It's going downtown again.
And this time, the Los Angeles Film Festival will tip off, starting Thursday, without the Lakers wreaking havoc on opening night.
Last year, the festival's opening night screening and party took place across the street from the Staples Center the same night as Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
This year, there will be no raucous Laker fans clogging traffic at the end of the screening, and no police chief warning the entire city not to travel downtown (even though festival organizers were hoping to persuade lots of Westsiders to do just that).
But the Lakers' victory last year, during the LAFF screening of "The Kids Are All Right," also gave the festival a shot of adrenaline and helped kick off its first year downtown in style.
"We were petrified that people were going to stay away," said festival director Rebecca Yeldham. "But it was packed, and it was an extraordinary night. When they emerged from the screening, the people were not only celebrating the movie, but also the victory for the Lakers."
This year's festival, which kicks off on Thursday night and runs for 11 days, will have to count on its programming to provide the excitement -- that, and a downtown setting that proved to be a hospitable and even vibrant setting for a festival that had previously been based in Hollywood and Westwood.
Last year's attendance of 92,000 set a record for LAFF, which has been run by Film Independent since 2000.
It was the first full year for Yeldham (a producer whose films include "The Motorcycle Diaries," "Anvil!" and the upcoming "On the Road"), and the first year for critic David Ansen as artistic director.
And, Yeldham told TheWrap, it was a year in which she began to get a handle on the programming philosophy of a festival that has always faced the problem of trying to appeal to the industry and the public, to cineastes and fanboys, to out-of-towners and to locals who are seeing movies after working all day.
"I think the personality of this festival is that our films are really good, but also fun and entertaining," Yeldham said. "Some inclusions are for the ardent cinephile, but if you look across the board and look at our tentpoles, these are not only great films but great pieces of entertainment.
"I think that that's where David and I are very much in sync: We have a love of the high and the low. We have very high standards, but we don't turn up our noses at films that are pure genre. So you'll see studio films and auteur films and specialty films and micro-budget films."
Last year's lineup included Oscar Best Picture nominee "The Kids Are All Right," along with Davis Guggenheim's documentary "Waiting for Superman," the Australian crime drama "Animal Kingdom" (with its Oscar-nominated performance from Jacki Weaver), the raucous British comedy "Four Lions" and the moving doc "Marwencol."
