Jessica and I. I got cast in [the film] and we were invited to go to Spain,” said Neves, who teaches specializing in acting in English for foreigners and pronunciation at the Los Angeles Performing Arts Conservatory.
“Because I speak Spanish fluently, I made friends with the organizers of [the Almeria Western Film Festival]” said Neves. “And I kind of got the chance to get a good look into what it takes to make a film festival happen. So I thought, ‘Maybe I could do this someday,’ you know? Seems like a fun job. Little did I know the behemoth that it could actually be…and it was Jessica who actually said, ‘No, we can make this happen. Let’s make it happen.'”
Hardin, who teaches introduction to Shakespeare, script analysis, voice, American speech, and more at the Los Angeles Performing Arts Conservatory, and has served on committees for different grant organizations, elaborated on the challenges of putting together the event, bringing independent productions into new light through the festival, and the additional challenges the pandemic has brought.
“I think there’s this idea that film festivals have a lot of money,” she said. And I’m guessing the A lists do. Or obviously, if you’re a celebrity and you start a film festival, like Robert Redford or Gina Davis or Robert De Niro–of course a celebrity-funded film festival’s gonna have a huge budget. But other than that, they really don’t, you know?…It’s getting people to show up. That’s the hardest thing.”
“COVID did a number on every festival in town.”
“You can’t spend more on advertising than you could ever hope to make. So that’s kind of like where we are,” continued Hardin. “But no one’s going to care about a movie like the people who made it and their friends and their moms and their family, you know? So the filmmakers do a wonderful job of helping us promote and market and advertise.”
PIFF also provides recognition to 45 short and feature screenplays, but also uniquely includes theatrical plays, honoring Hardin and Neves’ background in theatre, where they met.
“We’re trying to create a community for artists and one of the things that we do now is try to have readings of screenplays, or even stage plays, at times. Like at the Knightsbridge, we’d sometimes put on staged readings and [to] workshop certain screenplays. For example, if a screenplay, wins [the Best Screenplay Award] at our festival, we provide a reading with actors so we can workshop it,” said Neves. “Building community is our thing, so we can meet all the people that are filmmakers, actors, producers, writers, musicians, and get [them] working together.”
Films that have won at PIFF have gone on to win at the American Pavilion Showcase at the Cannes Film Festival, according to press information.
PIFF’s opening night on Thursday includes feature film Roswell Delirium, a 1980’s emotionally charged sci-fi thriller starring icons Anthony Michael Hall and Dee Wallace. Animated short film Lost Bird (Zintkála Nuni), by directors Scott Feldmann and Brad Colerick, portrays the troubled life of a Lakota infant who survived the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee, only to struggle with identity and acceptance in white high society along with the loss of her own cultural heritage and people.
On Friday, April 5th, feature narrative Unsinkable, a riveting journey of the investigation of the aftermath of the Titanic disaster, stars Karen Allen, as well as the feature Don’t Tell Larry, a comedy/thriller/horror starring Ed Begley Jr. In the short film, The Ossan, Venita Ozols-Graham tells the story of a young widow who contacts a mystical Ossan to protect her from her teenage stepson after her husband dies.
Saturday, April 6th, includes The Unreachable Star in the screening line-up, a short starring Tamlyn Tomita which tells the tale of a brother and sister in search of adventure to escape their wartime reality. Conceived shortly before the beginning of Covid, short film My Own Silence, by Matthew Eberle, tells of young woman who spends the day struggling with anxiety and depression and a need for self-harm. And four episodes will screen of animated series, Bento Banana, about Bento and Plumpy, two procedurally-generated heroes trapped in a digital nightmare called “Anime.”
On Sunday, April 7th, the short End, a dark mystery showcases the talents of Dan Lauria, with the evening ending with the feature dramedy Ramona at Midlife, a story of a former literary “it” girl and features Cathy Curtin, Rosemarie DeWitt, Joel de la Fuente, April Matthis, Josh Radnor, and Alysia Reiner. Also Sunday the short Undercover Wrestler directed by Roe Moore, is a comedic take on an overreaction to a small injustice involving crinkle cut French fries.
“I love the Pasadena International Film Festival,” said Moore, Director. “Marco and Jessica’s support for indie filmmakers and their work is beyond what I could have ever asked for. It’s a pleasure to be included in this year’s festival!”
The Pasadena International Film Festival. Photo by Michael Hilf, courtesy of the Pasadena International Film Festival.
On Monday, April 8th, short Good Grief, directed by Rob Sharp, is the story of four mothers from different walks of life who are united in sorrow by the sudden loss of their children. In the short, Estella, Is It You?, directed by Fabian Martin and Victor Martin, a grieving woman communicates with her dead husband through her car radio.
Tuesday, April 9th, Canadian film, What We Find On The Road, directed by Chaysen Beacham, is a humor-filled life lesson learning road picture featuring Paul Guilfoyle, Finn Haney, and William Chris Sumpter. The short film The Overlook features SNL’s Chris Parnell and, Wednesday, April 10th, is “The Martini Shot” starring Matthew Modine, Derek Jacobi, John Cleese, Stuart Townsend, and Fiona Glascott–a feature-length existential drama that explores morality and one’s profound effect on the world.
And on Wednesday, April 10th, Jane Rosemont’s documentary, Acting Like Nothing is Wrong, about Hollywood character actor Jim Hoffmaster, of Shameless, and his struggles both professionally and personally.
Businesses hosting the best in independent films are The George Pasadena, Laemmle’s NoHo 7, Brews Brothers NoHo Pub, and Old Pasadena’s Der Wolf RestoBar, with the event sponsored by local businesses First Entertainment Credit Union, Old Pasadena Management District, and the TravelStore.
Panels include “Audio Is Half Your Film: Panel on Music and Sound in Post-Production” moderated by Brian Ralston on Friday, April 5th, at Noon, and “State of the Industry Today from a Talent Agent’s Perspective” moderated by Jake O’Flaherty of the Dangerfield Talent Agency, Wednesday, April 10th, at 1:00 p.m.
“Audio Is Half Your Film: Panel on Music and Sound in Post-Production” will deep dive into the Post-Production audio and music process with guest speakers Composer/Producer, Sharon Farber, Music Supervisor and former head of film music licensing at Warner Bros, James Jacoby, VP of music production at Netflix Animation, Charlene Huang, film Director, Chris Chan Lee, and Director/Producer/Sound Department, Victoria Rose Sampson.
“State of the Industry today from a Talent Agent’s Perspective” will discuss and highlight how self tapes, self submissions, marketing yourself, and creating your own content and changing your mindset to book can help find you the right agent for representation.
Photo illustration courtesy of the Pasadena International Film Festival.
Day Passes and Gala Events tickets are available at the PIFF website. Individual tickets are $17 per Block and can be purchased at the NoHo 7 site or directly at the theater. Platinum Passes are sold out, but the All Access Passes are currently $99, Day Passes are $35, and tickets just for the Gala are $59. Passes will not be sold at the door, but can be picked up at the event.
The NoHo 7 is located at 5240 Lankershim Blvd. North Hollywood, CA 91601. For more information on the theater and tickets, call 310-478-3836.
The Passholder’s Lounge is at the Brews Brothers NoHo, 5140 Lankershim Blvd. North Hollywood, CA 91601, April 4 – 10, 2024, Monday through Thursday, 4 p.m. -11 p.m., Saturday, Noon – 12 a.m., and Sunday Noon – 11 p.m. Call (818) 308-6208 for additional information.
The Great Gatsby Gala & Award Ceremony at Der Wolf RestoBar is located at 72 N. Fair Oaks Ave., Pasadena, CA 91103. Thursday, April 11, 2024, 7:00 p.m. – Red Carpet, and 8:00 p.m. – Award Ceremony. The Great Gatsby Gala & Award Ceremony is 21+ only. Call (626) 219-6054 for more information.
For a complete film festival schedule, more information on the participating submissions, and additional details visit www.pasadenafilmfestival.org.
