Presented by the Parajanov-Vartanov Institute, DOC LA — Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival — will screen and award outstanding films by students, emerging filmmakers, and established masters to give Angelenos the opportunity to see great examples of World and American cinema. DOC LA furthers the mission of the annual Parajanov-Vartanov Institute Awards established in 2010.
While the festival’s focus is documentary cinema, we will program films of any genre (including animation, experimental, and music videos) whenever we discover unique or charming work. We are also enthusiastic about strange and unclassifiable films since the institute that presents the festival is named after the renowned nonconformists Sergei Parajanov (1924-1990) and Mikhail Vartanov (1937-2009) who overcame censorship, persecution and low budgets, and earned praise for their daring point of view from many of cinema’s greatest luminaries, such as Jean-Luc Godard and Francis Ford Coppola.
The festival’s programmer is their disciple and UCLA alum Martiros Vartanov, who has served as a curator and juror at festivals in Busan and Beverly Hills and worked on the restoration of the The Color of Pomegranates selected for Festival de Cannes. He also presents the annual Parajanov-Vartanov Institute Awards whose honorees include such icons as Martin Scorsese, Emma Thompson, William Saroyan, Jean Vigo and the Grammy-winning rock band System Of A Down.
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