Under the auspices of the General Secretariat of Information, Ministry of Interior
LAGFF 2009 Sponsors
 Affiliated Festivals  International Short Film Festival in Drama |
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LAGFF presents Rocking n' Reeling: A Tribute to Penelope Spheeris on Friday, June 26
A special screening of SUBURBIA will follow a panel discussion with Penelope Spheeris, Ross Albert, Christina Beck, and Bert Dragin moderated by Robert Rosen
Los Angeles, CA May 22, 2009 - The Los Angeles Greek Film Festival will honor director Penelope Spheeris who will be in attendance on Friday, June 26 at the Egyptian Theatre. The evening will celebrate a blend of her professional landscape of documentary and fiction independent filmmaking. The event will begin with a special screening of Spheeris' documentary short NO USE WALKIN' WHEN YOU CAN STROLL (1998) and her eighties cult classic feature SUBURBIA (1984), followed by a panel discussion with Spheeris, Ross Albert, Christina Beck, and Bert Dragin, moderated by UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television Dean Robert Rosen. The event will conclude with a reception.
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 Spheeris' career began with a love for music. In 1974, she formed her own production company, ROCK 'N REEL. It was the first production company in LA to specialize in music videos. After producing, directing, and editing videos for major bands throughout the seventies and eighties, she directed the 1979 documentary on the Los Angeles punk scene, THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION, which was received with unanimous critical praise.
Still fascinated with the subject, she wrote and directed her first narrative film, SUBURBIA produced by industry legend Roger Corman. The drama revolves around the lives of "The Rejected", a group of punk kids who have abandoned their homes escaping abuse, and have squatted a Los Angeles bungalow. NO USE WALKIN' WHEN YOU CAN STROLL is the moving and honest short portrait of Penelope Spheeris' mother, which sheds light onto the director's unusual and turbulent childhood years that would later inform the majority of her film works.
Spheeris never veered far from exploring desolation of youth which continued to dominate her subsequent fiction films, including THE BOYS NEXT DOOR (1984) with Charlie Sheen and Maxwell Caulfield; DUDES (1987) with Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, Lee Ving, and Daniel Roebuck; and THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION, PART II: THE METAL YEARS (1988) with commentaries from Ozzy Osbourne, Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Alice Cooper.
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 In 1992, Spheeris directed her seventh feature and first studio film, WAYNE'S WORLD (Paramount Pictures), followed by THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES (Fox, 1993), THE LITTLE RASCALS (Universal, 1994), BLACK SHEEP (Paramount, 1996), and SENSELESS (Dimension, 1998). THE KID & I (2005), starring Tom Arnold and Eric Gores about a brilliant young actor with cerebral palsy is the last film she directed. Spheeris wrote LOVE ABOVE THE STRIP, a romantic heavy metal comedy set in the summer of 1987, and is in development of ROTTEN: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs John Lydon's best-selling biography.
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Panel discussion will be moderated by Robert Rosen, Dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Rosen has published widely in the field of media preservation and has guided the growth of the UCLA Film & Television Archive in original film and television materials. He also holds the following leadership positions: Founding Director of the National Center for Film and Video Preservation at the American Film Institute, the Executive Committee of the International Federation of Film Archives, member of the National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress, and Board Member of the Stanford Theater Foundation and the Geffen Playhouse. For ten years he was the film critic for KCRW National Public Radio and he is an active member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
Panelists include Ross Albert, Christina Beck and Bert Dragin. Ross Albert started his career making a series of experimental short films, for which he was awarded several film festival prizes. He received his first editing credit for SUBURBIA. Since then, he has worked with Spheeris on nine projects including THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, LITTLE RASCALS, BLACK SHEEP, and THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION PART III. He has also edited a wide range of other feature films including BLUE CITY, WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE, LISA, DEAD AND BURIED, 2010, BUSHWHACKED, WHAT WE DO IS SECRET, BABY ON BOARD, and THE PEST. Christina Beck began her career as a performer in Spheeris' SUBURBIA, BOYS NEXT DOOR and DUDES. Beck has directed, written and starred in several short films including SLICE, produced by Fox Searchlight's New Directors program screened at Cannes short film corner, SO HOT FOR YOU, and THE OPHELIA PROJECT. Her first feature film, PERFECTION is currently in production. Bert Dragin is the writer and director best known for his classic eighties horror flicks SUMMER CAMP NIGHTMARE (1987), co-written with Spheeris and produced by Roger Corman and TWICE DEAD (1988). He also produced Spheeris' SUBURBIA.
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 The third annual Los Angeles Greek Film Festival (LAGFF) takes place June 25-28 in Hollywood at The Egyptian Theatre. LAGFF showcases new films from Greece, Cyprus, and filmmakers of Greek descent worldwide.
The Tribute to Penelope Spheeris will be held on Friday, June 26, 2009, 7:00 p.m. at the Egyptian Theatre, located at 6712 Hollywood Blvd in Hollywood, CA 90028. A reception will follow. The event will be presented by The Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation - ERT SA.
Admission to the reception, screening and panel discussion is $15 advance online purchase; $20 at the door. For more information on the festival please visit www.lagreekfilmfestival.org or call 818.728.0720.
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About Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation - ERT S.A.
 Founded in 1938, the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) is the largest radio and television broadcasting organization in Greece. As the country's first broadcaster, it has an unrivalled audio and visual historic archive, which captures much of the history of modern Greece. ERT has three broadcasting television stations with national coverage (ET1, NET and ET3), one satellite channel (ERT world), four terrestrial digital channels (Cine+, Prisma+, Sport+ and Info+), six radio programs with headquarters in Athens (NET, Second Program, Third Program, FILIA, KOSMOS, ERA Sport), two international radio stations (Voice of Greece and Third Program in Thessaloniki), two radio stations based in Thessaloniki (95,8 and 102 FM), and 19 regional radio stations throughout Greece.
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For more details about the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival:
www.lagreekfilmfestival.org or call 818.728.0720
Images available upon request
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Contact: Alexia Haidos
Double A Public Relations & Marketing
(310) 450-6890 alexia@doublea-pr.com
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