Los Angeles Film Festival - the 5th Annual Cinema at the Edge (CATE) celebrates filmmakers.

Santa Monica, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/06/2017 -- This year, the Cinema at the Edge Film Festival, founded by Festival Director Michelle Danner, will screen domestic and international films from over a dozen different countries. The program includes features and short films with genres ranging from Comedy, Horror, Action, Romance and Drama. The documentaries cover powerful, controversial and socially prominent topics that spark conversations regarding the Refugee Crisis in Syria, LGBTQ Rights, racial discrimination, and women's inequality.

Previous years at CATE featured audience favorites from Sundance, SXSW and other major festivals, while maintaining a focus on world or regional premieres, challenging films that deserve a second look, and showcasing local artists. CATE has become a platform for artists to showcase their creativity through film and about the voices that need to be heard.

Jury and Audience awards will be given to the best film in each category. All selected filmmakers will benefit from networking opportunities, packed screenings and the festival's signature pub crawl. Our Panels and Juries have included executives at film distribution companies which will give each filmmaker the opportunity to get distribution.

Located in the heart of the Westside of Los Angeles on Santa Monica's Main Street minutes away from the beach and housed at the Edgemar Center for the Arts, a two theatre and art gallery complex designed by Frank Gehry, Cinema at the Edge offers plenty to see and experience. At the center's inaugural ceremony Steven Spielberg welcomed cinema fans and noted, "Here we have a venue that can turn out some extremely experienced, daring and resourceful artists."

The 2017 Cinema at the Edge Film Festival is sponsored by Final Draft, AMC Theaters, Fork in the Road, Bareburger, and Brick + Mortar.

About Cinema at the Edge
Cinema at the Edge prides itself in giving all films screened at the festival equal opportunity to secure distribution. Many films that have screened at larger festivals have another chance at CATE to connect with audiences and to gain exposure and additional opportunities for global distribution.

Edgemar Center for the Arts is located at 2437 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90405. There is parking in a lot immediately adjacent to the Center (fee charged) as well as metered parking (24 hours) in a nearby municipal lot. There is also limited street parking. There are many nearby dining options, including the Brick + Mortar restaurant next door.

Screenings take place in two auditoria.

Here is the schedule of ticket prices for the Festival:

ADMISSION:
$12 - Per screening
$150 - VIP Festival Badge (access to all screenings and events)
$50 - Short Film Buff Badge (access to all short film entries)
$50 - Documentarian Badge (access to all documentaries)
$50 - Feature Film Enthusiast Badge (access to all features)
$50 - 5 Movie Passes Badge (access to any five films in the festival)

Tickets can be acquired either by going to edgemarcenter.org, or by using this link: Eventbrite

The box office phone number is 310-392-7327.

Here is the schedule of events:

Friday, April 28, 2017

5:00 p.m.
SHORT BLOCK 2
1 | Radiant
Director - Caroline Miller
4m // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: A girl enters a dark, desolate town and decides to change it by taking matters into her own hands.

2 | Strangers
Director: Bernd Capitain and Paul Falk
14m08s // 2016 // Germany
Synopsis: young Swedish musician is traveling around Germany playing concerts. During his travel he finds a stranger in the back of his car. For a second you can see a knife in the strangers hand. Black. Then the young musician finds the stranger in the back of his car again, now sleeping. You witness the story of two strangers trying to get to know each other, and help the other to fulfill his dream. However something is very strange…find out!

3 | Names On The Wall
Directors: Koura Lina
25m34s // 2016 // Sweden
Synopsis: Two soldiers fighting on opposite sides of the Vietnam War find themselves faced with a choice, in the place where humanity ends and war begins.

4 | The Mother
Director - Paolo Monico
11m5s // 2015 // USA
Synopsis: When a hardened widow receives an unexpected visit, she is given the chance to shed light on her husband's death.

5 | This Modern Man is Beat
Director: Alex Merkin
17m12s // 2015 // USA
Synopsis: In a world of cultural confusion and erroneous judgment, Habib bin Habib al Fulan pawns his guitar and reconciles with his wife.

6 | This Path
Directors: Meko Winbush
17m // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: A chance encounter will give Detective Davis and the man she has arrested a hard lesson in cause and effect.

7 | One Day
Directors: Max Sznewajs
9m // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: Michael and Stephanie are two terminally ill cancer patients who sneak out of the hospital for one last day.

5:00 p.m.

DOCUMENTARY BLOCK 1
1 | Inventory
Director: Trevor Kyle Hansford
6 min. 32 s // USA
Synopsis: Social Black Parental Commentary through the lens of a middle aged father, who has realized he misled his children in terms of how they are perceived by fearful and hateful Americans. A father bears his soul, pain, fear and regret for not preparing them for the eventual institutionalized racism they would face as they grew into adulthood.

2 | American Psychosis
Director: Amanda Zackem
14 min 43 s // 2017 // USA
Synopsis: Pulitzer Prize winning Journalist, Author and Activist Chris Hedges, discusses modern day consumerism, totalitarian corporate power and living in a culture dominated by pervasive illusion.

3 | The Listen Project - The First Five Years
Director: Gary Bassin
1hr 15 min // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: As electrical, vibrational beings on the most minute cellular level, music from whatever genre, is an expression of the human spirit at its most basic. The Listen Project is an ongoing journey and ever growing borderless library of intimate and rarely seen performances from musicians and other artists from every corner of the globe. It is a celebration of our musical and cultural diversity and an effort to accent the positive human spirit that exists in the world for future generations to come.

7:00 p.m.

SHORT BLOCK 3
1 | Cleaning
Director - Gil Ben-Harosh
7m 42s // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: A cleaning lady's day brightens up when she sees dancers practicing their routine at a dance studio.

2 | The Retriever
Director: Nicholas Thurkettle
5m 20s // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: : A hit man for a prominent mob family is walking to where he buried a body of a snitch. The dialogue is between his phone the entire time.

3 | Dry
Directors: Jacob Hurwitz-Goodman
14m 34s // 2014 // USA
Synopsis: In a Los Angeles that has run completely out of water, Oscar and Claire have some unfinished business.

4 | 9 ½ Lives
Director - Dave Anderson
3m 33s // 2016 // PERU
Synopsis: A study for the routinely excellent podcast Tangentially Speaking. Starring cyberspace supernovas Joe Rogan and Duncan Trussell, host Dr Christopher Ryan, author of New York TImes best seller Sex at Dawn, recalls the first tug of "animal magnetism". After this you'll understand why "heavy petting" was banned from your local swimming pool.

5 | Helping Hands
Director: Mike Jacobson
15m 39s // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: An aspiring filmmaker learns the value of being a production assistant on a professional movie set.

6 | Panofsky's Complaint
Directors: Peter Mackie
10m 11s // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: A doorman for a luxury apartment building faces police interrogation after he snaps on the subway during a confrontation with a wealthy couple.

7 | Arranged
Directors: Mayank Bhatter
10m 25s // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: Anita's parents want her to get married. She doesn't want to. Her parents threaten to take away her inheritance if she doesn't get married. They arrange her with a gay man. They don't know he's gay. They decide to get married.

7:00 p.m.

Good Bones
Director - Tim Bohn
85 min // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: Danny O'Brien dedicates one last summer to his family's Hamptons real estate business - and to his father Joes' seemingly obsolete values: poetry, integrity, and community.

9:00 p.m.

Happy Hunting
Director - Joe Dietsch & Louie Gibson
89 min // 2017 // USA
Synopsis: Happy Hunting follows Warren, a degenerate drifter, suffering from debilitating alcohol withdrawals on a daily basis. On his way down to Mexico, he becomes stranded in Bedford Flats, a one-horse town nestled deep in the American desert. It was a once-prosperous hunting community that has been reduced to an impoverished dust bowl. Unfortunately for Warren, it turns out that the town's pastime is rounding up drifters and hunting them as part of an elaborate sporting event. To make matters worse, he'll go into alcoholic withdrawal unless he finds a way to stay loaded. It all builds to a blood-soaked, live-or-die showdown in the desert.

9:00 p.m.

Liberated: The New Sexual Revolution
Director: Benjamin Nolot
90 min // USA
Synopsis: Liberated: The New Sexual Revolution is a documentary about today's young adult hookup culture. The film follows the journey of college students during their Spring Break revelries, offering an insightful look into their attitudes and behaviors regarding sex. It is an honest and raw depiction of this casual sex environment where sexual violation has become normal. Liberated widens the view of today's hookup culture by examining the role of pop-culture in shaping conceptions of gender and sexuality that are foundational to this new sexual revolution.

Saturday, April 29, 2017

10 a.m.
Filmmakers Breakfast.

12 NOON

DOCUMENTARY BLOCK 2
1 | Blind Sushi
Director: Eric Heimbold
17 min // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: A blind adventure writer and the first sustainable sushi chef search for enlightenment in the murky depths off the New England coast.

2 | Refuge
Director: Matthew K. Firpo
20 min // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: Refuge is a chronicle of human stories from the European Refugee Crisis, focused on humanity and hope. Shot on location in Greece, January 2016.

3 | Special Blood
Director: Natalie Metzger
1hr // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: A poignant, no-holds-barred documentary chronicling the lives of four patients with a dramatic, rare disease. Struggling to be heard by an ignorant healthcare system, they join their voices together to conquer adversity and create change.

12 NOON

DOCUMENTARY BLOCK 3
1 | An Undeniable Voice
Director - Price Arana
15m41s // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: Sam Harris, believed to be one of the youngest to survive the camps during the Holocaust, shares his amazing story of survival with philanthropist and activist Sharon Stone.

2 | The Winds of Downhill
Director - Todd Wider, Jedd Wider, and Brian Ariotti 14m 47s // 2017 // USA
Synopsis: Seven homeless people share their views on life, art and beauty, as well as their fears and dreams, at a New York City soup kitchen. We are reminded that all people, regardless of how poor or mentally ill, have humanity, and it is this humanity that allows one to see the poetry that surrounds us all, despite the desperation of one's own circumstance.

3 | Requiem for My Mother
Director: David Haugland
57 min // 2016 // USA
U.S. Premiere
Synopsis: Moving story of composer Stephen Edwards and his musical quest to deal with the loss of his mother, who was a noted choral conductor. Film covers the struggles of composing a major work in her honor, and getting a choir of almost 200 Americans prepared to perform at a famous festival in Vatican City for a performance that was broadcast worldwide.

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2:00 P.M.
Cold Breath
Directed by Abbas Raziji
1h23m // 2016 // Iran
Synopsis: Maryam haS been past thirty. The woman who was born as a girl but…she passed her puberty like a boy and in the way of love and subsistence she tried hard every day just like a male….

2:00 p.m.

DOCUMENTARY BLOCK 4

1 | Bola
Director - Ian Cumming
27m35s // 2017 // USA
Synopsis: The story of LA's best street soccer team as they compete for a shot at the world finals.

2 | Elias' Stand
Director: Jyllian Gunther
11 min // 2017 // USA
Synopsis: Elias is kid with a mission. Since realizing where meat came from at four years of age, Elias has been a passionate vegetarian, vocal about his love of animals. However, his younger brother Theo remains unconvinced. Despite their differences, the boys band together for Elias's latest venture: fundraising for a local animal sanctuary.

3 | The Memory of Fish
Directors: Jennifer Galvin & Sachi Cunningham
54m // 2016 // USA
U.S. Premiere
Synopsis: The Memory of Fish is a documentary portrait of one man, the wild salmon he loves, and his fight to free a river.

4:00 p.m.
PANEL

6:00 p.m.
That's Not Me
Director: Gregory Erdstein
85 min // 2017 // Australia, USA
Synopsis: Polly's dreams of making it as an actor are shattered when her identical twin sister Amy lands a plum role in an HBO show and starts dating Jared Leto. Mistaken for her famous sister at every turn, Polly decides to use her sister's celebrity for her own advantage – free clothes, free booze, casual sex... with disastrous consequences for them both.

6:00 p.m.

SHORT BLOCK 4
1 | Split Costs
Director: Jeffrey Blake Palmer
24m10s // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: TWO JOURNEYS. ONE RIDE. Two young women from disparate backgrounds share a ride to western Massachusetts in this award-winning story of unexpected friends navigating life's bumpy roads and moving forward with hope.

2 | 1/2 Nelson
Director: Ruben Languren
14m30s // 2017 // USA
Synopsis: A young man grieving the recent loss of his mother, goes to a party in hopes of rekindling an old ?ame, but things take a dark turn when an uninvited guest shows up.

3 | Kid Gloves
Directors: Trace Taylor
10m // 2016 // UK
Synopsis: A conversation with a young female neighbour touches something hidden deep within Merle. The lonely elderly woman is buoyed and enlivened by the contact. Merle begins making plans, projecting her hopes and dreams onto the young mother. Could this be her chance to put things right?.

4 | They Will All Die in Space
Director: Javier Chillon
14m47s // 2015 // Spain
Synopsis: The starship Tantalus drifts through space.

5 | Blood, Sweat & Years
Director: Matthew Boda
27m10s // 2017 // USA
Synopsis: Two brothers must set aside a lifelong feud and learn to work together to save their younger brother's body from being embalmed against his wishes...

8:00 p.m.

Not Black Enough
Director: Tracey Anarella
83 min // 2017 // USA
World Premiere
Synopsis: Not Black Enough is a film about class warfare and the cross-tides that African-Americans are dealing with within the black community. The film takes a sometimes humorous, always personal, brutally honest and insightful look into a seldom-explored phenomenon that is pervasive in the black culture- The ostracizing of blacks for being Not Black Enough. Not Black Enough, a feature length documentary, will explore the reasons behind this practice of fear and loathing internal to the black community.

8:00 p.m.

SHORT BLOCK 5
1 | Mind Your Body
Director: Silke C. Engler
22m 21s // 2016 // GERMANY
Synopsis: Jo is working as a trainer at the Fitness Company "Mind Your Body". His consciousness is slipping into the body of a customer and he is doing their sports program for them.

2 | In a Parallel World
Director: Mario Genel
13m 14s // 2016 // MEXICO
Synopsis: In a parallel world follows a homeless American man fleeing a deep crisis in his homeland, only to be met with bigger challenges as he crosses into Mexico.

3 | BiNARY
Directors: Paula Romy Riemann
12m // 2015 // UK, GERMANY
Synopsis: A short drama revolving around gender perceptions and its impact on the people in contemporary society.

4 | Cinephiliac
Director: Matthew Tichenor
33m 30s // 2016 // CANADA
Synopsis: A determined young cinephile chases the man of her dreams through an odyssey of film genres only to be vexed at each turn by her own insecurities.

5 | Disposable Darling
Director: Dan Silov
25m // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: A wealthy and obsessed man struggles to forget his long-lost love, so he buys himself an idealized robotic copy - a replicant - only to realize that love is never about perfection.

10:00 p.m.

Even Lovers Get the Blues
Director: Laurent Micheli
95 min // 2016 // Belgium
Synopsis: Ana is sleeping with Hugo, Dalhia with Graciano, Leo with Louis, and Arthur with everyone. Parties and love affairs lead to heart searching, deep desires and the craving to live life to the full. Even Lovers Get the Blues draws the portrait of the love and sexual lives of disenchanted and passionate young people.
TRAILER // FACEBOOK

10:30 p.m.

SHORT BLOCK- HORROR SHORTS
1 | Le Cirque Mentale
Director: Monica Mazel
18m10s // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: An introverted and socially awkward 18-year-old Macy has had frequent carnival dreams for years that serve as her social escape. The dreams are led by the suave and manipulative Ring Master, who always puts Macy in the spotlight in her dreams. When her cousin Sam suggests she seek counseling because of how strange the dreams can be, she visits Peter the peer counselor. As her and Peter work on altering and eliminating the dreams, they take a darker turn to fight for their existence. The Ring Master proposes for Macy to perform in a dangerous grand finale, which leads to parallel consequences in the real world.

2 | The Herd
Director: Colin Borden
10m51s // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: Two young women from disparate backgrounds share a ride to western Massachusetts in this award-winning story of unexpected friends navigating life's bumpy roads and moving forward with hope.

3 | Cuckold Picasso
Directors: Lance Larson
5m // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: Pablo Picasso's "1971 Harlequin Head", thought forever lost in a Romanian fire, is found vividly alive in the disturbed psyche of a tortured man's soul.

4 | Millennium: Eternal Sunrise
Director: Vlad Aksenov
10m55s // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: Post- apocolyptic world. Girl and father live in secluded cabin in the mountains. Little girl believes in an urban legend of a mountain figure/ghost who grants wishes. She vows to seek him out and wish for her dead mothers return.

5 | Bad Jesus
Director: Anthony Ash Brennan
15m21s // 2016 // Australia
Synopsis: Using a unique Point Of View technique, viewers are taken into the disturbed mind of 'Pricey', an addict spiralling towards ultimate destruction who has delusions that he is the world's next divine savior.

Sunday, April 30, 2017

10 a.m.

Can't Be Stopped
Director: Cody Smith
102 min // 2016 // USA
World Premiere
Synopsis: The story of 'Can't Be Stopped' is born through the unbreakable bond of brotherhood between displaced youth in the graffiti scene on the streets of Hollywood circa 1980's. C.B.S. are the initials that are united by the crews' father figure 'Skate' (R.I.P. 1969-1993), his teachings, guidance and legacy are reverberated with the integrity of the subculture in 2015. The kinship that is forged through graffiti art, hip hop, punk rock, skating and ultimate survival creates a narrative that is the focal point of this film. Graffiti art is a global movement that represents a city's culture, strife, struggles and character. C.B.S. has been at the forefront of the graffiti world since the mid 80's and has an influence in the art forms sustainability and transcendence from its early roots and negative connotations to its prosperity and social acceptance today.

10 a.m.
SHORT BLOCK 7
1 | A Geisha in New York
Director: Amber Gray
4m 27s // 2017 // USA
Synopsis: A lovesick young Geisha makes a grand romantic gesture in an impromptu trip to NYC to find her true love.

2 | Nausicaa
Director: Alessandro Melchionda
10m 11s // 2016 // ITALY
Synopsis: In a remote house in the mountains, a package arrives from far away.

3 | Trash Bags
Directors: Diante Singley
8m 34s // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: A couple reflects on the degradation of their relationship.

4 | Don't Sell My Guitars
Director: Lynn Montgomery
19m 51s // 2017 // USA
Synopsis: A beloved country musician whispers a final request to his wife.

5 | The Purple Plain
Director: Kim Albright
12m 40s // 2016 // UK
Synopsis: The story of the Mercury 13; the women who challenged the conventions of their time in their quest for space.

6 | Stay
Directors: Andres Gallegos
5m 15s // 2017 // USA
Synopsis: Driven to reconstitute his past, an aging man searches for his most precious memory.

7 | Guardian
Directors: Anthony Gibson
34m 37s // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: A short film about life in the afterlife.

12 NOON
iFeel
Director: Ludwig Ciupka
121 min // 2016 // Canada
Synopsis: The film tells the story of a young man and his pursuit of true happiness in the modern world. Captured with his own hands, using some of the very devices that epitomize modern day life, he shares his breathtaking journey of self-discovery and shared challenges. His intimate, personal story comes to life on the big screen in a way that will both captivate and resonate with every one of us.

TRAILER // WEBSITE // FACEBOOK
12 NOON

Catching Sight of Thelma & Louise
Director: Jennifer Townsend87 min // 2016 // USA
World Premiere
Synopsis: Catching Sight of Thelma & Louise' takes the viewer on a dramatic and exciting ride beginning with Thelma and Louise taking off for the weekend and continuing until they fly off the cliff at the end. Clips from the original film serve as a catalyst for intimate, personal stories of women's experience in the real world. Our guides on this journey are filmgoers who responded to a survey about the iconic 'mother film' 25 years ago. 'Catching Sight of Thelma & Louise' enriches the viewer's appreciation of the reasons behind 'Thelma & Louise's' hold on popular culture.

2:00 p.m.

June Falling Down
Director: Rebecca Weaver
115 min // 2016 // USA
LA premiere
Synopsis: After wandering aimlessly for the year after her father's death, June Larson is returning home for Harley's wedding - her best friend, the love that could have been. Now, lost in grief over her father's cancer, she's not quite ready to let Harley go so easily.

2:00 p.m.

SHORT BLOCK 8
1 | Auto
Director: Connor Smith
6m // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: It's a visual collage of faceless people, cars, and hot air ballons.

2 | What're You Scared Of, Kid?
Director: Alex Coppola
7m30s // 2015 // USA
Synopsis: Blending memoir, narrative, and documentary, 'What are you scared of, kid?' explores the fears we all have as children and why--even as we grow up--we never really outgrow them.

3 | When Pigs Fly
Directors: Andrew Wood
15m48s // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: Sometimes, all you need to comfort a nine-year-old is a cold beer, a couple f-bombs, and a little magic.

4 | Sand Castle
Director: Tina Fine & Rob Feld
14m 28s // 2017 // USA
Synopsis: Faced with obstacles big and small, some out of her control, a young girl builds a sand castle.

5 | Trial & Error
Director: Antje Heyn
5m27s // 2016 // Germany
Synopsis: A film about a lost shirt button, perfectionist aunts, busy cats, startled parrots – and a long-lost friend.

6 | Twinsburg
Directors: Joe Garrity
15m48s // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: Jerry, sentimental about his fading twin identity, reunites with his reluctant brother Paul for a weekend of revelry at the world's largest congregation of twins.

7 | Night Light
Directors: Ryan Oksenberg
14m55s // 2016 // USA
Synopsis: Grappling with being on his own without his mother, a boy invents a way for the sun to always be up. Featuring Vine's mother and son duo Harmony & Elliott Smith (1M followers) and Brandon Calvillo (6.3M followers).

4:30 p.m.

Preceding the closing night film we will have a bonus screening of the following short film:
One Per Person
Director - Nasheet Zaman & Jacquelyn "Jac" Piette
10m 30s // 2016 // UK, USA, Canada
Synopsis: An awkward fast food worker gains a new perspective on life while competing for customers against an excessively happy-go-lucky rival.

Counting for Thunder
Director: Phillip Irwin Cooper
103 min // 2015 // USA
Synopsis: An actor unlucky in work, money and love goes back home to the deep south to help out during a family crisis and is inspired to find his true voice as his mother is finally finding hers.

6:30 p.m.
AWARDS CEREMONY/ CLOSING RECEPTION
Press/media contact: Philip Sokoloff, 626-674-0504, showbizphil@gmail.com

TEL: 310-392-7327
www.cinemaattheedge.com

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/film-festival-5th-annual-cinema-at-the-edge-independent-film-festival-opens-april-27-2017-791245.htm