Once a backyard festival for locals, the four-day event has been transformed into an international attraction.
By Oscar Antonino / Special to The Malibu Times
Record crowds and celebrities flocked to venues in Topanga last weekend for the 7th annual Topanga Film Festival. Once a backyard festival for and by locals, it has expanded to become an international attraction, featuring an array of films from around the world, as well as music, art, workshops, panel discussions, food and parties; transforming this four-day event into a renowned destination film festival.
Hundreds were in attendance on Saturday night at the prescreening party and international short film competition held at the newly-opened boutique Jalan Jalan Imports. The jury for the competition included actors William H. Macy, Elijah Wood, Felicity Huffman, and television’s “The Office” director/cinematographer Randall Einhorn. The competition featured a DJ set by Nic Harcourt (formerly of KCRW), and a live musical performance by Blessed Le Strange. The screening took place in the open air with a backdrop of a picturesque waterfall (Owl Falls) nestled amongst rock walls, which were illuminated by ambient lights and a surreal black-and-white film shot in super-slow motion and underwater.
Local director/cinematographer James Chressanthis participated in a panel discussion and hosted a workshop for cinematographers.
“It’s unbelievable to see how much the festival has grown,” Chressanthis said. “Last year many of the shows sold out, and this year there are at least twice as many people.”
Other showcases included a feature documentary competition, dance films, features, community voices, short films, and 3D. A total of 49 films were screened, distributed throughout six venues. Programming Director Thom Jordan watched almost 500 films that were submitted before making the tough choices. “We chose films that are socially aware and had heart,” Jordan said. “These films each provided a unique visual experience, and ultimately they’re the ones that really stood out.”
In addition to the films, the festival included many live musical performances by mostly local musicians. The Ribbit Tree and Plant nursery hosted some of the shows, while RedHanded, a boutique artisan shop for locally-made products and art, not only entertained guests with live music each evening for free, it also treated them to screenings of films projected onto sails hung from oak trees, out in the fresh air under the stars.
RedHanded owner Anastasia Fite, last year’s programming director for the festival, programmed all the films and music for her venue. “I wanted to focus on local filmmakers, and screen films that had a closer connection with the people in Topanga,” Fite said. “My shop is dedicated to supporting locals in whatever form of art it is that they create, and this is just an extension of that.”
This year’s festival placed an emphasis upon education, as it featured six workshops and 13 panel discussions. Many of the panel discussions focused heavily upon the neuroscience at the core of such artistry as writing, directing and acting. Eight neuroscientists participated in the discussions, as the cognitive science behind subjects such as comedy, the biology of emotion and empathy, the creative development of ideas, and our perception of reality, were analyzed in depth.
Other panels and workshops discussed subjects such as the past and future wisdom of storytelling, the importance of music in film, distribution and marketing, the evolution of entertainment as emerging technologies arise, auditioning, cinematography and writing. Panelists and featured hosts included Rosanna Arquette, Nic Harcourt, Chief Golden Light Eagle, as well as various doctors, scientists, industry professionals and the Global Alliance for Transformational Entertainment, a non-profit organization that seeks to empower entertainment and media professionals and companies to produce and distribute content that inspires new awareness-based worldviews for global audiences.
The festival clearly demonstrated by its programming choices that the dominant themes behind it were social awareness and global consciousness. “All of the films screened fit together into the big picture of what this festival is all about…engaging with the world around us,” Jordan said.