Every 24 hours that go by brings us one day closer to our favorite day of the year: the opening of the Los Angeles Film Festival! Today, we are taking a super big stride toward that day with the announcement of the 24 films being screened in three of our biggest competition sections: LA Muse, Zeitgeist and Nightfall. For indie film fans, here’s a glimpse of what’s in store and which section is most likely to be the place you’ll discover your next favorite filmmaker.

If You Want to Be LA-Inspired
“LA is one of the most creative cities in the world–it’s where stars and rebels are born,” says Roya Rastegar, Associate Director of Programming and Curated Content. That’s why we created the LA Muse section of the Festival: to pay homage to our city’s pivotal role in cinematic history.

One of the ten films screening as part of this year’s LA Muse is Day Out of Days. We’ve had our eye on Zoe R. Cassavetes since Broken English (her directorial debut) was nominated for a 2008 Film Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay. Now, we’re super excited to present the world premiere of Cassavetes’s latest. Day Out of Days revolves around a 40-year-old actress navigating the cutthroat world of Hollywood while contending with youthful competition and changes within herself.

The other nine LA Muse films made by talented emerging filmmakers that are set, shot or inspired by Los Angeles are:

Aram, Aram, dir. Christopher Chambers
A Beautiful Now, dir. Daniela Amavia
Can You Dig This, dir. Delila Vallot
The Drew, dir. Baron Davis, Chad Gordon
The Escort, dir. Will Slocombe
Flock of Dudes, dir. Bob Castrone
French Dirty, dir. Wade & Jesse Allain-Marcus
No Más Bebés, dir. Renee Tajima-Peña
Weepah Way for Now, dir. Stephen Ringer

If You’re a Fan of Coming-of-Age Stories
For the first time ever, the 2015 LA Film Fest is unveiling a new competition category, Zeitgiest. Each year the theme of the section will reflect big storytelling trends. This year’s films are focused on coming-of-age stories. Says Rastegar, “Stylish and defiant, the films in our inaugural Zeitgeist lineup are structured around a pivotal juncture in the lives of young people, after which there is no going back.”

We can’t wait to see the amazing ensemble cast—John Leguizamo, William H. Macy, Mike Epps and Felicity Huffman—in Stealing Cars, one of the films world premiering in the Zeitgeist section. Directed by Bradley Kaplan (a documentarian making his fiction-feature directorial debut) and produced by Dallas Buyers Club producer Rachel Winter, it’s the story of an intelligent, but deeply troubled teenager sentenced to a juvenile detention center, where attempts at reformation are thwarted by his own nihilistic agenda.

The five other Zeitgeist films are:
Band of Robbers, dir. Aaron & Adam Nee
A Girl Like Grace, dir. Ty Hodges
In the Treetops, dir. Matthew Brown
Manifest Destiny, dir. Michael Dwyer, Kaitlin McLaughlin
What Lola Wants, dir. Rupert Glasson

If Your Taste Carries You to the Dark Side
One of the best things about any Festival screening is the magical experience of being in packed house full of strangers and sharing the same emotional rollercoaster ride. That experience is even more thrilling when the story unfolding on the screen is goosebump inducing—or just plain weird. Jennifer Cochis, Senior Programmer, had this to say about the new Nightfall section: “We created Nightfall to celebrate films that will make audiences squirm.” For instance, one of the Nightfall world premieres is Dude Bro Party Massacre III. If that title doesn’t get you, we don’t know what will.

Here are the other seven films that fall under Nightfall:
Caught, dir. Maggie Kiley
The Confines, dir. Eytan N Rockaway
Crumbs, dir. Miguel Llanso
Crush the Skull, dir. Viet Nguyen
Ratter, dir. Brenden Kramer
Shut In, dir. Adam Schindler

Pamela Miller / Website & Grants Manager

Passes are now on sale to the general public. General admission tickets to individual films go on sale to Film Independent Members on Thursday, May 14 and to the general public on Tuesday, May 19. The Los Angeles Film Festival takes place from June 10-18.