Everything You Need to Know About the Sunscreen Film Festival

Originally posted at 4:16 p.m. Oct. 6, 2014. Edited to add new photo.

From a press release:

The second annual Sunscreen Film Festival West will take place in the South Bay Oct. 10-12, it was announced today by co-founders Robert Enriquez and Tony Armer.

Competitive categories for this year’s festival include Narrative Feature, Documentary Feature, Animated Short, Documentary Short, Experimental Short & Music Video, and Narrative Short.

The public is invited to attend screenings of the competing films, as well as a robust lineup of workshops and panels dedicated to various aspects of the art of filmmaking, Oct. 10-12 at the Hermosa Beach Civic Theater and Hermosa Beach Community Center, both located at 710 Pier Avenue, Hermosa Beach.

“We are very pleased with the vast array of films that were submitted for this, our second annual festival, and are proud to present a lineup that includes something for everyone,” said Enriquez. Added Armer, “In addition to the films, last year our workshops and panels proved to be so popular that we have expanded that roster for this year’s event. So, come for the films and stay for the workshops.”

This year’s festival roster includes films in all categories featuring a “Who’s Who” of top-notch onscreen, directing and producing talent, including: Sean Penn, Ed Asner, Christopher Lloyd, Cathy Moriarty, Russell Brand, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Gael Garcia Bernal, William Devane, Tommy Chong, Howie Mandel, Sally Field, Cliff Robertson, Gregory Harrison, Raul Esparza, Vanessa Williams, James Darren, Sean Stone and Alysia Reiner, plus many others.

This year’s festival will feature compelling workshops on important aspects of the business, including: specialty acting for action/adventure films; screenwriting for film and for television; music sourcing and licensing; acting; talent representation; how to get your film made, and film distribution. E! News’ Ken Baker will lead a session on producing content for online audiences, and SSFF will present its first-ever panel of accomplished film and television directors. The festival will also feature a writing pitch session during which a limited number of participants will have the opportunity to pitch a panel of industry professionals led by Mitchell Bell, Marvel Studios’ Vice President of Physical Production.

A complete list of films and screening schedule can be found at www.ssffwest.com, along with the roster of workshops and panels. All are included with a VIP pass, which can be purchased at the website, along with access to the VIP lounge where actors directors, producers and VIP guests will mingle between screenings and other events.

This year’s festival lineup:

Narrative Features

· “Gato Negro” -- The life of Tito Pereya from his childhood with an absent father until the 1980s in Buenos Aires, Argentina, when democracy was restored. In Spanish with subtitles.
· “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” -- Three Texas teens get sucked into organized crime when one of them steals from the wrong man. William Devane co-stars.
· “Lies I Told My Little Sister” -- After the death of her oldest sister, a globe-trotting nature photographer takes a family trip to Cape Cod along with the younger sister she used to torment.
· “The Shower” -- A group of friends is trapped at a baby shower amid a mysterious outbreak that turns people into homicidal maniacs.
· “Double Booked” -- A tight-knit group of friends is taken captive while on vacation at a cabin and must discover their captors’ motivation before they’re eliminated one by one.
· “Oi aisthimaties (The Sentimentalists)“ -- An aged black-market trader lives in a luxurious beachfront villa with his teenage daughter and two henchmen, each of whom has a secret. In Greek with subtitles.
· “Hoovey” -- Based on the book “Rebounding from Death’s Door” by Jeff Elliott, this film follows a promising high-school basketball player and his family after his surgery for a life-threatening brain tumor. Starring Patrick Warburton and Lauren Holly. Directed by Sean McNamara (“Soul Surfer”).


Documentary Features

· “The Human Experiment” – Academy Award-winning actor Sean Penn narrates this documentary that explores chemicals found in everyday household products.
· “Who Is Dayani Cristal?” -- A decomposing man’s body in the Arizona desert leads dedicated forensic investigators, director Marc Silver and Mexican actor and activist Gael Garcia Bernal to retrace his steps and give him an identity.
· “Perseverance: The Story of Dr. Billy Taylor” -- The turbulent life of the All-American University of Michigan running back.
· “Rosa Ventorum” -- Some say that architecture is music frozen in stone. Music inspires architects and cathedrals inspire composers who write music for the king of musical instruments: the organ. In Spanish with subtitles.
· “Something You Can Call Home” -- Filmmaker Rebecca Kenyon spends a year with homeless people in Wilmington, N.C.
· “Las Marthas” -- For more than a hundred years, Mexican-American girls in Laredo, Texas, have undergone an extraordinary rite of passage: debuting in a grand ball dressed as American revolutionaries.
· “American Road” -- A look at the mystique of the road, especially going off the beaten track, in art, music, literature and American lore. Featuring Ed Asner.
· “Accidental Icon: The Real Gidget Story” -- The true story of 1950s Malibu surfer Kathy Kohner Zuckerman, who became the basis of a national cultural phenomenon.
· “Gone South: How Canada Invented Hollywood” -- A comedic and investigative look at the influence Canadians have had on the development of American pop culture. Featuring Tracy Thomas, Neve Campbell and Tommy Chong.
· “Billy Mize and the Bakersfield Sound” -- A biography and tribute to the career of Billy Mize, who helped found a raw-edged style of country music, endured family tragedy and nearly lost his ability to sing. Featuring Merle Haggard.
· “A Royal Hangover” -- A look at the UK’s ambivalent culture around alcohol, featuring Russell Brand.


Animated Shorts

· “I Need My Monster” -- Based on the book of the same title written by Amanda Noll and illustrated by Howard McWilliam.
· “Monstro!” -- A scientific expedition searches for a mythic creature on the dark Amazon.
· “Celestial” -- A supernatural being has a destructive obsession to replicate a beautiful distant star.
· “Locked” -- A man sorts through a room full of keys in hopes of finding the one to release him from confinement.
· “Dinner for Few” -- A sociopolitical metaphor of the world as a formal dinner takes an unexpected turn when there is no more food to be served.
· “Treasure Nest” -- Blue and Peanut take a 3D journey in search of hidden treasure.
· “Yours, Mime and Ours” -- A clown father tries to understand his mime daughter.
· “Something Important” -- A personal journey of self-discovery depicted as a tapestry of memories combining hand-drawn elements with composite photo-realistic scenes.
· “Fluffo” -- A showbiz bunny in a popular magic show plots to escape the magician’s hat and return to the wild.
· “Load” -- A man sinking under the weight of his own memories discovers what he will give up in order to survive.
· “Mike & Wayne: The Grind” -- These two try to rob the local liquor store, which has the best defenses imagination can provide.


Documentary Shorts

· “Land Meets Sea”
· “Nomad’s Land” -- Enter the unique world of nomads through the eyes of missionaries dedicated to reaching them.
· “Drill, Spill, Repeat?” -- A look at the BP oil spill four years later through the struggles of Gulf communities.
· “Ocean Connectors” -- A short about the non-profit program that uses migratory marine life to educate and connect youth in coastal communities in California and Mexico.
· “Downtown by Lamplight”
· “A Broadway Lullaby” -- Follow “Over the Moon: The Broadway Lullaby Project” from conception to completion through interviews, rehearsals and behind-the-scenes footage. Featuring Raul Esparza, Sutton Foster, Audra McDonald, Donna Murphy and others.
· “Under Ground” -- A young Chinese musician who lives in New York City dreams of being an indie-rock star. In Chinese with subtitles.
· “The Sarangi Player”
Experimental Shorts and Music Videos
· “Alone”
· “Martin Lunaire”
· “Desert Haiku”
· “Leo Kinsky - I Seek But I Cannot Find”
· “Too Many Nights @ Nuyorican”
· “The Ramona Flowers Tokyo”
· “Unity”


Narrative Shorts

· “Last of You” -- In a devastated world, the developer of a device that allows people to re-experience recorded memories becomes obsessive about the last recollections of his wife. In Hebrew with subtitles.
· “Rooli” -- A cringe-worthy comedy about the roles in our lives. In Finnish with subtitles.
· “The Dead Bird” -- A teenage boy searches for a way out of an unforgiving family situation in rural Australia.
· “Silent Tears” -- The experiences of a young Afghan girl and her brother.
· “Greece” -- On a rainy afternoon in a British nursing home, a woman struggles to make a last connection with her seemingly catatonic mother.
· “Shotgun”
· “Label”
· “Dispossessed”
· “Bingo Night” -- When Ethel is threatened with eviction from her retirement community, her friends become co-conspirators in a heist of the local bingo hall.
· “The Boy and the Bus” -- After his mum dies, Joe won’t give up on a life that has fallen apart.
· “For Family’s Sake” -- Born to a traditional Muslim family, Sama falls in love with Patrick, an all-American boy, even though she is betrothed to a 32-year-old Muslim man.
· “Zombie Elementary” -- A girl afraid of everything ventures out on Halloween to find her missing brother and friends surrounded by child zombies.
· “Into the Night”
· “The Coin” -- A young boy finds balance to his mother’s negativity through the words of wisdom and a magical quarter from a homeless man. Starring Christopher Lloyd and Kathryn Morris.
· “Four Tails” -- The stories of four friends walking their dogs on Hampstead Heath.
· “A Time To” -- A man pulls a gun from his waistband and approaches a gator at a pond in a tense moment. Written and directed by Sunscreen’s executive director Tony Armer.
· “The Red Ball” -- Two siblings are lured in different directions when a bigger red ball interrupts their game of catch.
· “Life Grows On” -- One woman’s journey through life highlighted by her relationship with her hair.
· “Casey”
· “Marie”
· “Eye-Catcher” -- Innocent flirting leads to a misunderstanding with huge consequences on a summer break. In Norwegian with subtitles.
· “Complexion” -- After years of suffering, a woman finally speaks about her stalker and unknowingly uncovers the tormentor’s identity.
· “Zugzwang” -- An anesthesiologist makes a series of deadly decisions one night to save his family. Featuring Joanna Cassidy.
· “The Tablecloth” -- A group of friends sharing life events around a meal become vulnerable when they “take the cover off” and reveal their imperfections.
· “The Story of Milo & Annie” -- Annie, a restless secretary, tries to unravel the mystery of Milo, a young man who hasn’t spoken since he was six years old.
· “Matinee” -- A wife with a struggling movie theater reflects on her marriage to her late husband and learns she must write a new chapter on her own.
· “Coney Island Dreams” -- A young immigrant desperate to return to her native Ireland meets a mysterious man who offers to pay her airfare in exchange for luring a young iron worker to a deserted street.
· “Monkey with a Moustache”
· “Sortie De Route” -- A nightclub singer hits the road with her boyfriend’s henchman. In French with subtitles.
· “La Verifica Notturna” -- Claudio’s nighttime routine is disrupted by alarming phone calls and a surprise police inspection. In Italian with subtitles.
· “reConception” -- A hell-bent bunch of boys breaks into a cargo trailer only to be discovered by the owner’s unexpected return.
· “On the Loose”
· “A Man on the Edge” -- An unexpected stranger interrupts a troubled man contemplating suicide on a clifftop.
· “Override” -- A short film about transgender issues in modern Western culture.
· “Beneath Water”
· “Free Monkeys” -- A successful manager is kidnapped and finds himself in unknown surroundings. In German with subtitles.
· “Tanuki”
· “O-Star” -- Rudy and Ava have four days to make sense of their broken relationship before the end of the world in this rock-music video adventure told through seven original songs.
· “Summer of Tom”
· “Savage Hero” -- Two years after the Sept. 11, 2001, collapse of the World Trade Center, a NYFD battalion chief confronts a widow over something that occurred the day before the terrorist attack.
· “I Know You” -- What if you couldn’t tell the difference between what was real and what was not?
“The Good Neighbor” -- An all-American security guard finishes his night shift at U.S. Customs and Immigration Services. Unfortunately, his new naive Chinese neighbor won’t let him sleep.
· “Taxistop” -- Antoine tests his theories on team-building while carpooling on a long drive to Geneva. In French with subtitles.
· “Regimen”
· “Franky and the Ant” -- Franky wants a lot more than vengeance after he’s been betrayed.
· “Ruprecht” -- A solitary man stands up to the leaf blowers in L.A. in an unusual way.
· “The Sunny Side” -- A little boy sits on a wall, wondering what would become of it all.
· “Back Stock” -- A retail worker quits and should be replaced quickly, if only all the candidates weren’t horrible.
· “Jane St.” -- Two girls are about to drift apart one night because of drugs and one’s manipulative mind.
· “The Lonely Cure” -- A New York City man finds a mysterious company that claims to have a cure for loneliness, but their intentions may be darker than they appeared.
· “No Man Is an Island” -- After a routine doctor’s visit leaves a man with a terminal diagnosis, he spends the next 24 hours trying to wrap his head around the idea of his own impending death
· “Blackout” – An alcoholic musician faces whether to continue on a self-destructive path or take a step toward recovery.
· “B-flat” -- Amar returns to India after 40 years to deliver a mysterious box.
“Default” -- When a destitute man defaults on his student loans, he faces losing the only thing he has left.
· “Will-o’-the-Wisp” -- A young man mourning the death of an old friend sees her in a vision and tries to pursue her.
· “Entanglement” -- A 40-year-old man visiting his estranged father at an assisted living facility unexpectedly falls for the object of his dad’s affections, a sexy senior citizen named Vera.
· “Gh05tW1r3” -- A computer hacker caught between a corrupt government and a vengeful rebellion is forced to help ignite a revolution triggered by his one weakness: love.
· “Apple, Tree” -- A teenage girl shows up at an eccentric woman’s farm, claiming to have a flat tire but seeking the truth behind her parents’ broken relationship.
· “Chimera” – A man hiding underground with a machine that can measure free will grows to understand what he’s really looking for is insanity.
· “Moustache” -- Love at first sight with a dangerous beauty puts a young man’s life at risk in this charming nod to classic Hollywood noir.
· “The Boogeyman” – Truth is only the beginning of the nightmare when renowned psychiatrist tries to determine if a man brutally killed his three children.
· “The Class Analysis” -- In a quiet mining town’s local bar, an argument erupts among a biker from the Aryan Brotherhood, a wealthy black businessman, a peaceful Muslim, a poor Hispanic couple and a Vietnam veteran.
· “Remembering the Fallen” -- A French veteran of World War II remembers a particular day.
· “Ameisenpakt” -- A 16-year-old boy who earns pocket money working the streets makes an unusual pact with some ants, which questions the patterns of our reality. In German with subtitles.
· “Candy Cravings” -- A young cannibal in therapy tries to work through her desire to eat her girlfriend.
· “The Story of M” – A chance encounter at a secondhand store with a woman who smiles like Marilyn, walks like Marilyn and even dresses like Marilyn until reality intervenes.
· “The Man from the City” -- A mysterious businessman visits a small town with questionable intentions as he contemplates leaving city life behind. Featuring Sean Young.
· “Fatty” -- Two high-school losers turn the tables on a carjacker to create the most epic night of their lives.
· “Fruit Flies” – Taxi driver Sedat loses his job and finds himself in an absurd existential crisis until Nina, an escort, needs urgent help with a problem.


About Sunscreen Film Festival West
The Sunscreen Film Festival West is organized and presented by the Sunscreen Film Festival West Society Film Society and, like its sister Sunscreen Film Festival (St. Petersburg-Clearwater-Tampa), is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charity dedicated to education, economic development, informing the public about the art of visual storytelling, enhancing opportunities for local filmmakers to develop their craft and art, and increasing the public’s awareness and support of filmmaking as a cultural and economic asset.

The festivals have grown from a gathering in a St. Petersburg, Fla., art gallery with 600 attendees in 2006 to nationally recognized events on both coasts. Sunscreen is different from other festivals in that guests, in addition to attending screenings of world-class films, are encouraged to take part in workshops, classes, and other events that support the festival’s mission.