LA Femme Film Festival

Oct. 16-19 at the Fine Arts Theater

Wandering Films and Minx Films are delighted to announce that their short film, La Milonga, has been chosen as an official selection of the LA Femme Film Festival. The festival will take place October 16-19 at the Fine Arts Theater located at 8556 Wilshire Blvd in Beverly Hills. Tickets can be purchased at www.lafemme.org.

Film still from La Milonga – Christian Monzon and Angie Ruiz

The film is set in 1920's Buenos Aires and was inspired by the era of Carlos Gardel and the rise of Tango. La Milonga tells the story of a young virtuous woman who wanders into a Milonga dance hall, and meets the number one Milonguero. When he asks her to dance she must decide if she is ready to enter his world, one where he is experienced on the dance floor as well as with the ladies. In this stylized and romantic tango film, the two dancers discover a part of themselves previously unknown.

Directed by Francesca Di Amico

Produced by Claudia Ungar

Executive Produced by Angie Ruiz

Production Company: Wandering Films

Starring: Angie Ruiz, Christian Monzon

The creators of La Femme go to great lengths to make the festival a good experience for filmmaker and audience alike. It's a great reward after all the hard work, to play your film in your home town of Los Angeles and at such great screening venues

We plan to enjoy ourselves. You definitely get a kind of electrical charge when you arrive at a good festival.

LA Femme Film Festival is a premier festival that focuses on women filmmakers, showcasing their commercial films for the world wide audience. It is a Festival for those women who want to have an equal opportunity in commercial entertainment and desire to change, enhance, or become leaders in the industry as a Director, Writer, Producer or Director of Photography.

“The creators of La Femme go to great lengths to make the festival a good experience for filmmaker and audience alike. It's a great reward after all the hard work, to play your film in your home town of Los Angeles and at such great screening venues,” adds the film's director, Francesca Di Amico. “We plan to enjoy ourselves. You definitely get a kind of electrical charge when you arrive at a good festival.”

About Angie Ruiz

Named “Cara Nueva” (New Face) in 2006 by People Magazine (En Espanol), Angie Ruiz recently appeared in Daniel Craig starrer, Flashbacks Of A Fool, directed by Baillie Walsh. She has been featured at the ALMA Awards hosted by Eva Longoria and was a presenter at the 20th Annual Imagen Awards, hosted by George Lopez. Angie has performed in films for Lions Gate, Maverick Entertainment, Fox Searchlight, and Miramax including Surf School, In Your Eyes, Bee Season, and 40 Days and 40 Nights. Angie has also performed in theatre productions Richard II in London and Months on End in Los Angeles. Next up for Ruiz, a starring role in an action packed pilot that begins shooting later this fall.

In 2007, Ruiz formed Wandering Films with the goal of producing independent films and documentaries that share stories from her extensive travels and international volunteer experiences. La Milonga is the first film produced by Wandering Films and was inspired by her 2007 visit to Buenos Aires where she spent every evening dancing Tango in the traditional Tango dance halls.

About Christian Monzon

Christian Monzon's introduction to work in front of the camera came when he was discovered while shopping in Beverly Hills by a talent scout from NEXT LA. What immediately followed were international and national campaigns for the likes of Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Abercrombie & Fitch, Nautica and H&M. He credits acclaimed directors Giuseppe Tornatorre and David Fincher with unlocking his desire to act. That passion and interest in adapting characters increased as a result of his work with re-known directors, Herb Ritts (Jennifer Lopez), Diane Martel (Christina Aguilera), Paul Hunter (Mariah Carey) and Joseph Kahn (Janet Jackson). Monzon starred recently in the action thriller Fast Glass from Emmy-nominated director Kim Bass, and in the dark drama, Gideon Falls debuting at Sundance Film Festival.

Always seeking to push himself further, Monzon set his sights on the worlds of full-length features and prime-time television. To date his film credits include independent feature If I Had Known I Was A Genius opposite Academy Award winning actresses Sharon Stone and Whoopi Goldberg, Columbia Tri-Star's XXX2: State of the Union, Universal's Honey, and Hallmark's The Reading Room. His television appearances have included guest starring roles on such critically acclaimed series', CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Crossing Jordan, Entourage, Law and Order SVU, and Showtime/Sony's Huff.

About Francesca Di Amico (writer – director)

As a young person Francesca was awarded the VanWinkle Award in Media for creating three closed circuit and public broadcast television programs about young filmmakers, and art's influence in politics. Thereafter, Francesca graduated with honors from the film department at Art Center College of Design, breeding ground to such filmmakers as Brian Singer, Michael Bay, Sofia Coppola, and Tarsem Singh. Francesca worked on a multitude of sets for commercials and feature films, first as a director's assistant and then as a script supervisor. She worked also as an editor for ABC network television. She has made twenty four short films.

Francesca created MinxFilms with partner Claudia Unger an art driven boutique production company, for specialized films, photography and new media projects commisioned from international private and public firms. Francesca's commissioned screenplays include, Dolores, The Fall of Splendor, Mommy's Little Monster, and Chavelito. Francesca adapted the screenplay and will direct, the Stamp Collector based on notable author, Vishwapriya Iyengar's widely acclaimed short story, “No Letter From Mother”. The feature film will shoot on location in India with cast commitments thus far from the luminous Nandita Das.

The thirty minute film, Silence Living In Houses written and directed by Francesca, starring Douglas Spain (Band of Brothers, Star Maps) screened at over sixty film festivals internationally, and is the recipient of nineteen festival and humanitarian awards. Notable festivals include, Award for Best Short Film at the Hamptons Intl. Film Festival, Special Recognition Award at the Museum of Modern Art New York and Best of Festival Award at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. and is distributed by Big Film Shorts.

About LA Femme

LA Femme Film Festival's mission are to support and nurture the artistic entertainment productions of women for the benefit of an international and domestic audience. They are a multi ethnic, multi cultural and sexually diverse Festival devoted to women in key positions of film productions. LA Femme Film Festival is more than a festival it is an emergence of artistic, professional women who can make a difference in the entertainment community by creating productions that speak to a world wide audience. More information can be found at: www.lafemme.org