Jennifer Cochis joined the Los Angeles Film Festival in January as its senior programmer. Between then and the end of April, she watched so many submissions for this year’s festival that she became practically housebound, communicating with colleagues mostly by email and text. The fruit of that labor, the 2015 L.A. Film Festival, opened June 10 and ends June 18.
What differentiates this year’s festival from past installments?The festival may be a little bit different than years past in terms of diversity in front of or behind the camera—really paying attention to people of color and women and opening up more seats at the table. There’s a film called “3rd Street Blackout,” where the lead in that film, she wrote it for herself. She directed it and she co-stars in it. There is certainly a trend of seeing people behind the camera also in front of the camera.
You have a new section, Launch, focused on digital programming such as Web series, video games, and podcasts. How has the emergence of digital media altered the way the festival is programmed?We’re looking at where stories are being told. Independent film in the ’90s was a way for filmmakers to tell stories outside the studio
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