"ONE LUCKY ELEPHANT" is a unique documentary starring elephants, one female in particular, who will break your heart if nothing else. The fortunate elephant in question is Lorna, a lovable pachyderm who was released from a life sentence as a St. Louis circus slave at the age of seventeen by her keeper and trainer who had fallen deeply in love with her -- and turned over to an Elephant refuge where she could live out the rest of her days free to roam greener pastures in the company of other four ...

Feuding Anthropologists, an Elephant who got away, The abuse of Vlast, and Rich space cadetsThis year's LA Film Festival had a particularly strong slate of documentaries.and the following are a few mini-reviews of the creme-de-la-creme. "SECRETS OF THE TRIBE" compiled and directed by Brazilian filmmaker José Padilha, is a very thought-provoking documentary focusing on the interference of academic anthropologists in the life of an extremely primitive tribe in the Amazon jungle, the Yanomami, in...

Film Independent made a great move to the Regal Cinema’s Live forthis year's Los Angeles Film Festival. The opening film was director LisaCholodenko’s “Are the Kids All Right” with Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo andAnnette BeningFilm starsfrom Hollywood and overseas walked the red carpet along with many brightfirst feature  directors like Adam Reid with narrative ensembleaward for "Hello Lonesome",Hossein Keshavarz ,director of "DogSweat" shot in Tehran and Brett Haley...

by Marla LewinThe World Premiere of "One Lucky Elephant" at the L.A. Film Festival attracted  Lily Tomlin, Academy Award-director, Kathryn Bigelow and actress Persia White ("Girlfriends"), who saw the film and stayed for a special panel discussion hosted by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) that focused on the plight of elephants and other wild animals in captivity.  Moderated by NY Times journalist and author Charles Siebert, the panel featured the film’s di...