The Circuit

by N'neka Hite
Films made by women for everyone was the theme for the LA Femme Film Fest which took place last week in Los Angeles. The fest honored celebrity icons last night during the closing Awards Ceremony Sunday night, at the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills.

Tippi Hedren’s breakout role in “The Birds" made her an icon. While accepting the Thespian Award, she gave special thanks to Jessica Tandy, her co-star in the 1963 Hitchcock pic. She recalled a scene that she shot with Tandy, where Hitchcock directed her to be “bitchy.” After Tandy and Hitchcock watched the scene together, Tandy advised the helmer, "Nobody’s going to like that girl." Hendren said Hitchcock took that advice and they re-shot the scene.

“That showed me how differently you can play a character,” Hendren said. She believes that the newer “softer” scene saved her Hollywood career before it even started.

In the lobby Hendren posed for pics. A fan was overheard congratulating her and adding, "I saw 'The Birds.' I didn’t even know you were still alive." Hendren reacted with a burst of laughter.

The lobby of the theatre was where most of the action went down. Fest Founder Leslie La Page greeted and posed with the winners and ran back to her seat to be present as other honorees accepted their awards.

Vivica A. Fox accepted the Image Award for her work as an actress and producer.

“The moment you become a woman in this town people expect you to sit down,” Fox said. “When I turned 40 I became a producer.”

Erica Gimpel ("Fame") walked away with the Innovative Award and Daphne Zuniga took home the New Establishment Award.

The after party was held at the Nirvana, where guests enjoyed cocktails and live acoustic music while lounging on indoor cabanas.

by N'neka Hite
LA Femme Film Festival celebrated its closing night Sunday with the screening of “America Betrayed” the first documentary by helmer Leslie Carde'. Narrated by Richard Dreyfuss, the topical doc focused on how the U.S. Government benefits from domestic and global disasters.

Carde’, who shot the film 18 months ago and has also worked as a documentarian for CNN and NBC, offered a new take on Hurricane Katrina by suggesting it was one of the catalysts for the Great American Credit Debacle. She also shared how the financing of the film came about.

“The people that wanted this made were lots of small groups across America who had a little bit of money here and a little bit of money there, who came together and said there’s a story here that hasn’t been told - that we’re not seeing on the nightly news” Carde’ recalled.

“I think that when people see this there going to see it was a lot more than just a credit crunch that’s making this country fall apart,” Carde told Variety. “We’re so busy feeding money to corporate America that we’ve lost sight of our own country and what’s best for the taxpayers here. Because the taxpayers are not only funding the war that cost $10 billion dollars a month, but they’re funding even more for reconstructing that area.”

The doc points out that Americans can’t seem to get away from reconstruction as different natural disasters, international conflicts, and financial crises take their toll every year.

“Why is everybody only talking about their failure to respond here? What about the mess that caused this in the first place? When I was in New Orleans, people were leaving me manila envelopes, unsigned, anonymously. That’s how I found half the people; these whistleblowers, by these citizens coming forward and saying, ‘I’m going to leave you a phone number but I can’t tell you who I am.’”

by N'neka Hite
LA Femme Film Festival Founder Leslie LaPage announced today that the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills and the Wilshire Screening Room will host the 2008 fest beginning October 16.  The four day celebration includes seminars, networking events and an awards ceremony.

Vivica A. Fox, Erica Gimpe and Tippi Hedren are among the honorees.

The fest highlights commercially viable films written, directed or produced by women, for everyone.  LA Femme’s mission is to create opportunities for women filmmakers, helping gain access to Hollywood’s A-list.  Info at www.lafemme.org.