The 2018 Los Angeles Film Festival will take place during awards season rather than in June like prior years, it was announced today.
As such, the 2018 LA Film Festival will run September 20-28, 2018. This gives the festival a prime opportunity to showcase potential Oscar films in late September rather than serve as the launching point of films that tend to run LA-centric. In recent years, studios have used Venice, Telluride, Toronto, and New York to launch their Oscar film campaigns. The move will put LA on the same footing with a prime opportunity to launch an Oscar campaign.
The move also serves as a benefit to those filmmakers busy with film production from early spring through late fall.
“The secret to dramatically changing something is to change it,” LA Film Festival Director Jennifer Cochis said of the move in a blog post. “The time for evolution has come. Film Independent is so proud of the work we’ve done in showcasing new American and international cinema that embraces diversity, innovation and unique perspectives. But the fact remains that summer is a challenging time for artist-driven films, and fall is clearly where we belong.”
Arclight Cinemas will still be the main cinema screening the films during the festival. The festival announced an extension with Arclight for another three years.
“We’re proud to be the hub of the LA Film Festival,” says Gretchen McCourt, ArcLight Cinemas Executive Vice President. “It’s partnerships like this that continue to make our programming unique. We couldn’t be more thrilled to be with them [the LA Film Festival] on this journey.”
The festival also announced that they will be accepting film submissions through Withoutabox.
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