There’s no doubt LA is the entertainment capital of the world. Whatever your passion: thrillers, blockbusters, international shorts or romantic comedies, it’s probable Los Angeles has a film festival celebrating the genre. Recent successful film festivals include the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival. More than 4,500 submissions poured in from filmmakers around the world, and festival-goers enjoyed some 260 films, shorts and music videos including world premieres of independent films and major studio releases. Outfest 2007, one of Southern California’s oldest and largest film fests, recently celebrated its 25th anniversary promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender film images and artistry. The Method Fest in the San Fernando Valley struck a nerve with its opening night film, “Waitress,” and propelled the production to box office success.

Upcoming Film Festivals:
Los Angeles International Children’s Film Festival
Sept. 7 – Oct. 14 (The Los Angeles County Fair) and Oct. 5 – 14 (LACMA)
More than 150 films from around the world, made for children and teens, will be screened. www.lachildrensfilm.org

Danish Film Fest LA
Oct. 4 – 11 (Egyptian Theater and Laemmle Sunset 5 Theater)
Showcases the richness of the Danish storytelling tradition through 100 years of Danish cinema. www.dkfilmfestla.com

Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival
Oct. 7 – 14 (ArcLight Cinemas)
Co-founded by actor Edward James Olmos, the festival promotes cinema from all Latin regions and is one of the country’s most prominent film fests. www.latinofilm.org

SWERVE Festival
Sept. 28-30 (Barnsdall Art Park)
Fuel TV is launching the first annual SWERVE Festival. This new festival celebrates the West Coast’s creative subculture of film, art, music and action sports. www.swervefest.com

AFI Fest
Nov. 1 – 11 (ArcLight Cinemas)
AFI Fest is one of the most influential film festivals in North America, featuring international competitions of new films from emerging filmmakers, as well as global showcases of the latest work from great film masters. www.afi.com

The first exhibition ever to focus on the profound relationship between the paintings and films of famed surrealist Salvador Dali (1904 – 1989) makes its American debut at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). On view from Oct. 14 through Jan. 6, 2008, Dalí: Painting & Film argues that the artist’s personal engagement with cinema – as a fan, a screenwriter, a filmmaker and an art director – was fundamental to his understanding of modernism and deeply affected the different stages of his career. One hundred of his works have been collected from around the world including significant paintings such as The Persistence of Memory and his film work from Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound, Walt Disney’s Destino, and Dali’s own film, Chaos and Creation. Tickets go on sale Sept. 10 and can be purchased online, by phone or at the LACMA box office.
www.lacma.org

Esotouric, an eclectic motorcoach adventure and walking tour company specializing in tours that expose the seamier – and thrilling – side of LA’s lurid past, is offering a new 90-minute tour debuting Sept. 8. The new Main Street Vice tour celebrates the locales where burlesque babes, mummified Wild West outlaws, wax museums and gambling rackets could be found during the first half of the 20th century. Contrary to the area’s shocking past, Main Street is part of the internationally acclaimed Downtown renaissance and tour guides take time to showcase the street’s burgeoning elements. Esotouric Tours was recently named by Downtown News as the Editors Choice for the “Best Downtown LA Tours.” Among the company’s most popular tours, the half-day “Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles: In A Lonely Place” winds through Downtown and Hollywood stopping at historic buildings, jails and other LA locales made famous in Chandler’s Philip Marlowe detective novels. Creepy true life scenes are also pointed out, such as the Black Dahlia’s last apartment and the lot where her body was discovered in 1946.
www.esotouric.com

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCidR39Byg4]It looks like I’m a TV star in Germany (or at least a poorly paid extra). Germany’s Next Top Model filmed at the Millennium Biltmore several months ago in Los Angeles and I found the clip online. They cut my line and you can barely make out my face. Hey, I’m still putting it on my headshot resume. Look out for the guy with the yellow shirt and sport coat.

After thrilling more than 61 million visitors over the past 14 years, Universal Studios Hollywood has announced “Back to the Future – The Ride” will make its last voyage on Sept. 3, making way for the new Simpsons thrill ride opening Spring 2008. In order to celebrate the ride’s success and to show fans how much the theme park has appreciated their support, visitors to the theme park will have an opportunity to take the last ride and drive off as the owner of one of the stainless steel 1981 DeLoreans that served as inspiration for Doc Brown’s flux capacitor-equipped time machines. Notable for its futuristic design, stainless steel exterior and top-opening gull-wing doors, fewer than 10,000 DeLorean automobiles were ever built. To learn more about winning the DeLorean and taking the last ride, visit the theme park to register at specially-created “Back to the Future” kiosks or log on to the Web site.
www.universalstudioshollywood.com