As of today, there’s officially just a little more than three weeks left of summer. From Berkley to Bangor, sunburned citizens are frantically scrambling to make the most of the their holiday before finally buckling down post-Labor Day. And while on one hand, summer never seems lengthy enough, here in the dog days of August it can be easy to forget just how long the season actually is—especially if, like us, you live in Los Angeles, aka “Summertown USA”.

So as everyone’s favorite three-month chunk of midday Margaritas-and-Matinees frivolity marches toward its inevitable conclusion, we decided to make use of the #FlashbackFriday hashtag and cast our minds all the way back to early June, when for nine glorious days the 2016 LA Film Festival ruled the city with an eclectic mix of world premiere screenings, exclusive panels and one-of-a-kind parties we’re still recovering from these many weeks later.

And what better place to point our way-back machine to than Saturday, June 5 at the Culver Hotel—the day the Festival hosted its annual Coffee Talk panels, featuring intimate conversations with some of today’s most fascinating and accomplished Documentarians, Screenwriters, Directors and Actors.

But luckily for our stomach (phasing across the fourth dimension gives us the gurgle-guts) no actual time-travel is required to relive the best moments from our 2016 Coffee Talks thanks to event co-sponsor (with the Directors Guild of America) Ovation, who were there, cameras in hand, to capture the whole thing.

So! Want to know what key takeaways Deadpool’s Tim Miller gleaned from his experiences making this year’s surprise R-rated superhero hit? The first-time director—who shared the stage with Boys Don’t Cry’s Kimberly Piece and The 33’s Patricia Riggen—shared some key pieces advice for first-time filmmakers:

Be prepared. Work with talented collaborators. Persevere no matter what. These are just a few of our crack Directing Panelists’ “5 Tips for Making it as a Director”:

And lastly, find out what Pierce and Riggen had to say (to applause) about their experience as female directors fighting to be heard within the Hollywood system:

So now—ready for summer to be over yet? Yeah,.. us neither. But hey, look on the Brightside: every day brings us closer to yet another LA Film Festival!

Check out daily recaps, filmmaker interviews and event highlights from this year’s LA Film Festival by watching the playlist below.

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