UH, SELL OUT MUCH?

I used to work for the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, now, the Los Angeles Film Festival. At first, the name change didn't really mean much. Then, year by year, they began killing the very spirit of the festival — partly out of a desire to go "international," but mostly out of a desire to get bigger sponsors and thus, turn a profit.

Now, don't get me wrong; there's nothing wrong with being profit-minded; nothing at all. The Sundance Film Festival, also another festival I was associated with (for three years) took nearly two decades before it saw a profit. And that's a pretty major festival, when it comes to indie films. The joke used to be: The L.A. Independent Film Festival is the third most important festival in North America - just ask anyone who works there. My point is that no matter how enthusiastic we were, or how great our films were, there was no way we'd ever be as important (or rich) as the folks over at Sundance.

Over the past seven years, the LA Film Fest has gone from showing amazing films like George Washington, Queen of the Whole Wide World, Attraction and Keep the River On Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale. All of these are modern, indie classics. From shorts to docs, the LA Film Fest used to have it all. On year, the special series of films focused on new horror films, like this one about a girl who is bitten by a werewolf on the same day she gets her first period. (It was an awesome, scary and even funny flick.) This year's special programs include "audience favorites" like Shall We Dance and A Christmas Story. (The festival is in on now, by the way.)

But the biggest, most upsetting change is that the festival, this year, opened with Transformers. A far cry from it's days as the third most important film festival in North America.