Part of what makes Beyond Fest so exciting is its broad-ranging programming. Though rooted in the concept of genre \u2014 which typically means a selection of gritty thrillers, horror and action \u2014 Beyond Fest pushes well past such basic concepts.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s program includes legitimate prestige selections, such as Jafar Panahi\u2019s \u201cIt Was Just an Accident,\u201d the Palme d\u2019Or winner<\/a> at this year\u2019s Cannes Film Festival, as well as Oliver Laxe\u2019s \u201cSir\u0101t,\u201d<\/a> winner of Cannes\u2019 jury prize. Both will have their West Coast premieres. Other high-profile titles from international festivals include Luca Guadagnino\u2019s campus drama \u201cAfter the Hunt,\u201d Kleber Mendon\u00e7a Filho\u2019s political thriller \u201cThe Secret Agent,\u201d Bi Gan\u2019s trippy drama \u201cResurrection\u201d and Radu Jude\u2019s updated \u201cDracula.\u201d A late addition to the festival lineup is a 70mm screening of Mona Fastvold\u2019s \u201cThe Testament of Ann Lee,\u201d which recently played at both Venice and Toronto<\/a>.<\/p>\n Emma Stone in director Yorgos Lanthimos\u2019 \u201cBugonia.\u201d<\/p>\n (Atsushi Nishijima \/ Focus Features)<\/p>\n Which is not to say the festival has forgotten its roots, with films such as Scott Derrickson\u2019s \u201cThe Black Phone 2,\u201d Kenji Tanigaki\u2019s \u201cThe Furious\u201d and Gore Verbinski\u2019s \u201cGood Luck, Have Fun, Don\u2019t Die\u201d all providing dark thrills to local audiences. Also showing will be the West Coast premieres of Aziz Ansari\u2019s \u201cGood Fortune\u201d<\/a> and Tina Romero\u2019s queer horror-comedy \u201cQueens of the Dead,\u201d the debut from the daughter of legendary director George Romero. <\/p>\n Past highlights of the festival include \u201cParasite\u201d filmmaker Bong Joon Ho spiking a beach ball into the audience or Arnold Schwarzenegger arm-wrestling a 9-year-old boy, outrageous moments that won\u2019t happen anywhere else.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just all about the films \u2014 it\u2019s about the theatrical experience, seeing it all together,\u201d says Grant Moninger, cofounder of Beyond Fest and artistic director of the American Cinematheque. \u201cThis does not happen online. You\u2019re not watching a screener with a watermark at your house. You\u2019re all together, you\u2019re just celebrating cinema and going through all the emotions together. We put on a show every year at all these theaters because we\u2019re thankful that everyone\u2019s coming together and we\u2019re going to try to give them as much as we can give them.\u201d<\/p>\n Potential surprises lie in wait as well. While Park\u2019s \u201cNo Other Choice\u201d will play the Aero on opening night, at the Egyptian will be Tom Stern\u2019s \u201cThe Butthole Surfers: The Hole Truth and Nothing Butt,\u201d a documentary on the influential Texas psychedelic punk group. Band members Gibby Haynes, Paul Leary, King Coffey and Jeff Pinkus will be there for a Q&A moderated by Talking Heads\u2019 Jerry Harrison.<\/p>\n And though the Butthole Surfers have not played publicly for a number of years, there is a strong possibility they will perform as well.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have the band on stage and we have electricity,\u201d said Stern, best known as co-director with Alex Winter of the 1993 cult favorite \u201cFreaked,\u201d during a recent phone interview. \u201cWho knows what could happen?\u201d<\/p>\n The Butthole Surfers, subjects of the documentary \u201cThe Butthole Surfers: The Hole Truth and Nothing Butt,\u201d directed by Tom Stern.<\/p>\n (Pat Blashill)<\/p>\n In their heyday of the 1980s and \u201990s, the Butthole Surfers put on live shows that could sometimes feature two drummers, a nude female dancer, a backdrop of medical reconstructive films and the setting of various items on fire, all to support their hallucinatory, often nightmarish music.<\/p>\n \u201cIt felt dangerous in a beautiful way,\u201d described Stern, placing the group and their ethos firmly within the realm of Beyond Fest.<\/p>\n Along with the Del Toro tribute, another retrospective highlight will be actor William Petersen appearing for Q&As after screenings of two stylish 1980s crime thrillers, Michael Mann\u2019s \u201cManhunter\u201d and William Friedkin\u2019s \u201cTo Live and Die in L.A.\u201d<\/p>\n Expect plenty of star power as well, with appearances by genre icon John Carpenter<\/a>, who will present a 70mm screening of his \u201cBig Trouble in Little China.\u201d Al Pacino will appear for a 35th anniversary screening of Warren Beatty\u2019s \u201cDick Tracy\u201d and Rob Reiner will present a double bill of Stephen King adaptations with \u201cStand By Me\u201d and \u201cMisery.\u201d Tim Robbins will speak after screenings of Adrian Lyne\u2019s \u201cJacob\u2019s Ladder\u201d and Robert Altman\u2019s \u201cThe Player.\u201d <\/p>\n A handful of restored horror classics will also unspool, including a new 4K restoration of Tobe Hooper\u2019s \u201cSalem\u2019s Lot,\u201d the international premiere of the 4K restoration of Abel Ferrara\u2019s \u201cMs. 45,\u201d a world premiere 4K restoration of Ruggero Deodata\u2019s \u201cCannibal Holocaust\u201d and a new restoration of Rob Zombie\u2019s \u201cThe Devil\u2019s Rejects.\u201d<\/p>\n More than other local events, Beyond Fest harnesses the growing energy of the local rep house scene<\/a>, currently in the midst of a renaissance period. Christian Parkes, cofounder of Beyond Fest, pointed to the wide-ranging tastes of younger audiences who use the online platform Letterboxd and might place Panahi and Carpenter next to each other on a shelf of Blu-rays.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a very loose seal of approval that we\u2019re putting on this,\u201d Parkes says. \u201cBecause the thing that\u2019s top of mind is it\u2019s always about the audience. Is this right for the audience? Do we want to expose them to this? Are they going to embrace it and make it their own? And that\u2019s really critical.\u201d<\/p>\n Conan O\u2019Brien and Rose Byrne in Mary Bronstein\u2019s \u201cIf I Had Legs I\u2019d Kick You.\u201d<\/p>\n (A24)<\/p>\n Screenings at the Los Feliz 3 are free and feature many new genre features, including the world premiere of Ned Crowley\u2019s western \u201cKilling Faith,\u201d the U.S. premieres of Eric Owens\u2019 warped thriller \u201cIn A Cold Vein,\u201d Julie Pacino\u2019s psychological horror \u201cI Live Here Now\u201d and Kenji Iwaisawa\u2019s animated \u201c100 Meters\u201d and the West Coast premiere of Lucile Had\u017eihalilovi\u0107\u2019s fairy-tale-inspired \u201cThe Ice Tower.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s being able to give space to all these different filmmakers that we find really interesting and are saying interesting things in very new and unique ways,\u201d said Evrim Ersoy, head of programming at Beyond Fest.<\/p>\n The origins of the festival go back to 2013<\/a>, when Parkes, who had been a regular at the Egyptian, approached Moninger and said he could book the Italian band Goblin, known to film fans for their scoring work with director Dario Argento on films like \u201cSuspiria\u201d and \u201cDeep Red,\u201d for their first-ever L.A. shows. He had already been telling the band\u2019s booking agent he had a venue for them in L.A.<\/p>\n \u201cI walked up to Grant and I told him I had a film festival,\u201d Parkes recalls. \u201cAnd, of course, I didn\u2019t have a film festival. I had an idea for a film festival. So I was bluffing on both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think some of the passion started that first year,\u201d says Moninger. \u201cI remember we were just going to do one year and everyone started asking, \u2018What is going to be shown Year 2?\u2019 And we were like, \u2018Oh, there\u2019s a Year 2?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Past editions have included tributes to David Cronenberg<\/a>, Dario Argento and Sonny Chiba. A highlight of last year\u2019s festival was a 30th anniversary screening of \u201cSpeed\u201d<\/a> with stars Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.<\/p>\n Meiko Kaji in the 1970 movie \u201cBlind Woman\u2019s Curse\u201d<\/p>\n (Arrow Films \/ Beyond Fest at American Cinematheque)<\/p>\n Ersoy described how arranging this year\u2019s tribute to Japanese actor Meiko Kaji, the first trip to America for the star of such cult items as \u201cLady Snowblood,\u201d \u201cStray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss\u201d and \u201cBlind Woman\u2019s Curse,\u201d was a nine-month process that began when \u201cAnora\u201d filmmaker Sean Baker posted a picture of himself with Kaji in Japan. (Baker will be among those leading post-screening conversations with Kaji as part of her tribute.)<\/p>\n \u201cNo one in the team says, \u2018That seems impossible,\u2019 or \u2018It\u2019s too hard,\u2019\u201d says Ersoy. \u201cWe just chase every lead for anything we\u2019re passionate about until it\u2019s either done or there\u2019s no way it\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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