The LA Film Festival was a wonderful experience. The whole festival takes place at the LA Live Regal downtown, which is a relatively new theater with astonishingly good quality sound and picture. Brightest digitally projected images I've seen since since experiencing Cannes in '14. "Devil's Work" played great, and was warmly received among an extremely strong block of short films. It was very satisfying to finally see it play on such a big screen in the highest quality possible.
I also got to watch the Columbia University Film Festival 2015 Faculty Selects at the Academy's Lynwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. This was part of a week of industry meetings curated by the Columbia Alumni Association. Highlights included a sit-down with Eric Feig, president of Lionsgate; a master class with James Mangold on the Fox lot; and a discussion with several story executives at HBO.
And then Palm Springs! 116 degrees! Too hot. But I was very happy to be able to represent Carmen Jimenez's and Chris Boyce's film "Oasis". (I was the locations manager). It played during the same block as Fabio Montanari's comedy "The Grill Man". Those senior citizens in Palm Springs really like short films.
