NewFilmmakers LA Film Festival to Present 2013 Screening, 2/16

The NewFilmmakers LA Film Festival offers a carefully curated evening of films created by a talented group of documentarians, filmmakers, and screenwriters. In the wake of Notre Dame and Steubenville football scandals, a documentary investigates a murder in a quiet, working-class football community. A short film program includes films by internationally acclaimed cinematographers, USC and Columbia film school graduates, and award-winning female directors. In the feature program, a Sundance Film fest Jury Prize winning director brings forth his latest effort.

The February program includes:

Shenandoah (Dir. David Turnley / USA) - Los Angeles Premiere. An epic feature documentary film about a coal mining town with a proud immigrant heritage, once pivotal in fueling America's industrial revolution and today in decline and struggling to survive and retain its identity, soul and values - all of which were dramatically challenged when four of the town's white, star football players were charged in the beating death of an undocumented Mexican immigrant named Luis Ramirez. Shenandoah creates a deeply felt portrait of a working class community, and the American Dream on trial.

Over twenty years, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer David Turnley documented events including the life of Nelson Mandela and the Apartheid rule of South Africa, the Persian Gulf War, the disintegration of the Soviet Union, revolutions in Eastern Europe, and student uprisings in China. Upon leaving the Detroit Free Press in 1998, he studied filmmaking at Harvard under a Nieman Foundation Fellowship. Turnley's documentaries include Emmy-nominated 'The Dalai Lama: At Home in Exile' for CNN, and the Corbis-produced 'La Tropical'.

An all-star team muscles up behind the Los Angeles premiere of Shenandoah. Executive producers include writer and PGA-nominated producer Joslyn Barnes (Eugene Jarecki's The House I Live In), acclaimed actor Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon), Epic Match Media CEO Billy Peterson, and Netflix executive Ted Sarandos. Award-winning lead editor Chris Seward (Sundance 2013's Fire in the Blood, Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, Sicko), ACE-nominated editor Greg Finton (Waiting for 'Superman'), and Emmy-nominated composer David Majzlin (Sins of my Father, Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel) round out the accomplished team.

My Little Hollywood (Dir. Matt Harrison / USA) - 'A man, a camera, a delusion'. Wandering vagabond Cost drifts into Hollywood where he teams up with Reverend to fulfill his dreams of film stardom and make a Hollywood movie.

Director Matt Harrison's film, Rhythm Thief, won the Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 1995. Kicked in the Head, his comedy feature starring Kevin Corrigan, Michael Rapaport, and James Woods, was Executive Produced by Martin Scorsese and released by CBS/Fox. Television directing credits include Sex and the City, and Popular.

My Little Hollywood stars Harrison, Shawn Andrews (Dazed and Confused, The Last Beat), Jason Oliver (Stand By Me), Gabrielle Conforti (Gabe the Cupid Dog), and Tiprin Mandalay (Roberta).

Space Zeros (Dir. Potsy Ponciroli / USA) - Ty and his brother Cody own a Port-A-Potty business in a
small country town. Besides working and hanging out with their imbecile friend Teet, life is pretty boring UNTIL... a meteor hits their house and Ty starts gaining a crazy set of super powers, including the ability to turn water into beer. That's when things start to GET AWESOME in this Redneck Comedy!