Hollywood Fringe Festival Announces Film Program

The Hollywood Fringe Festival is expanding its artistic scope and reach by including another artistic discipline within its primary structure. Normally a "Fringe Festival" is primarily dedicated to presenting works of theatre and performing art. But in its second year, the Hollywood Fringe Festival is taking bold steps to be more inclusive of other artistic "fringe" disciplines present in Los Angeles, branching out this year to sponsor a venue dedicated solely to the presentation of "fringe" film.

Programming Fringe [film] in its inaugural year is filmmaker and actor Ezra Buzzington (Hills Have Eyes, Fight Club, Clint Eastwood's upcoming J. Edgar).

"Last year I was lucky enough to serve on the Advisory Board for the first annual Hollywood Fringe Festival and also programmed and ran one of the anchor venues for the event. (Theatre of NOTE.)". He says. "This year I was honored to accept the position of Head Programmer for the film venue. I'm thrilled that Ben Hill and Festival organizers possess the cultural wisdom to recognize that re-defining the meaning of 'fringe' can be of great benefit to Los Angeles' artistic community."

Fringe [Film] will be presenting six feature films in several genres and 25 short films which are divided into four collections: SHORT DEVOTIONS (love stories), SHORT SNORTS (comedies), SHORT REVERIES (surrealistic visions) and SHORT ENIGMAS (mysteries, sci-fi, thrillers). The event will feature several world premieres, one US premiere from Australia and a number of LA premieres.

The Centerpiece feature film is PURE SHOCK VALUE. It will screen four times during the 10-day event and is a world premiere from Los Angeles theatre director Domaso Rodriquez (Furious Theatre Company).

Ticket prices for the event will be $10 for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night screenings ($5 Monday to Thursday).
The schedule and ticketing information for Fringe [Film] can be found at this link.

Film descriptions are below.

CENTERPIECE FEATURE PRESENTATION:

PURE SHOCK VALUE. - Damaso Rodriquez (Centerpiece Film)*

Los Angeles. Feature Dramedy. World Premiere. (TRT: 98:00 - including short)

Three young Hollywood wannabes find their way through the low points and high stakes of movie-making in the real world when Fate delivers them a dream opportunity. Be careful what you wish for. It might just get you.

"I chose PURE SHOCK VALUE. as the Centerpiece Film for the first Annual Hollywood Fringe Festival [film] event for several reasons. Its aesthetic is raw and in your face, its budget is non-existent and the creative team behind the film is made up of L.A. Fringe theatre artists. (Furious Theatre) I wouldn't have chosen it, however, if it weren't also brilliantly written, expertly executed and cleverly subversive."- EB

* - Centerpiece Film will be preceded by the short film TUTE VOLLER KINDER - Seizure #1 by Jason Lind. A mind-blowing, balls-to-the-wall attack on the senses and sensibilities of the status quo. Not to be missed.

PURE SHOCK VALUE:
Friday, June 17th - 8pm
Sunday, June 19th - 6:15pm
Friday, June 24th - 6:15pm
Saturday, June 25th - 10:15pm

OTHER FEATURE FILMS:

THE DOCTOR'S WIFE - Jonathan Duffy
Australia. Feature Documentary. American Premiere. (TRT: 123:00)
When his boyfriend is assigned the position of the only town doctor in the teeny village of Munduberra in rural Queensland, this Brisbane-based gay artist and filmmaker sets out to document their experience as a big city "out" couple adapting to very small town life.

"I'm very proud to present the first showing of this film in the U.S. Jonathan is a multi-talented artist who lays bare all the raw emotions and fears inherent with being a stranger in a very strange land. A colorful cast of real life characters embody this film and Jonathan has captured them gingerly." -EB

THE DOCTOR'S WIFE
Saturday, June 18th - 9:45pm
ONE SHOWING ONLY!

FORGIVING THE FRANKLINS - Jay Floyd
Los Angeles. Feature Comedy. LA Premiere. (TRT: 98:00)
The Franklins are Bible-belt Christians who, after a car crash induced coma in which Jesus Christ himself removes their inhibitions and their piety, must re-examine their previously held beliefs in the face of small-minded friends, neighbors and relatives.

"I saw this film at its Sundance premiere in 2006 and was thrilled when it crossed my desk for this festival. The film exemplifies "fringe" by, if nothing else, its having been made on the most shoestring budget imaginable. (The end credits last about 20 seconds as there was no crew to speak of.) Yet, the mastery of the camera work, acting, editing and all post-production elements belie the film's meager resources. And besides, the film's hilarious." -EB

FORGIVING THE FRANKLINS
Sunday, June 19th - 8:15pm
Saturday, June 25th - 6:15pm

SCREAM OF THE BIKINI - Kiff Scholl
Los Angeles. Feature Comedy. (TRT: 99:00)
SCREAM OF THE BIKINI is a 1960's action-spy-thriller by acclaimed South American director, Fernando Fernandez. Filmed somewhere in South America in 1966 and poorly translated and dubbed by Germans, this unintentionally funny James Bond meets Barbarella love child plumbs the seedy depths of the international fashion model/psycho-killer underworld with a boldness that only a gun to the head can provide.

"Writer Bill Robens and director Kiff Scholl capture lightning in a bottle through their clever use of cinematic techniques popular in mid-century filmmaking while acknowledging the demands of a modern audience. Produced on a minuscule budget, SCREAM OF THE BIKINI should be studied by young filmmakers everywhere who have unfundable dream projects." -EB

SCREAM OF THE BIKINI
Friday, June 17th - 10:00pm
ONE SHOWING ONLY!

THE STEVE PROJECT - Greg Wall *
Los Angeles. Feature Documentary. World Premiere. (TRT: 80:00 - including short)
Filmmaker Greg Wall's character study of Steve Kessler, longtime village idiot/savant of the historic Fairfax District. Funny and harrowing, the film captures the Beckettian characters who loom in The Shadows of strip malls.

"Greg Wall is the Phillip Glass of filmmakers. THE STEVE PROJECT is not an easy film. It's challenging in both its style and substance. His use of muffled sound, blurred images and repetition of theme might be problematic when viewed through standard, established film makingrules or teachings. But, if one remains open to the journey Wall takes us on, one is rewarded with an overwhelming sense of gentle, but targeted thematic and aesthetic dissolution." -EB

THE STEVE PROJECT will be preceded by another Wall documentary LIONEL & COOKIE, wherein the filmmaker quietly examines the erosive, day to day existence of two mated lions at the Los Angeles Zoo.

THE STEVE PROJECT
Saturday, June 18th - 8:00pm
ONE SHOWING ONLY!

TRIM - Ryan Bottigliari
Los Angeles. Feature Dramedy. (TRT: 95:00)
A misguided personal trainer struggles to clean up his life after he's sued by one of his clients, knocks up two different women and suffers a major heart attack. A raw, edgy, brutal and funny look at what life is really like in LA.

"I'm thrilled to program TRIM because it captures a kind of LA that I, personally, like to see lampooned. The self-entitled, self-obsessed, self-centered wannabes that float around the fringes of Hollywood and make up its underbelly. There's really nothing redeeming about any of these people. And I think they deserve a voice." -EB

TRIM
Thursday, June 16th - 10:30pm
Saturday, June 25th - 8:15pm

SHORTS PROGRAMS:

SHORT SNORTS
TRT: 75:00
A collection of 6 short comedic films:

UNCLE TOMMY'S DIRTY LIMERICKS (STRANGE INJUN) - Tommy Beyer
A one-minute limerick that is filthy. Seriously. It's filthy.

THE BIG DATE - Christopher William Johnson
A silent film that follows a down-on-his-luck suitor as he searches for the perfect woman.

YARD SALE - Anika Poitier
Sometimes a yard sale isn't just a yard sale.

LET ME BE FRANK (BETTY'S CONFESSION) - Frank Crim
A priest hears a confession that surprises him.

DEAR HOLLYWOOD - Michael May/Julisa Smith
A young actress, right off the bus, discovers that Hollywood is not the glamorous cityfrom the glory days of classic, silent cinema she'd expected.

NOTHING IS COOL - Chris Punsalan
America's most infamous hipster band is chronicled by Europe's most ostentatious filmmaker.

SNORT SHORTS
Sunday, June 19th - 10:15pm
Wednesday, June 22nd - 10:30pm

SHORT DEVOTIONS
TRT: 68:00
A collection of 5 disparate tales of love (or something similar):

WRONG GUY RIGHT - Oliver Marshall
What is real and what is facade for a young woman longing for love while demanding truth?

LET ME BE FRANK (BRENT'S CONFESSION) - Frank Crim
A young man gets good sex tips from an unlikely source.

NOW OR NEVER - Angie Hill
Four mismatched couples come across an underground parlor game which reveals their innermost sexual desires and relationship expectations.

UNCLE TOMMY'S DIRTY LIMERICKS (TISSUE) - Tommy Beyer
A one-minute limerick that is filthy. Seriously. It's filthy.

WANTING ALEX - Chris Akers
Pete's in love with his roommate's girlfriend, Alex. But she is madly in love with the most effeminate heterosexual heartthrob since that guy from the Partridge Family. We've all been there.

SHORT DEVOTIONS
Saturday, June 18th - 6:30pm
Tuesday, June 21st - 10:30pm

SHORT ENIGMAS
TRT: 68:00
A collection of 7 odd, little brain puzzlers.

THIS IS THE PLACE - Jacob Strunk
On the shores of the Salton Sea, a disenchanted killer gets friendly with the locals while clashing with his superior.

UNCLE TOMMY'S DIRTY LIMERICKS (SISTER MYRA) - Tommy Beyer
A one-minute limerick that is filthy. Seriously. It's filthy.

WINNER TAKES ALL - Camille Carida
A self-involved, but seductive beauty engineers his two lovers to fight over him. Literally.

LOVE CHILD - Ward Roberts
A newborn baby reeks havoc on a young couple who didn't know just how much baby wanted its bottle.

MAD SIGHT - Ric Perez-Selsky
A widowed older woman rents out a room to a young man. But, when she begins having flashbacks of her husband's murder, she must learn to face the past without losing her sanity.

LET ME BE FRANK (GERALD'S CONFESSION) - Frank Crim
A man wonders why his girlfriend is less amorous lately.

SINGULARITY - Shian Storm
Two men, bloodied and trapped in a garage try to figure out exactly who is attacking them. And why.

SHORT ENIGMAS
Thursday, June 23rd - 10:30pm
Friday, June 24th - 9:45pm

SHORT REVERIES
TRT: 75:00
A collection of 8 surrealistic films

TENANT - Kiff Scholl
An older couple, while attempting to rent a room to a recently unemployed mergers andacquisitions manager, learn both the ins and outs of contract negotiations and the ups and downs of human dynamics.

LET ME BE FRANK (ESTHER'S CONFESSION) - Frank Crim
A woman confesses her dubious sins.

DESERT IS THE DIRT HEART - Lake Sharp
An hallucinogenic fever dream of one woman's survival and transformation. Burning Man meets Cat Ballou.

PSYCHE ON MELROSE - Douglas Van Bebber
A family of three gets in over their heads when they hit the latest trendy restaurant in Hollywood where you are served a healthy dose of therapy with a great meal.

A SHORT SPRING - Nicole J. Adelman
A visual study of opposition, unity and dualism.

UNCLE TOMMY'S DIRTY LIMERICKS (BAYOU JIM) - Tommy Beyer
A one-minute limerick that is filthy. Seriously. It's filthy.

SUMMER OF THE ZOMBIES - Edward Beasley
A politically correct young woman must make peace with her reality changing after she's attacked by zombie.

PRONGHORN - Guy Zimmerman
A one-way trip into the dark heart of the great American West.

SHORT REVERIES
Friday, June 17th - 6:30pm
Monday, June 20th - 10:30pm
Friday, June 24th -- 8:15pm