Film festival has some issues

Hollywood’s latest film fest is a conglomeration of California stereotypes: tree-hugging, animal-loving, sign-waving entertainment mixed with sunshiny optimism.

That’s the idea behind the first Artivist Film Festival, an advocacy-driven visual art and film festival that runs today through Wednesday at the Egyptian Theatre.

And what film event would be complete without celeb honorees: Ed Begley Jr. for the trees, Tippi Hedren for the animals, France Nuyen for the kids and Mike Farrell for everyone else. The Artivist name represents the hopeful goal to “merge art and activism for global consciousness.”

“It’s not insane, it’s ambitious,” said founder and executive producer Diaky Diaz, who anticipates the fledgling festival, which opens on Earth Day, will draw about 7,000. “I just felt like it needed to be big because it was long overdue.”

Diaz came to Hollywood five years ago with rose-colored glasses framing her star-filled eyes. The 30-year-old was raring to work on films that would make a “powerful contribution to our global society.”

“I learned that in Hollywood, projects like that are few and far between,” Diaz said. The slender woman, who hails equally from Brooklyn and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, said she was astonished that the entertainment capital of the world didn’t already have a festival addressing all social, political and global issues.

“There are many festivals that address a particular issue,” Diaz said. “But I found them to be exclusive.”

Exclusive in Hollywood? Never.

The Artivist’s seemingly free-for-all approach really divides activism into the four key categories of trees, animals, kiddies and the rest of us -- a.k.a. environmental preservation, animal rights, children’s advocacy and international human rights.

The festival will showcase more than 80 films as well as the work of 13 visual artists, including photographers Subhankar Banerjee and Phil Borges and guerrilla poster artist Robbie Conal.

Notable films at the festival include:

* “Drug War/Reality Tour,” a documentary on the domestic drug war in Kensington, Pa.

* “We Interrupt This Empire,” which chronicles antiwar protests that shut down San Francisco’s financial district in 2003.

* “Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War,” an analysis of the veracity of the Bush administration in the war on terrorism.

* “A Seat at the Table,” about the fight by American Indians for religious freedoms.

* “Before Night Falls,” a biography of artist Reinaldo Arenas.

Also being shown are several Sundance film festival winners:

* “Supersize Me” (documentary directing award, 2004), which explores America’s fast-food obsession.

* “Born Into Brothels” (documentary audience award, 2004), about child prostitutes in Calcutta.

* “Blue Vinyl” (cinematography award, 2002), an environmental-health documentary about the dangers of vinyl siding.

There are even a few Oscar nominees in the mix, such as “War Photographer,” about James Nachtwey (documentary feature, 2002).

And in keeping with the trees, animals, kiddies and the rest of us, festival proceeds will benefit four advocacy organizations: Witness, a nonprofit founded in 1992 by singer Peter Gabriel that uses video cameras and other communication technology to advocate for human rights; the Child Welfare League of America, which has helped abused and neglected children since the 1920s; the Humane Society of the United States, an animal rights group; and Greenpeace, which has promoted environmental awareness since 1971. The organizations are scheduled to host a forum each of the first four nights of the festival. To finance her unabashedly eager effort, Diaz and a team of volunteers did what every aspiring artist/fill-in-the-day-job has done: They opened their pocketbooks and began organizing on fast-forward. That was nine months ago.

“It seems like you can turn on the 6 o’clock news and all you see is chaos and violence,” Diaz said. “I was really forcing myself to make a decision either to look the other way and shut up about it or do something about it.”

Diaz didn’t sit on her thumbs. Films and artists were solicited mostly online, through withoutabox.com and filmfesti vals.com. Organizers also contacted well-known film schools, like those at USC and UCLA, both here and abroad.

Director Leslie Neale, whose “Juvies” will be shown at the Artivist on Sunday, said she made the film to expose problems with the juvenile justice system that she discovered while teaching video production to a dozen juvenile offenders at Central Juvenile Hall in East Los Angeles. The documentary follows Neale’s students, being tried as adults, as they navigate the justice system.

Diaz said a multitude of diverse viewpoints and causes is what her film fest is all about -- well, that and having fun.

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Artivist Film Festival

Where: Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd.

When: Today through Wednesday

Info: (310) 712-1222 or www.artivistfilmfestival.org