For those on the West Coast and in the Southern
California area, the Silver Lake Film Festival, which kicks off
May 3 with director Hal Hartley’s Fay
Grim and runs through the following weekend, May 12, will present a day-long
Family Fest on Saturday, May 5.

Despite being home to the world’s major motion picture
studios, Los Angeles in general and
its Eastside communities in particular have been historically underserved by
venues that present motion pictures created outside of the Hollywood
commercial template. Thus was the inspiration born, half a dozen years ago, for
the Silver Lake Film Festival. Conceived as a multi-cultural, multi-arts event
with cinema as its unifying catalyst, the festival’s primary goal was and
remains to showcase the new work of the Los Angeles
independent film community as well as efforts of like-minded filmmakers around
the world.

Family Day will unfold at the new Rudolpho’s restaurant in Silver
Lake (2500
Riverside Drive), and offer free events for kids
of all ages in a warm, friendly environment. Live music from local group the Flypaper
Cartel, a DJ, dance, an art display, a recycled music workshop and free trees
all accompany a day of experimental and thought-provoking films selected from
countries around the world.

Highlighting a series of short, experimental, animated features
will be the British classic fairytale retelling Prince Cinders, Swedish film Linnea
in Monet’s Garden and the affecting, pained but lyrical Hiroshima No Pika,
narrated by Susan Sarandan, about a young girl and her family who live through
the horrific atomic bombing of Japan. Local filmmakers will be represented with
all sorts of “tween” tales, and fifth-graders from nearby Ivanhoe
Elementary School will also
premiere the short movies they’ve been working on as part of the AFI’s student-outreach
filmmaking program. For a full schedule of events and more information in
general, visit the festival’s eponymous web site by clicking here.