Los Angeles, U.S.A. - The 2012 Los Angeles Film Festival will screen a diverse slate of nearly 200 feature films, short films, and music videos, representing more than 30 countries, along with signature programs such as the Filmmaker Retreat, Poolside Chats, Coffee Talks, music events and more. Woody Allen’s To Rome with Love will be Opening the Night as Lorene Scafaria’s Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Ava DuVernay’s Middle of Nowhere and Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild were selected for the Galas section.

Returning to downtown Los Angeles and headquartered at L.A. LIVE for a third year, the Festival will run from June 14 to June 24 2012. Now in its eighteenth year, the Festival is widely recognized as a world-class event, showcasing the best in new American and international cinema, and is produced by Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that also produces the Spirit Awards.

“There is nothing more satisfying than shining a spotlight on so many unique films from both seasoned and emerging filmmakers. Come experience the wonder of Beasts of the Southern Wild, Let Call Me Kuchu Break your Heart and Call you to Action, or simply be entertained by Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey in Magic Mike,” said Festival Director Stephanie Allain.

“These are just a few of the diverse stories that bring us into new worlds or put a fresh twist on familiar ones. ‘Exclusively for Everyone’ isn’t just a tag line. It’s an invitation to experience both the specific and the universal, and hopefully come away entertained and enlightened. Enjoy!”

“We’ve got a marvelous mix this year that reflects the incredible diversity of world cinema and of Los Angeles itself. I’m excited to have such giants as Woody Allen, Steven Soderbergh and Andre Techine alongside some amazing first-time filmmakers whose names you’ll be hearing a lot in the future. We want to offer festival-goers stories and visions they haven’t seen before and a chance to meet the most creative minds working in movies.

It’s going to be a fun and mind-expanding ten days,” said Festival Artistic Director David Ansen. The Festival will end its festivities with the World Premiere of Warner Bros. Pictures’ Magic Mike, directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Reid Carolin. Set in the world of male strippers, the dramatic comedy follows Mike (Tatum) as he takes a young dancer called The Kid (Pettyfer) under his wing and schools him in the fine arts of partying, picking up women, and making easy money. Warner Bros. Pictures will release the film nationwide on June 29, 2012.

Dreamworks Pictures’ People Like Us will have its World Premiere amongst the Summer Showcase screenings. The film is directed by Alex Kurtzman, written by Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and Jody Lambert. In a story inspired by true events, Sam (Pine), a twenty-something, fast-talking salesman, is tasked with fulfilling his estranged father’s last wishes – delivering an inheritance to a sister he never knew he had. Dreamworks Pictures will release the film on June 29, 2012.

As part of the Los Angeles Film Festival’s free outdoor programming, there will be a Dirty Dancing Dance-A-Long at California Plaza on June 22 at 7pm to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the film. Produced in cooperation with Dance Camera West and Grand Performances, there will be free salsa lessons by Contra-Tiempo, a screening of the film with special guests and a shadow cast consisting of performers from local dance companies to dance on stage below the screening during key scenes.

Image Courtesy of   To Rome With Love

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J.J. Abrams, producer of many shows and movies like Lost, Cloverfield, Mission Impossible III, and Star Trek, has been working on his latest project, Super 8, for a while now. Now since it’s release people have been asking, “What about Star Trek 2?” J.J. Abrams and the writers Damon Lindelof, Roberto Orci, and Alex Kurtzman have been keeping their mouths shut about the movie. There is not a lot known about the project, except that the movie might not meet its release date on June 29, 2012.

The main reason behind such a delay is that the creators do not want to send out an inferior product. They want to take their time with the script, and with shooting it, in order to make it the best it can be. In an interview with CNN, Abrams said, “We’re working on the script and story and doing everything we can to make it well. I would just so much rather make a movie that’s worth people’s time than make a movie that’s on time.”

Alex Orci also stated that having no set deadlines is a problem. So far, dates for the shoot, or when they will begin pre-production, have not been given yet. He stated for TrekMovie.com, “let’s find out when we are really going to go and then we will really get to work.” As well as the dates not set in stone, JJ Abrams being the director is not either. He has helped tremendously with the project and talking regularly with the writers, so it’s extremely likely he will direct the movie, but it is not official yet.

This is not the first time this problem happened with JJ’s Trek films. The first movie was to be released in December of 2008, but the creators wanted to take their time with it, resulting in the later release date, summer 2009. This can only parallel and infer what the standard is going to be like for Star Trek 2. The writers know people are upset with the delayed release. Damon Lindelof, in an interview with TrekMovie.com, had said, “As fanboys ourselves, if the shoe was on the other foot we would be saying ‘get on with it already, when is the movie going to come out?’ And we are fully aware of that.”

So far, the writers have written a seventy-page outline of the movie but no definite answers were given out on who the villain is and what the mission will be about. Badassdigest.com got a whiff of what’s to come when a source of theirs said that the villain would be from the original season of Star Trek. What is fascinating is that Khan will not be the main villain in the movie. The villains that can show up are the Horta, Harry Mudd, the Talosians, Trelane, and Gary Mitchell.

As the movie process slowly turns its gears, TrekMovie.com asked the writers if they are strictly sticking to a set amount of classic material or not. Orci had this to say, “…we [are] not making any rules about whether or not you have to include a certain amount of classic stuff or any at all, or whether it has to be all something you have never seen. Obviously some of the familiarity is going to be part of the fun.”

People are getting antsy to see Star Trek 2. With J.J. Abrams always busy, nobody knows when it will officially release. If there is one thing that will be certain, it is that the creators are trying their best to create an enjoyable film. However, with this delay, there are many questions that spring up, like whom the U.S.S Enterprise’s crew face in the next movie? Every Star Trek fan has been racking their brains in order to find out, but with the writers keeping their tongues taught there is no way to find out for sure. Hopefully it will come out sooner rather than later, but fans will all have to keep their eyes and ears attentive for any new details about the movie.

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