Miguel Arteta to be LA Film Festival guest director and receive Spirit of Independence award

Filmmaker Miguel Arteta will be the guest director of the 2017 LA Film Festival and will receive the festival’s Spirit of Independence award. This year’s festival runs June 14-22.

As guest director, Arteta will deliver a keynote address at the filmmaker retreat just ahead of the festival, which is produced by the local arts organization Film Independent. Arteta’s latest film, the social satire “Beatriz At Dinner” written by Mike White and starring Salma Hayek and John Lithgow, opens in theaters Friday.

“As a filmmaker working in Los Angeles the past two decades, I’ve had the privilege of benefiting from the LA Film Festival and all the great things that Film Independent does,” Arteta said in a statement. “I’m so honored to be receiving this award and to have a chance to hang out with this year’s filmmakers and be invigorated by their passion and their films.”

Arteta won an Independent Spirit Award for his 2000 film “Chuck & Buck.” His other films include “Star Maps,” “The Good Girl,” “Youth In Revolt,” “Cedar Rapids” and “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.” His work on television include episodes of “Freaks and Geeks,” “The Office,” “Enlightened” and “American Horror Story.”

His upcoming feature is called “Duck Butter,” staring Alia Shawkat, Laia Costa and Mark and Jay Duplass.

Previous recipients of the Spirit of Independence award include Ava DuVernay and her Array Releasing, Lily Tomlin, David O. Russell, Don Cheadle, George Clooney, Tom Bernard and Michael Barker, Clint Eastwood, and Charlize Theron.

SIGN UP for the free Indie Focus movies newsletter »

Mark.Olsen@latimes.com

Twitter: @IndieFocus

ALSO

A film festival every night: The new ecology of the old-movie scene in L.A.

LA Film Festival program continues to expand with ‘The Beguiled’ and ‘Annabelle: Creation’

L.A. Film Festival competition lineups mix familiar faces with fresh discoveries