"A TRUE BRAINIAC'S FILM FEST!" (LA WEEKLY)

My favorite weekend of the year is always somewhere in late October or early November when my friends and I all get together to bring-off the amazing City of the Angels Film Festival. I am honored to be on the Executive Committee of this very cool event, which is a retrospective film festival that features fascinating forums and panels after every screening with filmmakers, theologians and academics. The festival looks at well-crafted films as works of theology, and engages them as signs of the times. The weekend is always like a graduate seminar in whatever is our theme - using movies as texts. What could be better?!

This year's festival will happen October 23 - October 27. Our theme is: Revolutions/Revelations: A Century of Cinema. We are looking at films that sparked a revolution in society and in cinema from throughout the 20th Century. The film festival is held at the pretigious and classy Directors Guild of America building on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood.

The City of the Angels Film Festival (CAFF) is the smartest thing the Christian community does in Hollywood (Act One is a close second... kind of have to say that...good thing it's true...), and it is very appreciated by the broader community of artists, critics, and film fans.

We have just finished hammering out the line-up of films for this year's festival. And when I say hammering... It was a lively encounter indeed for our coalition of scholars, pastors, filmmakers - cinemaniacs all - to pick out the ten most revolutionary films of the century. This year's festival will also include a two day conference on Thursday and Friday called "MERE ENTERTAINMENT: TOWARDS A CHRISTIAN AESTHETIC OF CINEMA". More details on that soon... So, here's the schedule. (A couple of screenings are still tentative because of availability of print issues.)

THE 10th CITY OF THE ANGELS FILM FESTIVAL

THURSDAY, OCT 23
9:00am MERE ENTERTAINMENT CONFERENCE
Sponsored by Act One & Reel Spirituality

7:00pm INTOLERANCE (178 min)
at Mears Center, Hollywood Presbyterian Church

FRIDAY, OCT 24
9:00am MERE ENTERTAINMENT CONFERENCE
Sponsored by Reel Spirituality and Act One

5:00pm OPENING V.I.P RECEPTION
Sponsored by Fuller and Pepperdine

7:00pm at DGA Theater 2
METROPOLIS (120 min)

9:45pm at DGA Theater 2
DO THE RIGHT THING (120 min)


SATURDAY, OCT 25
11:00am at DGA Theater 2
SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS

11:30am at DGA Atrium
CRITICAL ISSUES FORUM
Sponsored by Focolare

1:00pm at DGA Theater 2
THE BICYCLE THIEF (90 min)

3:00pm at DGA Theater 1
THE ANGELUS AWARDS finalists
Sponsored by Family Theater

3:10pm at DGA Theater 2
NANOOK OF THE NORTH (documentary, 65 min)

5:00pm at DGA Theater 2
DON’T LOOK BACK (documentary, 96 min)

5:00pm at DGA Atrium
THE ANGELUS AWARDS STUDENT FILM FESTIVAL Reception

6:00pm at DGA Theater 1
THE ANGELUS AWARDS
Sponsored by Family Theater

7:15pm at DGA Theater 2
THE GRADUATE (105 min)

9:30pm at DGA Theater 1
PULP FICTION (154 min)

9:45pm at DGA Theater 2
HEARTS AND MINDS (documentary,110 min)


SUNDAY, OCT 26
1:00pm at DGA Theater 2
REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (111 min)
(or THE 400 BLOWS –99 min)

4:00pm at DGA Theater 2
STAR WARS (121 min)
(or ANNIE HALL—94 min)

7:00pm at DGA Theater 2
MOULIN ROUGE (128 min)

9:30pm CLOSING DESSERT RECEPTION

People for whom CAFF should be a MUST on the annual schedule:
- Those who think movies are all garbage. Quick! Before it's too late and you miss out on the art form of your time!
- People who work with young people in any kind of educational or formational capacity.
- People who love cinema but have't had the chance to study the artform.
- Theologians, pastors, culture watchers, writers.

More info about the Festival is here. There are plenty of good hotels right around Hollywood. Buy yourself an early Christmas present. Buy your air plane ticket now!