Huntington Beach to hold Cultural Film Festival this weekend

Local cinephiles will be in for a treat this weekend in Huntington Beach.

The Huntington Beach Cultural Film Festival runs from Friday through Sunday, with both in-person viewing at Huntington Beach Central Library Theater and virtual options.

The festival could be the swan song as the last official event put on by the Huntington Beach Human Relations Committee, which the City Council voted 4-3 last month to disband. The official dissolution vote is expected at the next council meeting on Sept. 5.

But Human Relations Committee chair V.C. Rhone, a filmmaker, is expecting a great weekend. The festival is designed to highlight short films created by underrepresented filmmakers.

Rhone said the festival, which was born out of cultural cinema showcases that the HRC has been holding since 2020, will go on in future years. At the final HRC meeting on Aug. 8, with Rhone recused from the vote, committee members voted to let Rhone’s production company of Dominion InnerTainment take over running the festival.

“My promise to them is that no matter what happens, whether there’s a new group that emerges independently of the city, I will personally uphold the mission that this whole event was founded upon,” she said.

“Morena,” a film about an insecure folk artist who seeks out skin whitening cream to cope with everyday life, will be shown this weekend at the Huntington Beach

(Courtesy of Tim Toda)

Short films will be shown at the library Friday night beginning at 6, with those films being family-friendly in nature. The festival continues virtually online on Saturday beginning at 8 p.m.

The festival’s final day on Sunday will feature a block of films starting at 11 a.m., followed by a panel on women in the entertainment space. Moderated by writer and script supervisor Caryn Ruby, the panel will include producer Suzie Abdou and Nikki Syreeta, an intimacy coordinator on the Peacock show, “Bel-Air.”

“I’m thrilled to have the three of them there,” Rhone said. “We might add one or two more people, but because of the [Writers Guild of America] strike rules, I think actors and writers are not allowed to do festivals right now.”

The final block of films will be shown at 3 p.m. Sunday, with an awards ceremony and reception to follow.

Rhone said the committee received more than 600 films this year, and 33 of them are nominated in special categories. Some of the films not selected to screen were designated as honorable mentions, and nine films also were selected to be shown on HBTV from Aug. 28 through Sept. 15.

The crew works on set for the Iranian short film “Snail.”

(Courtesy of Huntington Beach Cultural Film Festival)

“We’ve had quite a few films from countries where filmmaking is not supported, and there’s a lot of violence against filmmakers,” Rhone said. “That has been a really wonderful outlet for them and a great connection for us.”

One such short film is “Snail,” out of Iran, which will be shown Sunday afternoon. The film, a Slamdance Film Festival finalist, highlights a mother who shows support for her musician son, before the viewer eventually realizes the mother herself is deaf.

“She just goes hard for her kid,” Rhone said. “It just touches you in such a way that really centers you in this theme of love and acceptance. It’s always great to see films like that from other countries that are not about war, not about violence, but just about the love a mom has for her son.”

Director Peter Okojie’s film, “Unsung Heroes,” will be shown in the first block Sunday and is a best documentary nominee for the festival. It deals with Black military veterans who served their country even during challenging times at home.

“For What I’m Not” was directed by USC student Cooper Roth.

(Courtesy of Huntington Beach Cultural Film Festival)

A film submitted by USC student Cooper Roth, “For What I’m Not,” is another highlight for Rhone that also screens on Sunday. The film features Jacob Bertrand of the popular Netflix series “Cobra Kai,” which Rhone said was an unexpected but delightful treat.

“It’s a beautiful story about a couple that’s going through objects they can put in a time capsule, and the guy in the relationship is presenting himself as something that he’s not,” she said. “Many of us cried watching it, because we can all relate to sometime in your life when you want to be accepted, part of the ‘in crowd,’ but you’re not quite that.”

Both in-person tickets and passes for Saturday’s virtual screening should be reserved through Eventbrite. Festival tickets are free.

For more information on the festival and films screening this weekend, visit the festival website at thecinemashowcase.wixsite.com/hbccs.