Monthly Film Festival

NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) hosts its May Monthly Film Festival, which features its annual InFocus: Asian Cinema program and  InFocus: Immigration  program. The day also includes the west coast premiere of Dillon Tucker’s narrative feature Pure O, and opens with a selection of student animation in the CSULB Animation Showcase.

The day opens with the CSULB Animation Showcase, a juried selection of student short films from California State University, Long Beach’s Animation program will show a variety of films in different mediums from CG, stop motion, traditional hand drawn and hybrid approaches. Each film is a result of at least 1 year of work and development and represents each director’s unique perspective and creative vision.

Day begins with InFocus: Immigration, a collection of films that tell stories of emigration, immigration, immigration policy and the experiences of being a first or second generation immigrant. From not feeling like you quite fit in anywhere, to exploitative workplaces to being left behind when a family member emigrates, to finding community, the life and death stakes of border crossings and the effects that draconian immigration policies have on wider communities.

The day continues with InFocus: Asian Cinema, a program that spotlights Asian and Asian-American talent and storytelling in front of and behind the camera. Stories include a fierce boxer misunderstood by her first-generation immigrant mother, a thrilling heist in urban Taiwan, a first-born girl in China struggling with the place in her family following the birth of her baby brother, an intergenerational story of one women’s seeking of an abortion in Texas, a hired tutor with a growing sense of unease, an aunt’s dilemma in the face of her sister’s conservative parenting, an exploration of the promises of skin bleaching through horror, and a poetic portrait of intercultural appreciation and grief. 

The night concludes with the west coast premiere of narrative feature Pure O, writer-director Dillon Tucker’s directorial debut which world premiered at SXSW. The film explores pure obsessional OCD, a particularly intrusive form of obsessive-compulsive disorder, through Tucker’s own personal lens and lived experience. A messy, honest and ultimately hopeful story about mental health, recovery and connection.

NFMLA showcases films by filmmakers of all backgrounds throughout the year, across both our general and InFocus programming. All filmmakers are welcome and encouraged to submit their projects for consideration for upcoming NFMLA Festivals, regardless of the schedule for InFocus programming, which celebrates diversity, inclusion and region by spotlighting  communities of filmmakers within our filmmaking community as part of our monthly program. This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

The South Park Center is an ADA compliant venue and is wheelchair accessible. We request captioned films from all filmmakers participating at our Festival. For any accessibility needs, please send a request to info@nfmla.org at least 72 hours prior to the event.