The 10th Annual DTLA Film Festival promises to be a memorable one for women filmmakers. A press release has announced that the fest will screen 30 features, 68 percent of which are from women directors. Among them is Melora Walters’ “Waterlily Jaguar,” set to open the festival on October 17.
Best known for her roles in “Big Love,” “Magnolia,” and “Boogie Nights,” Walters wrote and directed “Waterlily Jaguar.” The psychological drama marks her feature directorial debut. It sees Bob Price (James Le Gros, “Support the Girls”), a famous novelist of airport best-sellers, attempting to tap into deeper subject matter for his next book. He soon becomes obsessed with the idea of writing something great, which puts his relationships, including his marriage to Helen (Mira Sorvino), in jeopardy.
“We’re so proud to have the opportunity to present as our Opening Night film Melora’s directorial debut,” said DTLA Fest’s Director of Programming, Karolyne Sosa. “Audiences have seen her work as an actor in films like ‘Boogie Nights,’ ‘Magnolia,’ and [most recently,] ‘Venom.’ Now we all get to delight in her work as a creative force behind the camera.”
In separate ceremonies, the festival will present Rosanna Arquette and Malcolm McDowell with the Independent Film Pioneer Award, in honor of their work in independent film. Arquette appears in two of the films screening: Amanda Sthers’ “Holy Lands,” about a family matriarch struggling to accept her mortality, and Sook-Yin Lee’s “psycho-sexual ghost story” “Octavio Is Dead!”
DTLA’s other women-directed features include Kayla Tabish’s dystopian thriller “Culture of Fear,” and “Women Like Us,” Sally Colón-Petree’s documentary about three American women and the bond they forge with women they meet in Kenya.
“We’re at pivotal moment in history for the advancement of women artists in the film industry, and it has inspired us to develop programming for our 10th anniversary edition that was reflective of the extraordinary creativity of women filmmakers today,” Sosa explained. “While women only make up a fraction of directors hired by Hollywood, our programming is evidence that it’s not for lack of talent.”
DTLA Fest will run October 17-21 in downtown Los Angeles. You can find more info and the full schedule over at the fest’s website.
