Los Angeles Plays Itself

Saturday, June 7 • noon
a rare (and free) screening of Los Angeles Plays Itself
a film by Thom Andersen
Los Angeles Central Library Taper Auditorium
5th & Flower, Downtown LA

This screening is free. Early seating will be provided for Photo Friends members and one guest. (To join, go to photofriends.org or come early to the screening.) Photo Friends members will be admitted at 11:30 am, then others will be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis at 11:45. We highly recommend you arrive early. Thom Andersen will be in attendance and available for Q&A after the screening.

Parking is available at the 524 S. Flower St. Garage for $1 flat rate (Sat. 10 am to 6 pm). To receive this special rate, show your LAPL card at the Central Library’s information desk and obtain a validation.

About the Film

Thom Andersen’s acclaimed but little-seen documentary is a nearly three-hour tour through the cinematic history of Los Angeles. Andersen examines 191 cinematic depictions of Los Angeles, yielding what has been called “the best sustained work of film criticism for that year.”

Unabashedly crotchety and often hilarious as it juxtaposes the city itself with almost a century’s worth of fantasy about it, this essay about local folklore, architecture, real estate, car culture, mass transit, and lost neighborhoods and lifestyles never loses sight of what the movies in question are doing as movies.

"Los Angeles Plays Itself is a sobering film, not only didactic but consistently funny and fun to watch." -- Joshua Tanzer, offoffoff.com.

Thom Andersen’s masterpiece was named the 2004’s best documentary in the Village Voice’s recent poll of almost 100 critics.