North Hollywood, California - The sixteenth annual Valley Film Festival
(VFF) announces its feature selections and complete line-up.
VFF returns in full force
with a five-day festival showcasing over 50 of the best independent films, from
the (818) and from around the world, September 28-October 2 at Laemmle NoHo7 in
the NoHo Arts District. Tickets are $12 and available at ValleyFilmFest.com.
The Festival kicks off
Opening Night, Wednesday, September 28, with the dramatic feature, A LIFE
LIVED, the story of a single dollar and the many lives it passes along the way.
Directed by Riley Wood and produced by Chris Cashman (VFF07, Carts) A Life Lived features Denise Richards (Wild Things, Love, Actually),
Jennifer Taylor (Two and a Half Men),
Brendan McCarthy (True Blood), Lili
Bordan (Battle Star Galactica: Blood and
Chrome) and Marshall Manesh (How I
Met Your Mother, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's
End).
Currently nominated for an
Emmy in the Outstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama Series category, HER STORY,
Directed by Sydney Freeland, lights up the NoHo7 screen with the friendship of
two trans women in Los Angeles who have given up on love, when chance
encounters give them hope. Executive produced by Eve Ensler (“The Vagina
Monologues”) and Katherine Fisher, the cast includes Jen Richards and Laura
Zak.
VFF16’s Centerpiece Screenings
include the World Premiere of BADSVILLE, Directed by April Mullen, about a
violent greaser gang ripped apart when their leader finds love and is
determined to leave BADSVILLE - a town where love doesn't exist. Cast: Robert
Knepper (Prison Break, Heroes) Emilio
Rivera (Sons of Anarchy) and Tamara
Duarte (Degrassi: The Next Generation)
and ELECTRIC SLIDE, a chronicle of the life of furniture salesman turned bank
robber Eddie Dodson, Directed by Tristan Patterson and featuring Jim Sturgess (Cloud Atlas, 21) Chloë Sevigny (Bloodline, Big Love, American Horror Story)
Isabel Lucas (Red Dawn, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), Kate Micucci (Garfunkle
and Oates, The Big Bang Theory) and Academy Award Winner, Patricia Arquette
(Boyhood, Medium, True Romance).
The World Premiere of DRUGS
& OTHER LOVE, Directed by Noah Applebaum, closes out The 2016 Valley Film
Festival. In this comedy, a
charming, terrible older sibling keeps his stoner brother high on drugs so he
can win the heart of a lady dope dealer who happens to owe money to a gangster.
Cast: Noah Applebaum (VFF12, Route 30,
Too, VFF14, Route 30 Three!),
John Weselcouch (The Purge), Angelina
Spicer (Conan, Jimmy Kimmel Live),
Whitney Moore (Birdemic: Shock and
Terror, Birdemic 2: The Resurrection) and Teri Fruichantie (Hollywood is Hard).
The Documentary selections
launch with an intimate oral history of the trials, tribulations, heartbreak
and joy of bringing some of the most iconic and memorable motion pictures to
the screen in IT’S ALWAYS ABOUT THE STORY: CONVERSATIONS WITH ALAN LADD, JR.,
Directed by Stanley Isaacs, featuring interviews with Alan Ladd, Jr., Jay
Kanter, Michael Gruskoff and Mel Brooks. “The Creative Life” documentary
program also includes FOSSE: RECREATED, Directed by Wolfgang Glattes (All That Jazz, Star 80, Willy Wonka &
the Chocolate Factory) and #NONAHENDRYX: TRANSORMATION from VFF alumni and
two time Emmy Award winners, Renee Sotile and Mary Jo Godges (VFF06, Christa
McAuliffe: Reach for the Stars).
The Festival remains fully
committed to supporting local independent production by showcasing twenty-six
films made by Angelenos, Vals, and shot in or about the glamorous San Fernando
Valley, while continuing to promote diverse films from around the world, with
shorts from Canada (Chaos Management,
Flush, The Silence), France (West Empire), Germany (Chamber Music), Italy (Black
Comedy), Kazakhstan (The Sky Over
Berlin of my Childhood), Korea (I Am
Grace), Serbia (Play!), Switzerland (Stories Upon Your Lips) and the United
Kingdom (Dead Fred, I Used to be Famous).
Other features include:
BAD PEOPLE/U.S.A./World Premiere (Director: Alex
Petrovitch) - Bad People is a dark
comedy feature film that begs us to laugh at the absurdity that is all around
us: crack smoking politicians, prostitutes turned reality stars, religious
charlatans, sex obsessed online dating, elitist parents, infidelity, and
political correctness. Told through the lens of several short stories, the film
examines the hysterical dark side that permeates our society today. Cast: Ben
Gleib (Showtime's Neurotic Gangster),
Leah McKendrick (Bad Moms) Andy
Mackenzie (HBO's True Detective Season 2),
Christopher Goodman (Showtime's Ray
Donovan), Jason Faunt (Power Rangers
Time Force) and Jordan Wall (A&E's The
Glades).
CHANGEOVER/U.S.A./Los Angeles Premiere (Director
Estes Tarver) - After Haley suffers
the loss of her parents in a fatal car wreck, she moves in with her almost
estranged single uncle and his young son. Together the trio must attempt to
move on and make a life as a new family. Cast: Madeline Taylor (John Adams, The Girl Next Door), Estes
Tarver (Under the Dome, Finding Carter)
and Carter Godwin (Solace).
THE RICH WOMAN/Vietnam/World Premiere (Director:
Le-Van Kiet) – When an international
business owner informs authorities that her partner has criminal ties, she is
forced to face her enemy to save her daughter. Cast: Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen, Truong Quynh Anh and Quang Su.
VIRTUAL REVOLUTION/U.S.A./France (Director: Guy-Roger
Duvert) – The year is 2047 and most
of the population spends their time online, connected into virtual worlds where
they can fulfill all of their fantasies, losing all interest for reality and
leaving it to a small minority. A shadow Agent is tracking and eliminating
terrorists who want to destroy this system. Cast: Mike Dopud (Stargate Atlantis, Stargate Universe, 300)
and Jane Badler (V).
THE BUSINESS OF NOSTALGIA/U.S.A./Los Angeles Premiere
(Directed by Mark DiNatale) – This
documentary offers a glimpse into eleven business owners who own, operate, or
create something that harkens back to a previous era.
The Valley Film Festival 2016 will open on Wednesday, September 28 and continue through Sunday, October
2 with daily screenings at the Laemmle NoHo 7, located at 5240 Lankershim Blvd.
in North Hollywood. Tickets are $12. For more information and tickets, visit ValleyFilmFest.com.
THE VALLEY FILM FESTIVAL
2016 SCREENING SCHEDULE
WEDNESDAY – 9/28
8:00 pm - Opening Night Feature: A Live Lived with I Used to Be Famous and Hands
Up (music video)
THURSDAY – 9/29
7:30 pm - Dramatic
Shorts Program: Becoming a Man, Frieda’s Turn, Protocol: New Orleans, Rain, The
Serene Heartache, Shackled, The Sky Over Berlin of my Childhood, Three-Legged
Stool and West Empire.
10:00pm - Feature
Program: Bad People with The Unconventional Gourmet and Dead Fred (Trailer)
FRIDAY – 9/30
7:30pm -
Feature Program: Electric Slide with Welcome to the Party and Stories Upon Your
Lips (music video)
10:00pm -
Feature Program: Virtual Revolution with 2BR02B and Synapse (trailer)
SATURDAY – 10/1
12:00 pm/noon – “The Creative Life” Documentary Program: It’s Always About the Story:
Conversations with Alan Ladd, Jr. with Fosse: Recreated and #NonaHendryx
Transformation
2:00pm –
Feature Program: Changeover with I Am Grace
4:30pm –
“The Past is Present, and for Sale” Documentary Program: The Business of
Nostalgia with Dockery & Son
6:30pm –
Feature Program: The Rich Woman with Boxer and Chaos Management
9:00pm –
Centerpiece Screening: Badsville with Black Comedy and Caihong City (trailer)
SUNDAY - 10/2
12:00 pm/noon – “Voices of Troubled Youth” Documentary Program: Be More with The
Silence and Play!
2:00pm –
Celebrating the LGBTQ Community: Her Story with The Prisoner
3:45pm – Girls
on Film Shorts Program: Chamber Music, Chippy, Doble 9, Fanny Pack, Flush,
Jordan Almonds, The Last Course, Slow Fade to Autumn and Tea & Therapy
6:00pm –
Closing Night Program: Drugs & Other Love with The Invitation to Armageddon
and $5
