CineCon: Los Angeles

Why Go: Rarely seen old Hollywood movies screened in a premiere venue attended by a congenial group of film buffs.

Festival Description

A festival especially for the Turner Classic Movie crowd. Small, friendly and easy to navigate. A special area for collectors contains a wealth of movie memorabilia.

Festival Website: www.cinecon.org/

Timing: Five days over the Labor Day weekend.

Dates for 2010: Sept 2-6

Programming
Hollywood obscurities from the late silent and early sound period–with a few classic titles thrown in to appease new initiates. The quirky program is generated by the enthusiasm of the fest organizers. Many “B” movie offerings, serials and comic short subjects share the bill of fare with selected “A” list features from the major studios. All silent film screenings feature live piano accompaniment.
Given the age and gender of the festival programmers, it is perhaps to be expected that they are not always as sensitive to feminist concerns as they might be. My advice to female attendees: gently prod in appropriate situations; meanwhile,  grin and bear it.

Special Guests
Stars and character actors from Hollywood’s golden age are warmly feted.

Audience: Older film fans, many of whom have formed a community around collecting memorabilia.

Screening Venues:
All films are screened in the elegantly restored Egyptian Theater in the heart of Hollywood.

Screening Schedule
Only one film is shown at a time on the Egyptian’s single screen, which adds to the communal ambiance of this event.

Tickets
Passes are $100 and can be purchased by mail or in person at the festival; day passes are also available for $30. All passes will admit you to the dealers’ room at the Renaissance Hotel with its trove of memorabilia. A banquet honoring the year’s special guests adds an additional $85. No tickets are sold for individual films.

Program Notes
The festival puts out a simply-formatted program book with chatty, but knowledgeable descriptions of all films.

Surroundings
The Egyptian is located on Hollywood Boulevard in the heart of historic Hollywood. This is an area in the throes of identity crisis with the new upscale Kodak Center (where the Oscars are held) jostling for attention amid shops selling sex and drug paraphernalia and buildings devoted to the study of Scientology.

Accommodations
The festival has an arrangement with the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, a fine property and very convenient. Other possible accommodations are suggested on the AFI Fest webpage.
Renaissance Hollywood Hotel. 1755 N Highland Ave. (323) 856-1200.
www.renaissancehollywood.com/

Restaurants
In the spirit of old time Hollywood you might want to try Musso and Frank or The Pig and Whistle, both of which are close by on Hollywood Boulevard. Other suggestions can be found on the AFI Fest webpage.

Musso and Frank Grill. 6667 Hollywood Boulevard. (323) 467-7788

The Pig and Whistle. 6714 Hollywood Boulevard  (323) 463-0000

www.pignwhistle.com/

Excursions

See the AFI Fest Webpage for suggestions.

Mood Movies: (Films set in Hollywood you might want to watch before you go)

Hollywood, the Unusual. This diverting short documentary can be found on the DVD of the 1928 Corinne Griffith comedy The Garden of Eden. The original opening of the Egyptian Theater highlights a tour through Hollywood as it looked in 1928–with all the town’s pop culture fantasy architecture in full flower.

THE FESTIVAL YEAR BY YEAR

2007

Best Film I Saw

How’s About It? A clever, fast-moving musical-comedy short from Universal with a wisecrack-filled script by Mel Ronson and John Grey

2008

Unexpected Pleasure

Adolphe Menjou impersonating John Barrymore in Sing, Baby, Sing.

2009

Best Film I Saw

Easy Living. Preston Sturges’s good-humored satire of high finance gets an additional boost from Mitchell Leisen’s glossy, fast-paced direction. Edward Arnold and Jean Arthur star in a screwball classic.

Unexpected Pleasure

George Raft dancing in a puffy shirt in Rumba.

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