29th Annual Dances with Films Festival Returns to TCL Chinese Theatres Hollywood June 18-28

It’s mid-June in Los Angeles and that means June gloom lifts and Dances With Films (DWF) has come back to the TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollywood. The plucky indie festival with the peculiar name, which runs June 18-28, “was created at a time when the Park City, Utah “dance”—aka Sundance—had so many satellite festivals swirling around it,” quips DWF co-founder Leslee Scallon. “We thought it would be funny to be the summer film festival called Dances With Films.”

Twenty nine years on, DWF has grown to become one of Los Angeles’ flagship festivals, showing a staggering 279 films, including 36 world premieres, and they’ve already reported sold-out houses.  “Each year, DWF has grown organically in size and momentum,” adds co-founder Michael Trent. “After all, what’s 29 years to become an overnight success?”

Those 279 ultra-indie films include DWF’s critically-acclaimed Midnight Horror, Genre, and Pilots sections, as well as celebrating of music, dance, and family-friendly programming in the Downbeat and Kidz sections.

"Yale" directed by Jay Silverman

The festival opens Thursday, June 18 with the world premiere of Jay Silverman’s drama Yale. The film focuses on a woman who must find and ask for help from the father who abandoned her when she was a child in order to save her son, who needs an emergency kidney transplant. The film stars Caitlin McGee, Dominic Leeder, Kevin Dunn, and Rachael Harris.

Sunday, June 28, DWF offers the world premiere closing feature, Adam Hoelzel’s drama Tender, which follows a couple who discover a stash of gold hidden within the walls of their home. Their lifeline quickly spirals into danger as they devise a high-stakes plan to escape financial ruin. The cast includes Jesse Garcia, Jess Weixler, David Koechner, Robert Longstreet, Mark St. Cyr, Keli Price, Stephen Ellis, Robert Peters, and Sonja O’Hara.

Additional highlights among the world premiere features include: Brad Dickson and Daniel Katz’s cringe comedy mockumentary Dave vs. Hollywood, which follows an actor who moves to Los Angeles completely devoid of connections and contacts, who tries to make his mark by unethical or even amoral means. The film stars Preston Tyler Ward, Vincent Spano, Chloe Paige Flowers, Eric Roberts, and Greg Standifer.

David Ketterer Spencer’s Souvenir focuses on two estranged friends whose unexpected encounter leads to an unexpected day-long adventure through New York City as they attempt to return a dead self-help guru’s lost wallet. The cast includes Janeane Garafalo, Ruby Cruz, and Eric Berryman.

In Jonathan Oster’s psychological thriller Jane’s Not Here, Jane Hayes (Amelia Barr) wakes from a coma after a devastating accident plagued by memories of a husband and son that no one else remembers. As she leans on her brother to rebuild her life, her search for answers begins to fracture her sense of reality. Also stars Steve Mallers and Nicole Weber.

D.J. Hale’s Rescued follows Tyler, an unhoused man whose once-stable life has unraveled through addiction, isolation, and self-destruction who finds redemption after forming a bond with a stray dog named Angel. The cast includes Hale, Lindsey Shaw, David DeLuise, Elissa Kapneck, Marques Buford, T.K. Richardson, Jillian Tremaine, Gianna Gomez, Rachelle Highbrou, and C.J. Dewey.

Also making its world premiere is Marcus Neihaus’ timely Tales From The Crypto, which follows a young programmer, Ravi, who turns to cryptocurrency trading during pandemic and the emergence of Uniswap and “DeFi Summer” to save his parents’ farm in India. But in a world rife with scammers, ruggers and naysayers, he finds that trading is much more than he bargained for. Stars Neihaus and Aryaan Ohri.

Dances With Films has an equally strong slate of documentaries with a number of films making their world premieres. One is Cam Lui and Michael Schnee’s Better Call Babs, which invites viewers into Babs Fry's iconic van for a ride-along, witnessing her Red-Cross award-winning work recovering lost pets and rehabilitating feral dogs. Rob Arthur’s Frampton traces Peter Frampton’s rise to global rock and roll fame, the struggles that tested his identity and resilience, and his relentless reinvention. Now facing a degenerative muscle disease, Frampton confronts his limits with urgency and grace. Jon Bolerjack’s Stan Lee: The Final Chapter looks at Slan Lee’s experiences at conventions where Stan's signatures and memorabilia were converted into millions of dollars and rival hucksters double-crossed each other to control his fortune.

Beneath the Ashes: The Past Reimagined will have its world premiere on Saturday, June 27, at 11:30am at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres in Hollywood. Directed by Pasadena resident Hrag Yedalian and produced by Brandon D. Lamar — President of the Pasadena NAACP and a fourth-generation Altadenan — the feature documentary examines what the Eaton Fire threatened in one of Southern California's most historically significant Black communities.

I’m looking forward to Cabali and the Tiki Mug Obsession, which is making its Los Angeles Premiere as an Official Selection of the festival on June 20. Long before craft cocktails, themed bars, and nostalgia-driven design became mainstream trends, Tiki culture created an entirely unique world of art, architecture, music, collectibles, and escapism. That history, and the passionate community that has worked to preserve it, is at the heart of the film.

Go to Dances With Films for info on the slate lineup, events, passes, and tickets.