Silverlake Film Festival

Silver Lake Film Festival ran from 2000 to 2007. It was a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization established to provide a showcase for cutting-edge independent film, music, digital, and other arts in Los Angeles, California. The Festival was held annually at various venues throughout Los Angeles’ Eastside, showcasing well over 200 narrative features, documentaries and short films. In 2005, in addition to its annual event, SLFF launched a very successful monthly series of short films with curated programs from an international array of filmmakers that is consistently SRO. The 7th annual edition ran for ten days, May 3–12, 2007, and included such varied programming as MP4Fest and MusicFest (two festivals-within-the-festival), along with curated film programs on architecture and design, urban sustainability, and an ASCAP Music Lounge along the lines of those at Tribeca and Sundance Film Festivals.

Silver Lake Film Festival was created specifically to address the lack of opportunity for truly independent films to be seen by audiences in movie theaters. Its mission has been to reflect a personal vision of the filmmaker, rather than a commercial imperative. Ironically, there had been a dearth of this type of film festival in Los Angeles – the film capital of the world – where the prevailing programs bend to either mainstream studio fare or highly niched markets. In fact, the majority of films screened at the annual festival would otherwise never be seen by Los Angeles audiences in any context—in theaters, on TV or DVD, etc.

Silver Lake Film Festival’s name was chosen as emblematic of the entire Eastside community of Los Angeles, roughly that area between Downtown and Hollywood and including the historic communities of Echo Park, Silver Lake and Los Feliz. This area is bounded by major movie studios, including NBC Universal and Paramount Pictures, and is the site of the historic birthplace of cinema in Los Angeles. Since their establishment in the early 20th century, Silver Lake and its surrounding environs have had a reputation for avant-garde arts, a pronounced multiculturalism, a large gay and lesbian community, and staunchly progressive politics.

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