A decade on, LA Punk Film Festival brings late-night screenings and a small filmmaker market to the Westside

The LA Punk Film Festival, an independent showcase that bills itself as an independent showcase for what its organizers call “independent, fearless, unfiltered, unconventional” cinema, will mark its 10th anniversary this month with two days of screenings at the Laemmle Royal on Santa Monica Boulevard, according to a release issued by the festival Monday.

The program opens Oct. 9 with a private press and industry evening at Beach Dancer Films in Encino, the production company run by festival founder Sandie West. The festival said comedian Adrian Doughty will host red-carpet interviews and that admission is by invitation and confirmed RSVP.

Public screenings follow the next week. On Oct. 16, a late-night block titled Punk After Dark runs from 10 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. and features 50 Years of Punk — Special Punk Crew Presentation, along with Faultline, Mom Came & Dick Boxing, Opting In and Apartment 666, with guests and a question-and-answer session, the festival said.

Beyond punk rock

Despite the name, the festival says its program is not limited to punk music. This year’s selections span documentary, comedy, animation, thriller, horror, music and experimental work. The online lineup posted on the festival’s website includes Coup 53, Taghi Amirani’s documentary about the 1953 coup in Iran, edited by Walter Murch, which the festival presents alongside 50 Years of Punk as films that speak to the present moment.

A Saturday morning matinée on Oct. 17, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., leans toward puppetry and animation. Its tentative lineup includes Puppets in Paradise, Small Unfriendly Rodents, Staircase Stomp, El Depot, Hook, Infestation, It Makes its Way, Hell Is Other People, Night Terrors, Insidious and Peter.

A market built for conversation

After a 1 p.m. meetup at Café 50’s, the festival moves to the Lamb’s Den, a private screening room at the Laemmle Royal, for what it calls the LA Punk Film Market. Running from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m., the sessions are limited to fewer than 20 seats each, with filmmaker Q&As and roundtable discussions about independent filmmaking. Titles include Neutrals, Lonely Trojan, Punk Rockula: The Curse of UGLOR and Later Las Vegas. Seating is first-come, and the room is cleared between sessions.

Ten years, and a streaming vote

West has said she started the festival after producing or founding a dozen others, aiming to give filmmakers “audience, visibility, distribution opportunities, meaningful data, promotion, and a collaborative community,” according to a founder’s statement on the festival’s website. Her LinkedIn profile dates her role as the festival’s producer and director to 2017; the festival says it has streamed films since 2020.

“This is the next chapter of what we have been building for ten years,” Sandie West, the festival’s founder and director, said in the festival’s August 2026 press release. “We are bringing together the energy and community of live cinema with the worldwide reach of streaming, while keeping independent filmmakers at the center of the festival.”

That online component is central to this year’s awards. Full-film rentals open Oct. 9 on the festival’s streaming channel, and the festival says its International Audience Awards — first, second and third place — will be decided by viewing and engagement on the channel rather than a separate ballot. Award viewing closes Oct. 18. A television-style awards show, the PUNX, is planned for release before Halloween; winners receive a pin and an engraved dog-collar trophy, according to the release.

The festival notes that its program, screening order and times are subject to change.