LA Film Fest mixes the old with the new...

The Los Angeles Film Festival announced its 2006 line-up yesterday, offering an ambitious and eclectic mix of films and events. The festival, which opens June 22 through July 2, will open with David Frankel's The Devil Wears Prada and will close with Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' much-talked about comedy,Little Miss Sunshine. Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland’s award-winning Quinceañera will screen as the Centerpiece Premiere.

George Lucas will serve as the Festival's Guest Director and will host the annual filmmaker's retreat at the Skywalker Ranch in Marin. DJ Danger Mouse, aka Brian Burton, will serve as the Artist-in-Residence for the fest. Both Lucas and Danger Mouse have each selected a sidebar of films that will be featured in the festival including Jean-Luc Godard's Masculine Feminine, Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko, and Fassinder's The Marriage of Maria Braun.

The LA Film Fest will award two $50,000 cash prizes to the winner of the Juury awards for the Narrative and Documentary Competition. This year's contenders follow:

Narrative Competition
Analog Days, Mike Ott
Chalk, Mike Akel
Gretchen, Steve Collins
Ira & Abby, Robert Cary
Islander, Ian McCrudden
The Lather Effect, Sarah Kelly
Swedish Auto, Derek Sieg
Undoing, Chris Chan Lee

Documentary Competition
Beyond Conviction, Rachel Libert
The Creek Runs Red, Bradley Beesley, Julianna Brannum
Darkon, Andrew Neel, Luke Meyer
Deliver Us from Evil, Amy Berg
East of Havana, Jauretsi Saizarbitoria, Emilia Menocal
Inheritance, James Moll
Kabul Transit, David Edwards, Gregory Whitmore
Mario’s Story, Jeff Werner, Susan Koch
Matthew Barney: No Restraint, Alison Chernick
Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater, Julie Anderson
A Place to Dance, Alan Berg

Other special events at the festival will include A Leonard Cohen Evening (with a special appearance by Cohen himself), The Filth and the Fury Live, and an 20th anniversary screening of Blue Velvet with David Lynch. For a full list of events, go www.lafilmfest.com.

Long live indie film,

Michelle