Monthly Film Festival

You’re invited to join NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) with presenting partners The Arab Film and Media Institute (AFMI), Shortcutz Amsterdam and the Dutch Culture USA (Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in New York) on Saturday, December 15th, 2018 for NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) Film Festival InFocus: Middle Eastern, Arab & Dutch Cinema. The event will be hosted at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Mary Pickford Center’s Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood.

The evening begins with InFocus: Dutch Cinema – Shortcutz Amsterdam Showcase, a collection of the winners of Shortcutz Amsterdam’s 2018 season so-presented in partnership with Shortcutz Amsterdam and Dutch Culture USA (Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in New York) and offers highlights of diverse work made by Dutch filmmakers throughout the Netherlands. There are stories of peace, discovering one’s identity, the mundane pains of loss, horror, and more.

The second program of the evening, InFocus: Arab Cinema is co-presented in partnership with The Arab Film and Media Institute (AFMI) and showcases Palestinian, Tunisian, Lebanese and Qatari stories that cover the often unmentioned hardships of refugees in Europe, tackle the difficult questions of ideology through the eyes of a child, look at history through a mockumentary lens, and in Cyril Aris’ Oscar-Qualifying The President’s Visit, take us to a town whose preparation for an important guest takes an absurd and darkly humorous turn.

The night concludes with InFocus: Middle Eastern Cinema, a selection of striking short films from Middle Eastern filmmakers who have made their work all over the world – Lebanon, Israel, France, UK, Canada and the US. They tell stories of the complexity of identity, growing up, and of being stuck in difficult situations, personally and politically.

Doors will open to the public at 3 pm with a pre-reception for the first shorts program, and the night will include a pre-reception before each of the evening’s programs, where attendees can sip cocktails and mingle with industry professionals and festival selected filmmakers in the lounge. The event will conclude at 11:00 pm.

Tickets are available for $15 for an all-night access passes, which provide access to all three film programs with open bar throughout the entire event. NFMLA’s Monthly Film Festivals are presented throughout the year with support from Executive Circle Sponsors FilmLA and HBO, Producers Circle Sponsors SAG-AFTRA, 21st Century Fox Global Inclusion, Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA | Golden Globes), LA County Arts Commission and LA City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA).