(MENAFN- EIN Presswire)
Havana directed by Faith Strongheart (Getting From Here) will be screening on Saturday September 17th at 10:00 a.m. PST at the DTLAFF.
Director Faith Strongheart
(From L-R) Actors Ifeanyi Dike Jr. and Shenli Zhao
The festival, premiering 100+ films of all genres with an emphasis on diversity starts on September 14 – 18 at the Regal L.A. Live
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA , UNITED STATES, September 7, 2022 /EINPresswire.com / -- The 13th annual DTLA Film Festival, which is set to run from September 14th – 18th at Regal L.A. LIVE, announced the short film Havana as an Official Selection. The film was directed by Faith Strongheart (Getting From Here) and will be screening on Saturday September 17th at 10:00 a.m.
Havana brings us to 1970's Cuba where immigration officer Antonio (Ifeanyi Dike Jr.) sells exit visas illegally at exorbitant prices. Antonio's secrets go beyond his secret job, though: he is also hiding his homosexuality, which comes to light when his lover, Jian (Shaofei Chen), comes in looking for an exit visa for himself.
Director Strongheart said:“During our research we found out that it was illegal to be gay in Cuba until 1979. We were interested in how a person becomes trapped by fear of persecution and as a result, cannot live openly and freely. This extends, of course, beyond just LGTQBi rights and exists everywhere in the world, even today. We ended up with a film that is not only relatable on so many levels, but is also historically accurate.”
Havana was written by Barbara Soares (Wash Me) and produced by William Barker.
A total of 112 titles including 36 features and 76 short films are slated to screen, with virtually all making their world, West Coast, or Los Angeles premieres, and all eligible for awards.
About Director Faith Strongheart
Faith Strongheart is an award-winning filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico, Faith received her MFA in directing from UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television and has written, produced and directed several short films which have screened at festivals around the world. In addition, she has written several feature-length screenplays and TV pilots. Faith continues to work as a production manager/supervisor on feature films and short-form nonfiction for Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Sony, Universal.
Faith was a finalist for the Sloan Foundation Fellowship and is a two-time recipient of the Motion Picture Association of America Award,a recipient of the Women in Film Verna Fields Memorial Fellowship, the Alliance for Women in Media Scholarship, the Bill Lee Memorial Award, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Award for Directing, the Carroll Sax Award in Motion Picture and Television Production and the Charles and Lucille King Family Foundation Scholarship. Her films and writing have won several awards and she has received accolades from numerous sources.
She received the Mary Pickford Award for Documentary Filmmaking for a feature documentary that she is making about how she was nearly fatally burned as an infant while growing up as a child of hippies in the mountains of Northern New Mexico. She is in the development stages of her first feature production, a story about a single mother on the desperate edge of survival and most recently directed a Covid-19 horror short.
Faith was a fellow in the 2020 Respectability Entertainment Lab, a 2021 Black Magic Collective Fellow and was the 2022 recipient of the Loreen Arbus Disability Awareness Grant.
About the Downtown Los Angeles Film Festival
Established in 2008, the festival has screened more 1,000 films, held more 200 events and partnered with more than 75 other profit and nonprofit business in DTLA. Our programming reflects downtown L.A.'s vibrant new urbanism, the unique ethnic and cultural diversity of its neighborhoods, its burgeoning independent film community, its singular blend of late 19th and 20th century architecture, and the seminal role it played in the early days of American cinema (epitomized by the world's largest group of vintage movie palaces located in the Broadway Theater District). Set against this dramatic backdrop, DFFLA serves as a beacon for movie fans and industry professionals throughout Southern California and beyond.
Faith Strongheart is represented by Espada PR & Entertainment.
Jasmin Espada
Espada PR
+1 (818) 521-3807
email us here
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