LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA ( February 26, 2025 ) -

Today the Los Angeles Festival of Movies (LAFM), co-presented by MUBI and Mezzanine, announced the first wave of programming and opening night film for its upcoming edition of the festival taking place April 3–6, 2025. The festival, co-founded by Micah Gottlieb and Sarah Winshall, will present a program of over 20 films including one world premiere, featured artist talks, a curated short film program, and a newly introduced Animation Today program. Passes are currently on sale and individual tickets go on sale the week of March 10.

MUBI’s “Magic Farm,” the new satire from filmmaker and artist Amalia Ulman (“El Planeta”), will open the festival and have its West Coast Premiere on Thursday, April 3, at Vidiots’ Eagle Theatre. The ensemble comedy, written and directed by Ulman, features Chloë Sevigny, Simon Rex, and Alex Wolff as a film crew working for an edgy media company traveling to Argentina to profile a local musician whose ineptitude leads them into the wrong country.

The 2025 festival follows last year’s successful inaugural edition, a four-day high-profile celebratory event that saw the West Coast premieres of A24’s “I Saw the TV Glow,” Metrograph Pictures’ “Good One” and the first episode of HBO’s documentary series “Ren Faire,” as well a new 4K restoration of Chantal Akerman’s “Toute Une Nuit” and several sold-out panels featuring legendary artist/musician Kim Gordon, author Rachel Kushner, and filmmakers Raven Jackson and Kahlil Joseph.

Building on the success of last year’s showcase of independent voices and fresh perspectives, the upcoming lineup, along with opening night’s “Magic Farm,” the festival will feature the world premiere of “Room Temperature” from novelist, poet, and provocateur Dennis Cooper in collaboration with Zac Farley; the U.S. premiere of Alexandra Simpson’s “No Sleep Till;” director Grace Glowicki’s midnight stunner “Dead Lover;” and a collection of panels and talks, including a conversation about transgression in cinema and literature between Dennis Cooper and writer Tony Tulathimutte, the acclaimed millennial satirist whose 2024 novel “Rejection” was longlisted for the National Book Award. In addition to the shorts program, the festival is introducing Animation Today, which features a selection of animated films from around the world.

“After a devastating start to the year for Los Angeles, we feel more inspired than ever about bringing our community together to watch, discuss and celebrate great movies,” said LAFM founders Gottlieb and Winshall. “We’re thrilled to host a variety of incredibly stirring and original films from some of the finest emerging international filmmakers, multidisciplinary artists and top talents. It’s our pleasure to provide a holistic view of independent cinema today.”

The festival will again partner with Vidiots in Eagle Rock, interdisciplinary space 2220 Arts + Archives in Historic Filipinotown, and independent theater Now Instant Image Hall in Chinatown as screening venues. The festival’s conversation series will take place at the Philosophical Research Society in Los Feliz, new for the festival this year.

LAFM 2025 SLATE

Official Selection
“Cent Mille Milliards,” dir. Virgil Vernier
“Dead Lover,” dir. Grace Glowicki
“Debut or Objects of the Field of Debris as Currently Catalogued,” dir. Julian Castronovo
“Invention,” dir. Courtney Stephens
“Magic Farm,” dir. Amalia Ulman
“No Sleep Till,” dir. Alexandra Simpson
“Room Temperature,” dir. Dennis Cooper & Zac Farley
“Zodiac Killer Project,” dir. Charlie Shackleton

Short Films
“Baby Blue Benzo,” dir. Sara Cwynar
“Man Number 4,” dir. Miranda Pennell
“Manal Issa,” 2024 dir. Elisabeth Subrin
“Oceania,” dir. Valentin Noujaïm

Animated Films
“An Ordinary Life,” dir. Yoriko Mizushiri
“Hurikán,” dir. Jan Saska
“Margarethe ’89,” dir. Lucas Malbrun
“Mont Noir,” dir. Jean-Baptiste Peltier & Erika Haglund
“Retirement Plan,” dir. John Kelly
“Sans Voix,” dir. Samuel Patthey

LINE-UP DESCRIPTIONS

Opening Night Film

“Magic Farm” | Amalia Ulman, Argentina, USA, 2025, 93m
West Coast Premiere
A film crew working for an edgy media company travels to Argentina to profile a local musician, but their ineptitude leads them into the wrong country. As the crew collaborates with locals to fabricate a trend, unexpected connections blossom while a pervasive health crisis looms unacknowledged in the background. Narrative.

“Cent Mille Milliards” | Virgil Vernier, France, 2024, 77m
West Coast Premiere
Drifting through an ethereal Monaco during the eerie, emptied-out limbo of the Christmas holidays, a diffident young sex worker named Afine goes about his rounds with seeming indifference, while gradually forming a strange, tentative bond with preadolescent Julia, whose parents, Chinese real estate developers, have left her in the charge of her Serbian babysitter Vesna. Narrative.

“Dead Lover” | Grace Glowicki, Canada, 2025, 79m
West Coast Premiere
A lonely gravedigger who stinks of corpses finally meets her dream man, but their whirlwind affair is cut short when he tragically drowns at sea. Grief-stricken, she goes to morbid lengths to resurrect him through madcap scientific experiments, resulting in grave consequences and unlikely love. Narrative.

“Debut, Or, Objects Of The Field Of Debris As Currently Catalogued” | Julian Castronovo, USA, 2025, 78m
West Coast Premiere
The first feature-length film by Julian Castronovo follows a young filmmaker named Julian Castronovo who discovers a trail of clues related to the disappearance of a skilled art forger known as Fawn Ma. Documentary-fiction hybrid.

“Invention” | Courtney Stephens, USA, 2024, 72m
West Premiere
In the aftermath of a conspiracy-minded father’s unexpected death, his daughter receives his patent for an experimental healing device. Featuring archival material from actress and filmmaker Callie Hernandez’s actual late father, “Invention” explores the process of grieving a complicated parent, and the filmmaking itself becomes a part of the process. Documentary-fiction hybrid.

“No Sleep Till” | Alexandra Simpson, USA, Switzerland, 93m
US Premiere
When a coastal Floridian town is threatened by an impending hurricane, a handful of locals feel strangely compelled to stay put in spite of a mandatory evacuation order. Narrative.

“Room Temperature” | Dennis Cooper & Zac Farley, USA, 92m
World Premiere
One night every year, a family transforms their home and yard into a haunted house and invites their neighbors to walk through it. What used to be a group effort has increasingly become the dad’s obsessive fantasy that his family is expected to enact. Narrative.

“Zodiac Killer Project” | Charlie Shackleton, USA, UK, 2025, 92m
West Coast Premiere
The true crime genre’s ubiquity is driven by people’s endless fascination, disgust, and — bizarrely — search for comfort in genre conventions that still have the ability to generate complex emotions despite their predictability and familiarity. Having tried and failed to make a documentary about the infamous Zodiac Killer, filmmaker Charlie Shackleton walks the viewer through what his film would have been like and why, using Bay Area landscapes, reenactments, film and TV clips, and voice-over. In this wholly original, self-aware cinematic work, a filmmaker chews over what might have been and playfully probes the inner workings of a genre at saturation point. Documentary.

Closing Night Film

To be announced

Restorations

To be announced

Part-Time Shorts in collaboration with Now Instant Image Hall

Now Instant and the Los Angeles Festival of Movies present Part-Time, a collection of new moving image works drawn from the worlds of fine art, experimental film, and narrative cinema that impel the structural capacities of the form. 2025’s iteration of Part-Time brings together artist/filmmakers Sara Cwynar, Valentin Noujaïm, Miranda Pennell, and Elisabeth Subrin in a suite of works that investigate—and push through—the political potency of enchantment.

“Baby Blue Benzo” | Sara Cwynar, USA, Germany, 2024, 20m
West Coast Premiere
A meditation on sleeplessness and its relationship to the perennially unfulfilled desire for luxury consumption. Narrative.

“Man Number 4” | Miranda Pennell, UK, 2024, 10m
A confrontation with a disturbing photograph on social media triggers questions about what it means to be an onlooker. Documentary.

“Manal Issa, 2024” | Elisabeth Subrin, Lebanon, USA, 2025, 10m
West Coast Premiere
Filmed in Beirut on September 22, 2024, just hours before bombing escalated throughout the country, “Manal Issa, 2024” presents a haunting interview with the acclaimed Lebanese French actress Manal Issa. Distilled from hours of long-distance conversations between Elisabeth in the U.S. and Manal in Lebanon over the past year, the film intimately considers the role of the actor during the unfolding global conflict. Documentary.

“Oceania” | Valentin Noujaïm, France, 2024, 24m
Los Angeles Premiere
During the summer, 16-year-old Najib spends his days gaming until his mother, Asma, informs him of their old neighbor’s passing. Intrigued, Najib takes the keys to the neighbor’s apartment, uncovering an unexpected world within. Narrative.

Animation Today presented by Cartuna

A survey of the very best in international, independent animation. Featuring some of the most exceptional directors working today, these films represent distinct, daring artistic visions that both embody and transcend the animation medium. Some are narrative, some are experimental, some are sad, some are funny – after all, animation is not a genre.

“An Ordinary Life” | Yoriko Mizushiri, France, Japan, 2025, 10m
U.S. Premiere
Ordinary life repeats itself every day while the succession of moments that we repeat over and over again is never the same.

“Hurikán” | Jan Saska, France, Czechia, 2024, 13m
Los Angeles Premiere
“Hurikán” rushes out to save his favourite beer stand from closure by fetching a new keg to impress the bartender he has a crush on. In a wild Prague district, he faces robbers, cops, and his own thirst.

“Margarethe ’89” | Lucas Malbrun, Germany, France, 2023, 18m
Los Angeles Premiere
Margarethe, a young punk opposed to the East German regime, is detained in a psychiatric hospital. She dreams of breaking out to join the man she loves – a punk musician named Heinrich. Though the regime’s days may well be numbered, the Stasi informants are more present than ever.

“Mont Noir” | Jean-Baptiste Peltier & Erika Haglund, France, Portugal, 2024, 15m
U.S. Premiere
In “Mont Noir,” Marguerite has been experiencing three severe losses : her mother, her dog, then her nanny. She grew up alone, animals and nature as main fellows. She has been setting herself to become a writer.

“Retirement Plan” | John Kelly, Ireland, 2024, 7m
West Coast Premiere
“Retirement Plan” tells the story of Ray (Domhnall Gleeson) as he fantasizes about everything he’d love to do in retirement, once he finally has the “time.”

“Sans Voix” | Samuel Patthey, Switzerland, 2024, 15m
West Coast Premiere
Disconnected from reality, Dan retreats into his apartment consumed by electronic music. Nightclubs provide a solace through techno soundscapes and mind-altering substances. A baby’s curious stare unexpectedly redefines his perception.

Featured Artist Talks

To expand the conversation about independent cinema, the festival presents talks between filmmakers and artists from a variety of disciplines, on some of the most relevant themes and artistic practices of today.

“On Transgression: Dennis Cooper and Tony Tulathimutte”
Sunday, April 6, Time TBC, Philosophical Research Society
One of America’s most influential underground novelists, Dennis Cooper (The Sluts) joins the acclaimed millennial satirist Tony Tulathimutte (Rejection) to discuss their respective approaches and inspirations in creating aberrant and transgressive depictions of obsession and desire in cinema and literature.

About Dennis Cooper
Complex yet ruthlessly clear, Dennis Cooper’s prose recounts the emotional and erotic lives of troubled teenagers. His characteristic ability to combine cruelty with tenderness, sadism with anxiety, has made him one of his generation’s essential voices. In addition to his film collaborations with Zac Farley, he is known for novels such as the five novel quintology “The George Miles Cycle” (1989 -2000), “The Sluts” (2008), “The Marbled Swarm” (2014), and “I Wished” (2021). He has written widely on art, film, music, and literature, and has been a Contributing Editor of Artforum since the late 90s. Since moving from Los Angeles to Paris in 2005, he has written nine theater pieces for the director/choreographer Gisèle Vienne and composed a series of innovative GIF novels, most recently Zac’s “Drug Binge” (2020).

About Tony Tulathimutte
Tony Tulathimutte is the author of “Private Citizens” and “Rejection.” He’s received a Whiting Award and an O. Henry Award, was longlisted for the National Book Award, and has written for The Paris Review, N+1, The New York Times, Playboy, The Nation, and others. He also runs CRIT, a writing class in Brooklyn.

Additional artist talks to be announced

About Los Angeles Festival Of Movies
The Los Angeles Festival of Movies presented by MUBI and Mezzanine is a curated annual film festival in Los Angeles, presenting new independent and restoration premieres to a local audience. Now in its second year, the festival, an event put on by the film non-profit Mezzanine, redefines Los Angeles as a destination for independent film. LAFM has curated a selection of high profile narrative and documentary film premieres; talks with local artists, luminaries, and thought leaders; and parties each night at four exciting east side LA venues. The festival is the new nexus for the city’s burgeoning indie film community to gather, discuss and celebrate independent cinema.