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The LA Punk Film Festival will hold its 10th edition this month, with live screenings Oct. 16–17 at the Laemmle Royal in West Los Angeles and a worldwide online exhibition that opens Oct. 9, according to a release the festival issued Monday. Here is what is on the program and how it works.
In the theater
Punk After Dark (Oct. 16, 10 p.m.–12:30 a.m.). The late-night block is anchored by 50 Years of Punk — Special Punk Crew Presentation and includes Faultline, Mom Came & Dick Boxing, Opting In and Apartment 666, with guests and a Q&A, the festival said.
Punk Morning Matinée (Oct. 17, 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.). A tentative lineup of shorts and animation: 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.
LA Punk Film Market (Oct. 17, 2:30–6:30 p.m.). Held in the Lamb’s Den, a private screening room at the Laemmle Royal, in sessions of fewer than 20 seats, with filmmaker Q&As and roundtables. Titles include Neutrals, Lonely Trojan, Punk Rockula: The Curse of UGLOR and Later Las Vegas. A meetup at Café 50’s runs 1–2 p.m. beforehand.
Online
The festival’s program page lists seven streaming blocks of official selections. Among them: Coup 53, Taghi Amirani’s documentary about the 1953 overthrow of Iran’s prime minister, edited by Walter Murch; Fix Me in the Mix, about punk musician Mat Sargent’s HIV benefit album; Jawbreaker, a documentary on the Swedish hardcore band Anti Cimex; Lonely Trojan, about a Tucson punk band; and Canada on the Fringe, about the label Fringe Product. Entries come from the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands, Australia, Austria, Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland, among others, according to the page.
Rentals open Oct. 9. The festival says its International Audience Awards (first, second and third place) are decided by viewing and engagement on the channel, with no separate ballot, and that award viewing closes Oct. 18. A television-style awards show, the PUNX, is planned before Halloween.
The opening night
A private press and industry opening is set for Oct. 9 at Beach Dancer Films in Encino from 6:30 p.m., hosted by comedian Adrian Doughty. Admission is by invitation and confirmed RSVP, the festival said.
Ten years
Founder Sandie West, who runs Beach Dancer Films, says on the festival site that she created the event to give filmmakers “audience, visibility, distribution opportunities, meaningful data, promotion, and a collaborative community.” “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.”
If you go
Laemmle Royal, 11523 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025. Tickets and the latest program: lapunkfilmfestival.com. Streaming: lapunkfilmfestival1.vhx.tv. Media contact: Sandie West, 310-721-2389, lapunkfilmfestival@gmail.com. The festival says its program is subject to change.
Sources: LA Punk Film Festival release (Oct. 5, 2026), festival press page, 2026 program page. Images: LA Punk Film Festival / Beach Dancer Films, supplied for press use. Discuss on the LaTLmes forum.