Skip to content
Advertisement

Long Beach Indie Film Festival approaches

Advertisement
 (246699)

The fourth annual Long Beach Indie International Film, Media & Music Festival happening Aug. 31 through Sept. 3, at Cinemark at the Pine Theatres, 99 S. Pine Ave., Long Beach, features a diverse mixture of more than 180 selections across genres that tell stories of race, love, health, family, sexuality and more.

Must-see films will include:

REPAIRations! – The Musical (Sat., Sept. 2)

Director: Courtney Miller

REPAIRations! is a story about the power of optimism against forces that are seemingly more powerful than yourself. It follows the story of a man named Isaac who lives during the end of slavery (1860’s), end of segregation (1960’s), and President Obama’s inauguration in 2008. Through song and dance, we see how Isaac navigates through an ever changing America as he discovers what he needs to do to get his slice of the “American Pie.”

Writer and director Courtney Miller and lead actor Clifford McGhee are scheduled to attend.

Bridging Emcees: The Bay Area Female MC Documentary Project  (Wed., Aug. 30)

Directors: Laura Vallado, Kelly Jo Noonan

Follow over 10 exemplary female MCs who tell their struggles as emerging artists in the Bay Area music scene. Watch as the artists dissect and discuss how the hip hop community has evolved and what it has become for female artists as of today.

Director Kelly Jo Noonan is scheduled to attend.

Soy Cubana (Wed., August 30)

Directors: Jeremy Ungar, Ivaylo Getov

Winners of the 2016 CubaDisco Award for best vocal group, the Vocal Vidas are a female a cappella quartet from Santiago de Cuba, the cradle of Afro-Cuban music. This short documentary follows these four women, exploring their daily lives and artistic process while gaining a unique window into a building a music career in a communist country.

Co-directors Ivaylo Getov and Jeremy Ungar and editor Agustin Rexach are scheduled to attend.

The Honest Struggle (Thus., Aug. 30)

Director: Justin Mashouf

The Honest Struggle is the story of a devout Muslim ex-offender and his journey re-entering society after being incarcerated three times. The film follows Sadiq, an energetic 55-year-old man who has spent the majority of his life behind bars. Sadiq is chosen to live in a unique, faith-based reentry home in the Southside of Chicago which aims to transition its residents into the outside world while also turning them into leaders through community service projects and youth mentoring.

I Go Back Home: Jimmy Scott (Thus., Aug. 31)

Director: Yoon Ha Chang

Featuring Jimmy Scott, Joe Pesci, David Ritz, Quincy Jones, Ralf Kemper, Kenny Barron, Arturo Sandoval, Oscar Castro Neves, James Moody, Bob Mintzer, Joey DeFrancesco, Phil Ramone, Gregg Field, Monica Mancini

Jimmy Scott tells the story of jazz legend Jimmy Scott and disillusioned producer and composer Ralf Kemper who took on the journey to produce an album with the almost-forgotten icon. By the time Kemper and Scott meet, Scott is 85 years-old and living in obscurity in Las Vegas. Together with many of Scott’s old friends like Quincy Jones, Joe Pesci and James Moody, Kemper produces a tribute for Scott.

Ingenue-ish (Thurs., Aug. 31)

Director: John Stamos

Featuring Caitlin McHugh, Josh Peck, Mike Capes, Brittany Furlan, Christina Masterson

A kind of young, sort of ethnic, LA actress takes us through her daily struggle to make it in show-biz without knowing someone, having a famous last name, or sleeping her way to the top.  (One of these is false.)

Boonville Redemption (Fri., Sept. 1)

Director: Don Schroeder

Featuring Pat Boone, Ed Asner, Diane Ladd

Set in Boonville, Ca. in 1906, Boonville Redemption tells the story of 13-year-old Melinda, who was born out of wedlock and scorned by many, desperately wants to know what happened to her real father, but no one in town will tell her. When she is sent to take care of her ailing Grandma Mary she receives some clues about her past. When Grandma Mary suddenly passes away, Melinda returns home where she learns that when you look for the truth, that’s where you’ll find grace.

Leeches (Sat., Sept. 2)

Director: Payal Sethi

Raisa lives with her Ammi and three younger sisters in Hyderabad’s Old City. When Ammi promises her 13-year old daughter, Zainab, in marriage to a foreign businessman, Raisa decides to save her little sister at any cost. Desperate to find a way out for Zainab, Raisa hatches a dangerous and improbable plan involving an archaic remedy that claims to restore a girl’s virginity.

90 Minutes of the Fever (Sat., Sept. 2)

Directors: Michael Sean Hall

Featuring Parker McKenna Posey, Glenn Plummer, Marcus T. Paulk

A family trapped in a house, airing all their long held secrets as the end of the world approaches.

Director Michael Sean Hall, executive producer Joan Carlson, lead actor Glenn Plummer and producer Monica Cooper are scheduled to attend.

90 Days (Sat., Sept. 2)

Directors: Nathan Hale Williams, Jennia Fredrique Aponte

Executive producers: Jussie Smollett, NHW, Richard E. Pelzer, II

Featuring Teyonah Parris, Pauletta Washington, Nic Few, Rodney Chester

After 90 days of dating, Jessica (Teyonah Parris) tells her would-be fiancé that she is HIV positive which forces the couple to confront the realities surrounding living and loving with HIV.

Executive producer Sol Aponte, co-director Jennia Fredrique Aponte, co-director/writer Nathan Hale Williams and actor Nic Few are scheduled to attend.

Curtsy Mister (Sat., Sept. 2)

Director: Angela Robinson Witherspoon

This is the story of a young boy trapped in a pair of slingback shoes. Ronnie Grant tells his very personal story of survival with the help of director Angela Robinson Witherspoon. He eventually finds work in the fashion industry as a fashion editor and works with Francesco Scavullo, Diana Ross, Cher and Miles Davis…just to name a few. On his journey he overcomes molestation, heroin addiction and the death of his father, his mother and his brother.

Director Angela Robinson Witherspoon and editor Abdul Malik Abbott are scheduled to attend.

Tickets can be purchased at: https://www.longbeachindie.hollywoodpost.com.

Advertisement

Latest