LA AIR

Our LA AIR program is on pause for 2021/2022… check back periodically for updates as we continue to monitor health and safety protocols and community comfort levels around gatherings and travel during the ongoing global pandemic.

LA AIR invites local artists to utilize EPFC resources in creating and premiering new, experimental, documentary, and personal work over a two-month period. Artists in residence also engage with the greater EPFC community via screenings, workshops and other events. We especially encourage applications from artists interested in engaging with EPFC’s areas of specialty: small gauge film, progressive politics & community activism, alternative and handmade photochemical processes, local histories, multidisciplinary work, and expanded cinema. Additionally, we encourage artists to engage with the greater EPFC community during the course of their residency. Previous artists-in-residence have included public workshops, curatorial programs, multi-media collaborations and class visits as part of their residency.

Artists are provided with a modest materials stipend in addition to equipment access, technical and creative support, and work/exhibition space at EPFC’s 900 square foot storefront in the Alvarado Arts Building at the corner of Alvarado and Sunset.

LA AIR artists will present their completed work at a free public screening in the EPFC microcinema on the last Thursday of their residency cycle. Upon completion, LA AIR projects will be featured on EPFC’s website and Vimeo page.

2020 LA AIR RESIDENTS

The 2020 LA AIR residency program is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.

We are delighted to welcome Maral Mahmoudi, Saif Alsaegh, Michael Verdin and Melinda James as our 2020 LA AIR artists.

Los Angeles-based artist Maral Mahmoudi has formed a unique vision of club music, one that embraces her heritage and recontextualizes it for a new audience. Focusing on the interplay between sounds and culture she combines Iranian folk field recordings with raw distorted beats, hoping it will introduce listeners to new ways of perceiving music. Taking the old and making it new. As a DJ, she enjoys exploring music from around the world and showcasing the hidden gems from the past and present. Through her music and involvement in the scene, Maral seeks to both educate and have a positive impact on others. ”
Saif Alsaegh is a United States-based filmmaker from Baghdad. Much of Saif’s work deals with the contrast between the landscape of his youth in Baghdad growing up as part of the Chaldean minority in the nineties and early 2000s, and the U.S. landscape where he currently lives. His films have screened in many festivals including Cinema du Reel, Kruzfilm Festival Hamburg, Kassel Dokfest, and in galleries and museums including the Wisconsin Triennial at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. He received his MFA in film from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

 

Melinda James is a Black and Thai cinematographer whose work encompasses documentaries, narratives, installations, commercials, and music videos. As a kid growing up in Yuba City, California, she enjoyed looking through toy viewfinders; it wasn’t until much later that she realized cinematography is not just about looking, but about building points of connection. Centering her work on women, QTBIPOC, and underrepresented communities, Melinda is drawn to the process of unearthing the nuances of people’s everyday lives. She believes a good image is the starting point for communication, but it’s in the space between images where dialogue happens.

PAST LA AIR RESIDENTS

2019 LA AIR Artists:
Troyese Robinson
Darol Olu Kae
Arshia Fatima Haq
Andre Keichian

2018 LA AIR Artists:
Nesanet Abegaze
Nevin Kallepalli
Adee Roberson
Carmina Escobar

2017 LA AIR Artists:
Alan Nakagawa
Gelare Khoshgozaran
Alima Lee
Carly Short

2016 LA AIR Artists:
Caitlin Díaz
Edgar Momplaisir
David Fonseca
Jazmin Garcia

2015 LA AIR Artists:
Anna Luisa Petrisko
Jennifer Saparzadeh
Ariel Teal
Kate Dollenmayer

2014 LA AIR Artists:
Andrea Márquez
Miko Revereza
Chloe Reyes
Haruko Tanaka
John Wiese
Alee Peoples
Amy Lee Ketchum
Sandra de la Loza
Marco Braunschweiler
Andrew Kim

2013 LA AIR Artists:
Huckleberry Lain
Kate Brown
Sharmaine Starks
Madison Brookshire
Erich Burci
Mariah Garnett & Eve Fowler
Gina Napolitan & Beaux Gest Mingus
Kelsey Brain

2012 LA AIR Artists:
Ursula Brookbank & Christine Alicino
Margie Schnibbe
John Palmer
Tuni Chatterji
Nancy Jean Tucker
Will O’Loughlen
Joep Brouwer & Maurice de Bruijne
Pablo Valencia

2011 LA AIR Artists:
Kate Lain
Rick Bahto
Cosmo Segurson

 

EPFC Summer Artist In Residence Program

Our LA-based International Artist In Residence program is on pause for 2021/2022… check back periodically for updates as we continue to monitor health and safety protocols and community comfort levels around gatherings and travel during the ongoing global pandemic.

This four-week residency is an opportunity for an emerging or established filmmaker to explore our urban Los Angeles neighborhood, utilize EPFC’s equipment and services to facilitate a short film project, and share creative vision, experience and knowledge with the Echo Park community.

Our 2018 Summer Artists in Residence are Urizen Freaza and Teresa Martin!

Urizen Freaza was born in Tenerife in 1982 and is since 2010 based in Berlin. He’s a self-taught photographer and film-maker. Self-taught meaning that this is a path he’s still walking, while hoping there is always more path to walk. He’s a member of the Film Shooters Collective and part of the team behind the analogueNOW festival in Berlin.

Past Summer Artists In Residence:
2017 – Kaori Oda
2015 – Meg Rorison  
2013 – Karel Doing
2011 – Merv Espina
2010 – Joff Winterhart
2009 – Elena Pardo
2008 – Dagie Brundert
2007 – Derek O’Connor & Maeve Sweeney
2006 – Heather Harkins
2005 – Roger Beebe

Echo Luna

Echo Luna, a satellite project site of Echo Park Film Center established in 2007, is located in the small, traditional village of Legedzine, Ukraine. Artists in Residence are invited based on compelling past and current work that explores the intersection of art and environment.