July 18, 2025 Breaking News, Latest News, and Videos

9th Annual Santa Monica Film Festival Returns Saturday, December 8:

The Aero Theatre at 1328 Montana Avenue hosts the 9th Annual Santa Monica Film Festival (SMFF) this Saturday, Dec. 8 with special events including screenings of 22 independent films from local, North American, and international filmmakers.

The boutique film festival will present a diverse slate of films to film enthusiasts.

Founder David Katz said its audience was a unique combination of film industry professionals, local, regional, and international attendees, and a large student population.

Katz said a tree would be planted for each eTicket sold to the Santa Monica Film Festival.

In addition to showcasing a diverse spectrum of films, Q&A’s, and the SMFF Awards, the one-day festival will also offer the VOD Film Market where aggregators, encoders, and acquisition executives have a space to meet with new clients.

This free VOD Film Market and Seminar will be held from noon to 1 p.m. Saturday. Learn how to self distribute your media from top distribution professionals in the VOD industry including GoDigital, bitMax, Gravitas Ventures, Distribber, and Upload Agency.

Katz said its free “Networking Nosh” Saturday morning from 11 a.m. to noon will give attendees to meet the directors and producers of this year’s films.

“Have a coffee, a nosh, and a conversation with filmmakers and storytellers from around the world,” Katz said.

It will be catered by M Street Kitchen and Starbucks Coffee.

Independent films will be screened with the focus on making people laugh and inspiring people at 1 p.m., 2 p.m., 4 p.m., 6 p.m., and 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 per screening or $20 for an all event pass.

Attendees can celebrate with the Festival filmmakers and award winners at 9 p.m. The Awards emcee will be comedian Lucas Dick. This is included in the $20 all event pass ticket.

The Aero Theatre is located at 1328 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica.

— Santa Monica Mirror readers can save 50 percent off by entering promo code ‘smmirror’ at checkout online.

For more information, visit www.smff.org.

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