DANCES WITH FILMS CELEBRATES 20 YEARS WITH A BOLD LINEUP OF TRULY INDEPENDENT FILMS -- The co-founders, Michael Trent & Leslee Scallon joined host Janeane Bernstein June 5th to chat about this incredible festival!

KUCI: Get the Funk Out

Dances with Films Festival 201 is celebrating it's 20th Anniversary. This "fiercely independent" film festival runs from June 1st-11th at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood. The co-founders, Michael Trent & Leslee Scallon are thrilled to still be supporting independent filmmakers, along with video directors and kid filmmakers. Michael and Leslee join host Janeane Bernstein at 9:45am pst June 5th! The unstoppable festival, for two decades a champion of independent filmmakers, takes over the TCL Chinese Theaters June 1-11 with 74 world premieres, 36 west coast premieres, and opening and closing night films from DWF alumni. The event also includes a Dances with Kidz event, too! Sat. (June 10) is Dances with Kidz, films for kids, by kids! LOS ANGELES, CA (May 10, 2017) – The fiercely independent film festival Dances With Films (DWF) announced today its 2017 lineup of narrative and documentary features and short films for its 20th annual edition. Opening the festival on June 1 are two alumni projects: filmmaker David Heinz’s modern musical, AMERICAN FOLK in its Los Angeles debut and the world premiere of Tamar Halpern’s intellectual thriller, MISSING IN EUROPE. Another DWF alumni project, AUSTIN FOUND, by director Will Raée, closes the festival with its world premiere on June 11. Tickets and passes will be available for sale on Friday, May 12 at http://www.tclchinesetheatres.com/ or thru the festival's own site: https://danceswithfilms.com. The festival, proving itself to be unstoppable after 20 consecutive years, is widely recognized as the premiere showcase of innovative independent cinema in the U.S., presenting amazing, undiscovered talent to an industry audience in Hollywood. DWF will run June 1-11, 2017 in Los Angeles, CA at the TCL Chinese Theaters, located at: Hollywood & Highland, 6801 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90028. “We consider ourselves a true festival of discovery,” said festival co-founders Michael Trent and Leslee Scallon. “Our aim is to showcase films that have unique voices from the indie scene, stories that bring a touch of magic to the screen. We have discovered a great many of them over these last two decades, so we are excited to present this year's slate of knock-out talent.” The final lineup features more than 160 titles, chosen from a record 2,100 submissions from all over the globe. The juried narrative competition section includes 16 features, 13 of which are world premieres, and nearly three-dozen shorts. DWF also has a category for groundbreaking short and feature documentaries, provocative genre fare in the Midnight section, and the most exciting music videos and dance-themed films from the indie scene in the Downbeats section. The Fusion section brings together a multitude of additional features and shorts. Notable Dances With Films alumni who first gained notice at the festival include: Gina Rodriguez, Bryan Cranston, Will Scheffer, Mark V. Olsen, Jesse Eisenberg, Mike Flanagan, and John Hawkes, among others. About Dances With Films In 1998 DWF began as a film festival dedicated to finding tomorrow’s talent today and continues to carry on this mission today. With many World and West Coast Premieres, DWF provides a coveted first stop on the festival circuit. With a vast number of submissions, the selection process is based solely on merit and discoverability. DWF continues its dedication to and is a devoted champion of fresh and creative voices, mandating that all competitive films have no known actors, writers, directors, or producers. For the past 20 years, DWF has proudly provided access and opportunity to thousands of films and filmmakers from across the globe that diligently work year after year to see their dreams realized. With more than 12,000+ festival attendees and 2.5 million impressions per month on www.danceswithfilms.com, DWF is loyal and dedicated to the indie filmmaker and is considered their champion in Hollywood. DWF’s Advisory Board includes: Steve Tisch, Cindy Cowan, Jonathan Dana, Steve Elzer, Kevin Kasha, Eriq La Salle, Michael Lehmann, Mike Macari, Valerie McCaffrey, Mark V. Olsen, Joel Ordesky, Mark Ordesky, Melissa Orlen, Will Scheffer, Hilton Smith, David Spiegelman, and Steve Wegner.