Nothing brings Brentwood and Century City together like a few good films. Come April 30, the Archer School for Girls in Brentwood will be bringing the 2014 Archer Film Festival to the Westfield Century City. The film festival, now in its third year, aims to empower female filmmakers and features 12 films throughout the day.
One day later at the Archer School for Girls campus in Brentwood, the film festival will feature a series of moderated industry panels.
A red carpet reception kicks off the Archer Film festival at 6:30 p.m. on April 30. The film finalists and a keynote speaker follow the red carpet at 7:15 p.m.
All festivities on Wednesday evening take place at the AMC Theaters on the Westfield Century City shopping campus.
The gala film screening, which is open to the public, will feature keynote speaker Amanda Brown, the novelist who wrote Legally Blonde.
Industry panels taking place at the Archer School for Girls campus start at 10:15 a.m. on May 1.
The first panel, Women in Film, runs from 10:15 a.m. to 11 a.m. and features: Kristine Belson, producer of Dreamworks films including The Croods and How to Train Your Dragon; Kelly Bush, founder of ID Public Relations; Rena Ronson; head of Independent Film Group at UTA; Lainey Sorkin Becky, partner at Management 360; and, Jennifer Wilkinson, director/assistant director of Revenge.
At 11:15 a.m., the Archer Film Festival’s second panel is Breaking into the Business. Featured on the panel, which runs until 12 noon, are: Madeline DiNonno, Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media; Vera Herbert, writer of MTV’s Awkward; and, Jenny Yerrick Martin, creator of YourIndustryInsider.com.
The final panel from 12:45 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. is the Future of Television. Speaking on this panel:
Bela Bajaria, executive vice president at Universal Television; Robin Gurney, vice president of programming at Showtime; Joshua Malina, actor, Scandal, The West Wing; Andy Patman, co-head of television at Paradigm; Amy Powell, president of Paramount Television, Insurge Pictures & Digital Entertainment; Mindy Sterling, Actress; and, Josh Weltman creative director and advertising consultant on AMC’s Mad Men.
During the actual film festival on April 30, the following films will be showcased:
– Absolutely Nothing by Megan Tcheng of Polytechnic School;
– The Briefcase by Nick Paskhover of Crossroads;
– Cookie Wars by Natasha Lasky of SF Art & Film;
– Freedom from Fear by Alana Feldman of Santa Monica High School;
– Friends by Alexander Haney (Independent);
– The Market by Kate Heck and Sam Karny of The Archer School for Girls;
– Mission Impromable by Clio Gevirtz of SF Art & Film;
– Open the Door by Emma Bloom, Trey Carlisle, Dora Palmer, Harrison Shea, and Sofia Servin of Harvard-Westlake School;
– Press Start by Keaton Heinrichs and Luke Soon-Shiong of Brentwood School and Harvard-Westlake School;
– Sticky Situation by Justin Bicol, Tino Dimperio, J.C. Castro, and Parris Calkin of Providence High School;
– Swords into Ploughshares by Max Cho of Harvard-Westlake School;
– Treats by Lulu Cerone and Elizabeth Zinman of The Archer School for Girls.
The Archer Film Festival positions itself as a high school student film festival empowering female filmmakers but not excluding men. It is open to all high school student filmmakers.
Archer Film Festival launched in 2012 and featured 20 student films from a dozen schools across the State.
Last year, 18 films were selected from more than 150 submissions.
The 2014 Archer Film Festival at the AMC in Westfield Century City is at 10250 Santa Monica Boulevard.
This year’s industry panel discussions on May 1 will be held at the Archer School for Girls, 11725 Sunset Boulevard.
For more information, please visit the festival’s website here.
