Many big time film festivals currently focus on highlighting the wide range of engrossing, heart-wrenching dramas from all over the world over comedy. There are film festivals exclusively dedicated to comedy, but they unfortunately don’t carry the prestige of Sundance, Cannes, Tribeca, TIFF, etc. However, as comedy is in a renaissance right now, it becomes harder to ignore the refreshing new voices aiming for laughs rather than heart strings.
So, The Los Angeles Film Festival has partnered with Funny or Die to focus in unique, refreshing talent in films with their Make ‘Em LAFF Showcase this upcoming Saturday, June 14th 8PM at The Grammy Museum in L.A. Live.
Over the last several weeks, filmmakers submitted to the Make ‘Em LAFF contest that would, in turn, select a handful of finalists to be screened live during the festival. An esteemed jury of Hannibal Buress, Kumail Nanjiani, Chris Henchy, Issa Rae, and Elvis Mitchell has already picked the film that they deem the winner amongst these finalists who will get a pretty nice prize package. The winner, who will be announced that Saturday night, will have their next video produced by Funny or Die in addition to a receiving cash prize and a talent holding deal presented by FOX Audience Strategy and that sounds pretty swell.
To compliment the films on display, stand-up comedians that hit that “unique, refreshing” mark will be performing too. Hasan Minhaj, Cameron Esposito, Baron Vaughn, and Anthony Jeselnik are set to take the stage, which, if you’re in “the comedy know”, is a damn fine line-up. Hasan hosted the recent documentary special Stand Up Planet, Cameron Esposito got Jay Leno to say “White men are on their way out!” after her set on The Late Late Show, Baron Vaughn might very well redefine the term “black nerd”, and Anthony Jeselnik has gained quite the reputation as a sort of prince of dark comedy. In short, it’s going to be a good night.
In case you’re interested, and hopefully you are, individual tickets are on sale.
