A brief history of the Los Angeles Film Festival (1971-present)

Today, the L.A. Film Fest attracts over 80,000 people annually, bringing in major stars, top-line directors, prestigious foreign films and artsy shorts. But it wasn't always so: check out the ups, downs, changes, expansions and permutations throughout the years...

1971: Gary Essert (along with partner Gary Abraham) founds the Los Angeles International Film Expo (a.k.a. Filmex). The festival's first edition, opening Nov. 5, featured The Last Picture Show (dir. Peter Bogdonovich) as its opening-night film, in addition to 40 other filmic selections. L.A. Times critic Arthur Knight reported that year that the L.A. Filmex could be an excellent avenue for garnering prestige for challenging and creative American films, which were largely being ignored on the international festival circuit and by American audiences (unfortunately, in its early years, few American films were entered). New films (by the likes of Pasolini, Demy, Chabrol and Bresson) screened at Grauman's Chinese Theater alongside retrospectives of silent comedy icons like Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, film noir and Alfred Hitchcock. At its inception, the festival was non-competitive.

1972: Despite strong attendance, Filmex ends its second year with a budget deficit.

1974: Filmex moves from Grauman's to the Paramount Theater in Hollywood. Films by Alejandro Jodorowsky (The Holy Mountain), Orson Welles (Fake) and Paul Verhoeven (Turkish Delight) have their American premieres at Filmex.

1980: Ten years on, the festival's annual budget rises to about $600,000. At this point, Filmex is, as Charles Schreger writes in the L.A. Times, a film festival for the film industry (or, as Schreger writes, a festival "for the cineaste who would rather burn his copy of 'Agee on Film' than admit he enjoyed 'Star Trek'"). Schreger estimates that 50,000 filmgoers were in attendance. In 1980, Essert boasts that Filmex is second to none.

1983: Personality clashes lead to Essert being ousted from the festival he created. Essert goes on to create American Cinematheque.

1985: Jerry Weintraub elected director by Filmex's board. Weintraub announces plans to introduce compeition into Filmex by 1987 and plans to make Filmex more populist. Amidst other ambitious claims, Weintraub claims, "I'll go head-to-head with Cannes for films."

1986: Saddled with debt, Filmex merges with Essert's American Cinematheque. Jerry Weintraub steps down as director.

1987: Filmex becomes the AFI Fest, in the wake of Filmex's financial struggles (an estimated debt of over $300,000). AFI Fest, held at Hollywood's Los Feliz Theater, is declared a success, despite lower ticket sales, reaching new audiences.

1992: Filmex (and American Cinematheque) founders Gary Essert and Gary Abrahams, partners for over 20 years, die of AIDS within a week of one another.

1993: AFI Fest's budget is around $400,000. Its new incarnation is trimmed down and less flashy.

1995: Festival changes names again (it becomes simply the L.A. Film Festival).

2000: LAFF draws a low 12,000 attendees.

2005: The L.A. Film Festival draws an attendance of around 60,000.

2006: The L.A. Times-sponsored event takes over Westwood and becomes an 11-day fest. Unlike Weintraub of the 1980s, festival director Dawn Hudson expressed that LAFF has no desire to compete with Sundance.

2010: The festival moves locations again; it is now located at the Regal Cinemas at the L.A. Live complex in downtown L.A.