The Screening Schedule
Tonight
Thursday
8 p.m. — Budd Schulberg Tribute Film, “The Harder They Fall,” (Columbia Pictures). Directed by Mark Robson, the drama, based on a Schulberg novel, stars Humphrey Bogart, Rod Stieger, Jan Sterling, Max Baer. An ex-sportswriter is hired by a shady boxing promoter to hype his new find.
10 p.m. — Budd Schulberg Tribute Film, “On the Waterfront,” (Columbia Pictures).
Directed by Elia Kazan, Schulberg won an Academy Award for his screenplay about union disputes in the ports of New York. The film won a total of eight Academy Awards. The stars are Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb and Eva Marie Saint.
12 midnight — Midnight Madness, a cult screening, “The Adventures of Johnny Tao.” Directed by Ken Scott, the family friendly film is a Kung Fu action/adventure comedy. Tao must discover the power of his father’s old guitar to defeat an army of donut-eating demons and save the world.
Friday
6 p.m. — Death in El Vallee.
A documentary about the death of C.M. Hardt’s grandfather who was murdered while in the custody of the Spanish Civil Guard. Fifty years later, she returns to Spain to unearth the circumstances of his death, the truth about why he died and the secret that her family doesn’t want to want her to discover. The screening will be followed by a Q& A.
7:45 p.m. — “The Seekers.”
A documentary by Frank Megna and Diana Ljungaelus, it concerns the conflicts, frustrations and aspirations of immigrants and overworked authorities in the post 9-11 world of today.
Produced and directed by Alan Chan, this film noir is about a sake salesman who dies under mysterious circumstances while visiting a call girl with a very interesting clientele. The screening is followed by a Q& A.
Saturday
This is a special screening of a documentary directed by Debby Takikawa and narrated by Noah Wylie (ER). This innovative film is about the importance of bringing children into the world. A Q&A will follow the screening, with the producers and special guests. Proceeds will go to the Oklahaven Children’s Chiropractic Center, a resource for families with chronically ill children. The center specializes in natural, drug-free health cares. Sponsored by Ptak Rehabilitation Center of West Los Angeles.
Directed by Nicholas Ray and produced and written by Schulberg, the film focuses on the efforts of a game warden to stop poaching in South Florida. The movie stars Burl Ives, Christopher Plummer and Gypsy Rose Lee.
This documentary from Pirate Town Productions is directed Jack Baric. It is a tribute to the city of San Pedro, and it features separate stories of people who have lived and worked in the area, including a commercial fisherman, a retired fisherman who does whale-watching tours, the Mary Star of The Sea’s 1962 football season, a Croatian immigrant family, the first lady longshoreman and a local Vietnam POW hero. The film features interviews with Los Angeles City Council member Janice Hahn and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).
The Backlot Film Festival is sponsored by the Greater West Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, Alliance Bank, San Gennaro Café-Brentwood, Walter Marks Realty, Damian Gerard Curran and Associates, thefrontpageonline.com, Warner Bros. Classics, the Culver City Observer and the Fine Arts Theatre, Beverly Hills.
The Honorary Committee for the Backlot Film Festival includes honorary chair actor/producer Ben Stiller, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Howard Welinsky, the senior vice president of administration for Warner Bros. Distribution Howard Welinsky, journalist/producer Daniel M. Selznick, author Scott Eyman, film preservationist Richard May, actor John Kerr, film critic/historian Charles Champlin, Culver City Mayor Gary Sibiger, film historian Judy Stangler, producer/casting director Marvin Paige, actor/writer Robert Sacchi, musician/writer/historian Efrem Violin, social activist Ken Lock, the retired Director of Human Services of Culver City Syd Kronenthal and photographer/historian Rodney Gottlieb.