Burbank International Film Festival continues to grow
The ninth annual Burbank International Film Festival is set to open on Wednesday, and organizers are busy putting together the final touches on the event.
Though he and his volunteers have put countless hours into preparing for the five-day event, festival director Jeff Rector said on Thursday he was still pinning down the final details, such as additional guests for the various panel discussions and bringing in more presenters.
Held at the AMC 16 in downtown Burbank, this will be the biggest event in the festival’s nine-year history. Rector said there will be more than 180 films featured, which is up from the roughly 140 films shown last year. Of those films, 26 of them will be world premieres, which makes up about a sixth of the films being shown.
One of the premieres will be “The List,” which stars Karen Gillan from the “Doctor Who” television series and the movie “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” and Jennifer Morrison from the television shows “House” and “Once Upon a Time.”
There will also be a screening of the documentary “Rod Taylor: Pulling No Punches,” which will be followed by a Q&A panel with actresses Tippi Hedren and Veronica Cartwright, who both co-starred with Taylor in Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film “The Birds.”
Additionally, there will be a 20th anniversary screening of the sci-fi film “Starship Troopers,” which will also be followed by a Q&A panel with the movie’s cast and crew.
“I’m not surprised with the amount of films we have this year, but I’m elated,” Rector said. “It really is a testament that we are [putting on a film festival] right and that more people are recognizing us. It’s really gratifying.”
Rector took over the Burbank film festival in 2012 and had hopes of turning the annual event into a “Sundance Film Festival in my backyard.” After being at the helm of the festival the last five years, Rector said that he thinks that it’s getting there.
“We’re constantly trying to think outside the box and come up with new, fresh and exciting awards, events and things to do so we can separate ourselves [from other film festivals],” Rector said. “I asked myself when I took over the film festival ... how I can separate us from everybody else. I think that the fact that we’re growing and getting bigger and better — it’s working and we’re getting noticed.”
Tickets and additional information about the Burbank International Film Festival can be found at burbankfilmfest.org.
anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com
Twitter: @acocarpio
