NewFilmmakers Los Angeles' Monthly Film Festival January 14th

    LOS ANGELES, CA, December 30, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Shorts Program #1: Infocus : Counter Ageism

Oasis - directed by Samantha Drake
Samantha Drake is a filmmaker and visual artist, and a graduate of Wright State University's Motion Picture Production program. She recently was granted an artist residency at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, OH and is a recipient of the Levin Family Foundation grant for first-time filmmakers and the Carol Trevino grant for women in film. She has gained experience in screenwriting, short film directing, documentary, editing, and post-production.

Where We Begin - directed by HIKARI (Mitsuyo Miyazaki)
HIKARI is a writer, director, producer, and cinematographer with background as an actress, dancer, photographer, painter and costume designer. Her debut short film Tsuyako screened at film festivals worldwide, and won 43 awards including the DGA Award for the Best Female Student Filmmaker, Future Filmmakers Award and Audience Award at Palm Spring International Shortfest. The film was qualified for the Oscars in 2012 and 2013.

Bonding - directed by Tim Young
Tim Young is a writer and director, primarily of comedic shorts of the web, known for Broad City: Valentine's Day, Behind the Steve, and #Teens. He is a graduate of the film and television program at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.

Dolores - directed by Scarlet Moreno
Scarlet Moreno is an actress, director, and lead singer of the LA based desert rock band, Flowerglass. In 2011, she graduated from TISCH School of the Arts at NYU where she double-majored in Drama and Journalism.

Solitude - directed by Michael Raso
Born in a small town in Victoria, Michael's passion for film came from watching black and white and technicolor films from his father's collection. His short Solitude was accepted into the Academy Award Qualifying Festivals Foyle Film Festival and Ibiza Cinefest Film Festival and screened among others at the IndieFEST Film Awards.

Roxy - Fabien Colas
Fabien Colas is a luxembourgish writer/director, currently living in Los Angeles. He has written/directed/produced a range of short films and promotional videos for British car maker Aston Martin and other luxury brands, as well as being part of several feature films, music videos and documentaries. Among other, Fabien's short ROXY screened at the DC Shorts Film Festival in Washington DC.

Shorts Program #2: Comedies

Bastard - directed by Joe Mackedanz
Filmmaker Joe Mackedanz graduated from Chapman University with a Master's Degree in film. "Ever since I was young I knew I wanted to be a filmmaker. I usually go about explaining that desire one of two ways. The first is the story of my parents getting divorced, in which I turned to watching movies in my cold, dark basement as an escape from it all. The second, less heavy way is by telling the story of actually wearing out the VHS tape of Back to the Future due to excessive screenings. Either way, the dream has never changed and I've followed it blindly ever since. "

Space Face and The Big Eye Crew- directed by Jose Alfredo Garcia
NFMLA Alumni Jose found comfort and independence in books and writing. Living in France and Ireland and traveling all over Europe, Jose became an avid photographer and writer. He graduated LA Film School with a major in directing and a minor in cinematography and production design. He has directed two other short films in addition to his animated series "Space Face and The Big Eye Crew" titled "The Big Poison Con" and "This is My Beloved".

P+V - directed by Michael Lopez
Director/animator/character designer Michael Anthony Lopez recently graduated from UCSB with a B.A. in Film and Media Studies. He wrote and directed two short films and has done art direction for nine others. "Film is what makes me happiest, and you have to do what you love! I want to inspire and move people with the films I make."

Jolly Bolly Friday - directed by Weston Razooli
Los Angeles based director and writer Weston Razooli grew up in Park City, Utah. Along with film direction and writing, Weston works in illustration, production design, costume design, and film graphics. His works have shown at the Lower East Side Film Festival, Las Vegas Film Festival, Los Angeles Lift Off Film Festival, Tokyo Lift Off Film Festival, Juxtapose Magazine, FOX, The Up-Turn..

McGruff - directed by D Andrew Price
D Andrew Price is a writer, filmmaker, and social media expert living in Los Angeles, CA. He has a BFA in Creative Writing from Full Sail University, and works as a social media strategist and data analyst. He also writes/directs/edits short films and sketch comedy for YouTube, executive produces and writes for an animated web series titled, "Grandma VS the Internet," and wrote the screenplay for a feature film title, "Trigger" going into production mid-2017.

Alex At Noon - directed by James Skinner
James Skinner is a filmmaker/actor based in Los Angeles. He is currently collaborating with artist Paul McCarthy on a feature film. He is a member of SAG-AFTRA. NewFilmmakers Los Angeles' monthly film festival will be the world premier of his short Alex At Noon.

Shorts Program #3: Comedies:

Into the Ground - directed by David Tuil
In 2012, Writer/director/producer David Tuil graduated from the French Cinema School ESRA in Paris with an MA in audiovisual production and in 2013, he started his own business, Or Films, in order to produce his films. David is the co-founder and executive producer of the Youtube Channel NOU created in 2016 (35 millions views in 6 months.)

The Sixth Lead - directed by Rick Glassman
Director/Actor/Comedian Rick Glassman's first big time opportunity as a comedic tv presence was when he landed the role of Burski on NBC's Undateable. He is a sitcom star. Undateable is an ensemble based situational-comedy series. He will appear in the 2017 Netflix film adaption of the book A Futile and Stupid Gesture.

Northwest Mini U-Store: No Hidden Fees! - directed by Michael Ward
Michael Ward was born and raised in Portland, OR, and got his Bachelor's degree in film production from USC. He returned to Portland and has been working as a film and commercial editor since 2010. In 2013, Michael edited the feature film Birds of Neptune, directed by Stephen Richter and featuring Kurt Conroyd in a decidedly non-comedic role. Michael and Kurt met for the first time when the film premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in 2014, after which they teamed up again for No Hidden Fees this past year.

Namcar Night Race - directed by Lance Khazei
Emmy nominated writer/director/producer Lance Khazei has created, developed, and written television comedy for among others Fox, ABC, MTV, Disney Animation, Dreamworks, and NBC Studios. He has written late night and sketch comedy for Chevy Chase, John Leguizamo, and Bill Maher, as well as animated shorts for Robin Williams, and written feature films for MGM, Warner Brothers, and Columbia Pictures. Before working in the entertainment industry, he graduated from Harvard with honors and worked for City Year, a domestic Peace Corps.

The Meltdown - directed by Connor Kerrigan
Connor Kerrigan is a Los Angeles based filmmaker and comedian. His passion for both comedy and visual spectacle is what motivates all of his work. He is currently attending the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Having had experience in stand-up, improv, and sketch comedy allows Connor to fuse the art forms of visual effects, animation, and comedy in order to create films unlike anything else being done right now.

Feature Program:

Delinquent - directed by Kieran Valla
Kieran Valla is accomplished in film, commercial and web production. He is a graduate of Hofstra University's Television/Film Bachelor of Science program and The American Film Institute's MFA Directing program. His films have screened at festivals around the world, including the Austin Film Festival and Interfilm in Berlin, and have won several awards such as Best Writing at Vision Fest in New York City. Most recently Kieran directed a sketch that has reached Immortal status on FUNNY OR DIE and a horror-comedy pilot presentations starring Aubrey Plaza, Jack McBrayer and Nathan Fillion.

Located in Downtown LA, South Park Center is the Presenting Venue Sponsor of NewFilmmakers LA film festival. Founded in 2007, NFMLA has screened over 1750+ films from over 69 countries. The organization provides a forum where filmmakers can be recognized with title supporters SAG-AFTRA and FilmLA. For information or to reserve tickets to the NewFilmmakers LA January 14th, 2017 Film Festival, please visit http://www.NFMLA.org

# # #