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How true is the perception that Los Angeles doesn’t have a prominent signature film festival? While the city’s film lovers were debating the question, Beyond Fest at American Cinematheque snuck in and became one of
the city’s biggest and most popular cinema events, with some 37,000 people expected by the end of the movie celebration that runs through Oct. 5.
L.A. has sometimes been a tricky town for film festivals. Over the years, several high-profile fests struggled to stay afloat with consistently strong slates, and dozens of niche festivals filled in the gaps to serve the city’s diverse filmgoers. Then 14 years ago, Beyond Fest stepped in, and by partnering with the American Cinematheque, it was able to build up a fan base so rabid that scoring tickets became a blood sport for the city’s cinephiles.
Despite its October berth and a slate that includes titles like the “Carrie” TV series and the original “Friday the 13th,” the aim has always been to go “beyond” obvious genre classics by programming a wide array of films with varied genre influences.
This year’s selection includes buzzy new releases like “Primetime” and “Musk” as well as retrospectives from “Hoffa” to “Pan’s Labyrinth,” plus under-the-radar titles that screen for free at the Los Feliz 3 cinemas, thanks to Mubi’s sponsorship.
“The inspiration was always to be more than strictly horror, back in those early years,” says co-founder Christian Parkes. “(But we also) did ‘Dog Day Afternoon.’ Our film collections and our film tastes and our DVD closets are wildly varied.”
The festival’s explosive growth trajectory coincides with young L.A. audiences’ year-round passion for attending repertory and classic film screenings since the pandemic, with Letterboxd playing a big part in stoking the interest.
“The rep scene has never been better from an attendance standpoint,” says Parkes, mentioning last week’s Robert Eggers marathon. “It’s a rite of passage now to see these films. It’s not enough to see ‘The Witch’ in a theater now; I have to see ‘The Witch’ with Robert Eggers in person, along with ‘Lighthouse’ and ‘Northman’ and ‘Nosferatu’ and to be able to say, ‘Yeah, I was there.’”
“Things like Beyond Fest are a signal that things are completely changing,” says Juan Devis, president of Film Independent, the L.A.-based filmmaker organization that runs the Spirit Awards. “Young people are going back to cinema. They’re doing it because they love to do it and they do it constantly.”
With the film business scrambling to find the next Curry Barker or Kane Parsons, head of programming Evrim Ersoy says the industry is keeping an eye on the shorts blocks that play at the Los Feliz Theater.
“Studios and agencies come through to those blocks and discover filmmakers and pick them up for the next step in their career,” says Ersoy.
Scoring impossible-to-get Beyond Fest tickets is a rite of passage for the city’s young cinephiles, some of whom think nothing of driving an hour from Silver Lake to Santa Monica or vice versa for an in-demand screening.
“Over the last 14 years, (the festival) has built a core dedicated group who are as unhinged as we are. They will travel from one side of town to the other — they will go from the Aero in Santa Monica and then be in Los Feliz. I love those people because it speaks to how much they love cinema,” says Ersoy.
Thanks to Beyond’s relationship with the American Cinematheque (the Cinematheque’s artistic director Grant Moninger is the festival’s co-founder), the event doesn’t have to scramble each year to secure new theaters. Screenings are held at all the Cinematheque’s venues — the Aero, the newly reopened Egyptian in Hollywood, the Los Feliz 3 and the Directors Village in Westwood Village.
“We’ve kind of grown in parallel (with the Cinematheque),” says Parkes. “We were rough and ragged and loose around the edges at the same time that the Egyptian Theater was — the carpet was peeling, the floors were a little sticky, but that thing was fun. They’ve matured into this next iteration under Grant Moninger, who’s the artistic and creative director there. It’s great the way that institution has grown and shifted into something bigger,” says Parkes.
Much to the relief of frequent festgoers, the Cinematheque updated its ticketing system this year, making the scramble for seats a little more efficient, though tickets are still challenging to come by.
“It’s impossible to get tickets for Cannes. It’s impossible to get tickets for New York Film Festival. It’s impossible to get tickets for Sundance,” Parkes points out. “There are always people that are going to miss out. The demand to see ‘Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother’ and ‘Primetime’ in Los Angeles greatly exceeded the space that we have for these two films to play, so credit to the Cinematheque for completely revamping and creating the completely new ticketing system. You want to see films in a packed theater, and you want to see films with an audience that is excited to be there.”
This kind of enthusiasm and scarcity is all down to the audience members, who drive the programming rather than the other way around, says Parkes, “It’s the audience that is really defining it and telling us what they want to see.” And it’s all done without spending money on advertising and promotion.
“The intention was just to create a space where like-minded people that didn’t know each other could come together and find their people. Evrim, myself, and the folks at the American Cinematheque are just kind of custodians,” says Parkes.
Retrospectives continue to be a big part of the program, often with the filmmakers participating. “There’s so much of an emphasis on new films, new films, new films, but these new films don’t exist without the old films,” says Parkes. “We have M. Night Shyamalan coming to L.A. for the first time in a very long time, and the first time he’s done a retrospective in Los Angeles. That’s super exciting, not just for us but for audiences. It sold out in an instant.”
Film Independent’s Devis thinks the enthusiastic response is part of a cultural shift. “Young people are looking for something that is authentic, that’s communal, that speaks to them, in a way that the last 10 years of film has not. This constant sort of franchises and IPs — that culture that is completely being dethroned right now, in my opinion.”
Beyond Fest’s Parkes and Ersoy break down some of their top titles still to screen:
“Rumble in the Bronx” — “Bob Odenkirk is coming to introduce ‘Rumble in the Bronx’ because he’s a massive Jackie Chan fan,” says Ersoy. “To be in that room, to hear him talk about it to an audience who hasn’t seen the film — It’s a great way to contextualize, and they have a way in, and they connect with the film in a really intense way.”
“Donnie Darko” — “We’ve got ‘Donnie Darko’ showing at the Aero Theater where it was shot, and that’s really exciting.”
“Miami Vice” — “We’ve got this new cut of ‘Miami Vice,’ which has had a bit of a renaissance recently.”
“Welcome to G-Town” — “Two brothers from Glasgow made a film for less than $10,000 straight out of school, and they’re here, and it’s like early Peter Jackson, very Scottish humor.”
“Ten Will” — “There’s an L.A. filmmaker, Max DeFalco. $75,000 budget, shot in L.A. He’s awesome, a massive future talent.”
“Wicker” — “The BookTok people out there are ravenous.”
“Ken Russell’s The Devils” — “The one that I am most excited for, we screened it about 10 years ago,” says Parkes. “Being able to have this moment and bring this thing full circle with two simultaneous screenings in the Egyptian Theatre and in the Aero Theatre, both on 35mm, the West Coast premiere of the 4k restoration director’s cut. That’s going to be one for the ages, and that is a quintessential Beyond Fest film and a quintessential Beyond Fest moment.”
