Los Angeles Film Festival

There are some big studio pictures on the bill for the Los Angeles Film Festival next month, including Universal's "Public Enemies" and DreamWorks/Paramount's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," but the organizers have decided to take a bold step by opening with a movie that as yet has no distributor at all. "Paper Man," an indie film that stars Jeff Daniels, Ryan Reynolds and Lisa Kudrow, will kick things off at the 11-day event on June 18...

Martin Cuff, who has run film commissions in Colorado and Cape Town, South Africa, and built up film programs in Bosnia, Turkey and Serbia, was recently tapped to be executive director of the Assn. of Film Commissioners International, which hosts the popular annual Locations Trade Show. A native of England who lives in South Africa, Cuff talked to the Los Angeles Times about his new job and the upcoming expo, to be held June 15 and 16 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Question: What role do film commissioners play in today's global market?

AS one of music's most consistent hit makers, Pharrell Williams of the superstar producer duo the Neptunes has crafted songs for a Who's Who of chart stalwarts that includes Mariah Carey, Gwen Stefani, Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z, often by sonically channeling '80s new wave and '70s funk into cutting-edge hip-hop infused pop.

In the new film "Love Crime," actress Ludivine Sagnier plays a meek junior financial executive steamrollered by a powerful superior (Kristin Scott Thomas) who frequently takes credit for her ideas. The two find themselves locked in an escalating feud fueled by ambition, jealousy and something resembling desire. But when Sagnier appeared this summer at a Los Angeles Film Festival screening of the movie, which arrives on VOD and in Los Angeles theaters next week, she coyly told the audience, "No matter what you see, I'm innocent.

Countless filmmakers pen love letters to New York and Paris. But when it comes to cinematic valentines, Los Angeles often seems like that reliable best gal pal who rarely gets to be the main squeeze. Sure, Quentin Tarantino often sets his violent comedies here, and Paul Thomas Anderson is attracted to some of the Southland's more isolated residential spaces. Frequently, though, the City of Angels feels more like a setting of convenience, rather than purpose. As the Los Angeles Film Festival swings into high gear this weekend downtown and continues through June 26, Angelenos will have multiple chances to see their city on screen from a fresh perspective.

MOVIES More than 200 features, documentaries, shorts and music videos will screen during Film Independent's 17th annual Los Angeles Film Festival. The 10-day event opens with the world premiere of Richard Linklater's "Bernie," starring Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey. L.A. Live. 800 W. Olympic Blvd. (screenings at various venues, check website for full schedule). Tickets $5-13; passes $100-$3,000. Thurs.-June 26. (866) 345-6337. http://www.lafilmfest.com.

In a move that could bring millions of dollars in consumer spending to downtown, the Los Angeles Film Festival announced Thursday that it was leaving Westwood Village and bringing its June festival to L.A. Live and other downtown venues. Now the real challenge is getting traffic-phobic industry types to come east of Robertson. For the last four years, LAFF has been centered near UCLA, but festival organizers worried that with prominent Westwood theaters closing down they would struggle to accommodate the festival's 85,000 attendees and more than 200 features, shorts and music videos.

The Los Angeles Film Festival strives to be both urban and urbane with its move downtown and a far-ranging program of foreign films and documentaries. But take a closer look and you'll notice that this event covets the Comic-Con crowd as well. If you need proof, take note of the fact that at one major screening this year, fans who come dressed as Darth Vader or Yoda get free popcorn — and that's not even a joke. The festival, which runs through June 27, closes with a Nokia Theatre screening of "Despicable Me," the animated superhero farce starring Steve Carell; plus, on Wednesday, the festival hosts the West Coast premiere of "The People vs. George Lucas," a documentary that delves into the complicated legacy of the "Star Wars" films (and, yes, this is the show where anyone in costume gets free popcorn)

While film festivals are most commonly thought of as launching pads for filmmakers, they also serve as stages to break out performers as well. This year's Los Angeles Film Festival may give just such a boost to an actress appearing in two films — Trieste Kelly Dunn. Writer-director Aaron Katz's slacker detective yarn "Cold Weather" was the toast of this spring's South by Southwest Film Festival, and much of the movie's emotional resonance comes from the performances by Dunn and Cris Lankenau, who play a sister and brother searching for a missing friend.

A documentary about two Japanese American twin sisters with cystic fibrosis, a visit to an unfinished Cuban school of the arts and a poignant examination of the long-forgotten cremated remains of former patients at a mental hospital are among the feature and short films that will be presented during the International Documentary Assn.'s 15th annual DocuWeeks Theatrical Documentary Showcase that opens Friday at Laemmle's Sunset 5 and continues through...

"Sorry I look like a hooker," deadpans Emma Stone, her lips a shade of candy apple red, as she rushes into the bar at the Sunset Tower hotel. She's wearing the bright lipstick, she explains, because she has just come from taping an interview with Jay Leno, the umpteenth late-night appearance the 22-year-old actress had booked in recent weeks to promote the three films she is in this summer: "Friends With Benefits," "Crazy, Stupid, Love" and "The...

Following the screening of the new film "Terri" at the Los Angeles Film Festival last week, the cast and crew mingled with the audience as viewers made their way toward the exit. Jacob Wysocki, the 21-year-old newcomer who plays the title character, politely stepped aside so a fan could take a photo with his Academy Award-nominated costar John C. Reilly. It was a small gesture that spoke volumes, the sort of moment that could play out in the film itself. Directed by Azazel Jacobs, "Terri" stars Wysocki as an awkward adolescent tasked with caring for an uncle (Creed Bratton from "The Office")

In the blithe romantic comedy "Habana Eva," playing Friday and Saturday at the Los Angeles Film Festival , the frisky, young Cuban heroine faces several thorny choices. Should she stand by her loyal-but-lethargic Cuban boyfriend, or bed down with a rich, dashing Venezuelan photographer? Stick with her seamstress job in a state-run factory, or take the plunge into entrepreneurial capitalism by becoming a fashion designer? Hold fast to the old revolutionary ideals, or embrace the new spirit of globalization that's encroaching on Cuba like the waves pounding the Malecon sea wall?

Countless filmmakers pen love letters to New York and Paris. But when it comes to cinematic valentines, Los Angeles often seems like that reliable best gal pal who rarely gets to be the main squeeze. Sure, Quentin Tarantino often sets his violent comedies here, and Paul Thomas Anderson is attracted to some of the Southland's more isolated residential spaces. Frequently, though, the City of Angels feels more like a setting of convenience, rather than purpose. As the Los Angeles Film Festival swings into high gear this weekend downtown and continues through June 26, Angelenos will have multiple chances to see their city on screen from a fresh perspective.

Los Angeles Film Festival When: Thursday-June 26 Where: Regal Cinemas L.A. Live, other downtown venues and the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre Tickets: $13-$18 for adults; $5 for children ages 12 and younger For more information: Call (866) Lafilmfest or visit lafilmfest.com

Richard Linklater is trying hard to be Zen about his most recent experience in the unforgiving world of independent film. The director of "Slacker" and "Before Sunrise" — now 50 and long removed from the time, in the mid-1990s, when he was hailed as the filmmaking voice of a generation — has just completed his 16th picture. A low-budget dark comedy called "Bernie" starring Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey and Shirley MacLaine, the movie was a steep climb even by his standards of scrappy filmmaking.