Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Spirit Awards, announced that Jennifer Cochis is being promoted to director of the Los Angeles Film Festival. Cochis, a producer who has worked with the likes of Drake Doremus and James Ponsoldt, has also served as the Festival’s creative director, collaborating with outgoing Festival director Stephanie Allain on all aspects of the Festival. An award-winning independent producer, Allain (Hustle & Flow, Beyond the Lights) is in production on Justin Simien’s Netflix series Dear White People, posting Gerard McMurray’s Burning Sands and prepping Juanita, an Alfre Woodard vehicle to be directed by Clark Johnson.
“Jennifer Cochis is a brilliant new force on the Festival scene and I am extremely happy to have her step into this new role,” said Josh Welsh, president of Film Independent. “She brings so much experience, intelligence and passion to everything she does. She’s worked closely with the mighty Stephanie Allain on the Festival for the past two years, first as senior programmer and then as creative director, turning the Festival into a powerful platform for discovering new and diverse talent.”
Allain said, “It has been such an honor to shine a spotlight on women and directors of color and leaving is bittersweet. But I know that the festival is in extremely capable hands with Jennifer Cochis at the helm because she helped me build it.”
Cochis related, “It’s an incredibly exciting challenge to build upon the great work that Stephanie has done at the LA Film Festival these past five years. I am passionate about continuing to grow this Festival, bringing together audacious and brave visual storytellers with the audiences of Los Angeles.”
In addition to her festival work, Cochis has produced critically acclaimed films, both fiction (James Ponsoldt’s Smashed and Drake Doremus’ Douchebag) and non-fiction (Marius Markevicius’ The Other Dream Team and Elise Salomon’s Los Wild Ones). Cochis is a Sundance Institute Creative Producers Lab Fellow and was awarded their prestigious Sheila C. Johnson Fellowship. Currently, she is the digital studio head for Joss Whedon’s Save the Day, a pro-Hillary Clinton Super PAC, creating short videos that aim to get people out to vote.
The 23rd LA Film Festival, which will take place June 14–22, 2017 at ArcLight, is currently accepting submissions. The early deadline for submissions is October 28, the regular deadline is November 18 and the late deadline is December 16, 2016. Click here for submission guidelines and forms.
A Dispute About Fact vs. Fiction At The Trial Over The Murder Of Tupac Shakur In 1996
A prosecutor said Monday that while few have been willing to speak about the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur, Duane "Keffe D" Davis is the "one person who has a hard time being silent." "Let's be clear, Duane Davis did not pull the trigger. But he did plan the shooting in retaliation of the beating of his nephew," Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors at the start of Davis' Las Vegas trial. "Remarkably, you will learn that from Duane Davis himself." Davis, 63, could get life in prison if he's convicted of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. He has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer in the defense opening called the prosecution's narrative "fiction." Palal showed jurors video of Shakur's entourage attacking Davis' nephew Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson outside the boxing match at the MGM Grand hours before the shooting on Sept. 7, 1996. Davis spent the next two hours planning how to get even, said Palal, and Shakur was gunned down "in an act of revenge." What he told the FBI and investigators In a 2008 interview with a federal task force investigating the killing of Shakur's rival, the Notorious B.I.G., Davis instead talked about the Shakur shooting. He described handing a gun to the men in the back seat of a white Cadillac that fired on a black BMW with Shakur and Marion "Suge" Knight inside. As prosecutors played audio of Davis explaining the moment Shakur was shot, members of Shakur's family, including his stepbrother Maurice "Mopreme" Shakur, stared ahead and listened intently from the audience. Palal told jurors Davis held onto a visceral hatred for Shakur for decades that drove him to speak. He said the defendant talked to the FBI in 1998 and again in 1999,... Read More