From the Producers of Brokechella: The No Budget Film Festival

On-a-dime films from around the world will vie and entertain at the Vista.

When a group names an event in homage to another really famous event, the reaction can often be iffy. "Why don't you go your own route?" some might mumble, and they have a point.

There is a prominent and wonderful exception, though, and it is this: Brokechella. The springtime music party, which happens downtown, and not in the desert, boasts a charming name, a name that says so much all at once. You'll hear a lot of music, says the -chella, and it won't cost much, says the Broke-.

Bravo, funny music festival namers. Bravo.

Now the playful sprites behind the cheapo tune-tacular are at it again, and we feel as warmly about this event's moniker as Brokechella. LA, prepare yourself for the No Budget Film Festival, which rolls at the historic Vista Theater on Saturday, Sept. 28 and Sunday, Sept. 29.

That says it all, right? You shall see films that have no budget. Oh, and the organizers are Serious, capital S, about that: "made for absolutely no money" is in the fest's materials, and, hoo boy, that is not our underlining work, but that of the festival people. Absolutely. No. Money.

Does this mean that the director let the actors eat from her pantry and use her phone for a few calls? Maybe. You can probably ask the people in the films, who may be milling about the Vista in the charming way players mill about small but stout movie festivals.

The fest, which started in 2010, accepts a gamut of glorious subject matter. This year's entries include works that spotlight "post-apocalyptic worlds to isolated deserts to the New York metro system." Straight-up linear as well as funky-twisty-non-Euclidian storytelling will be represented.

The Scene

Want to find new things to do in Los Angeles? The Scene's lifestyle stories have you covered. Here's your go-to source on where the fun is across SoCal and for the weekend.

Griffith Observatory will greet spring's start with a pair of cosmic talks

This free Santa Monica Pier party is “for locals, by locals”

Panels and a gala and such festoon the weekend.

Will you meet a filmmaker who might one day have a 50 million dollar budget to work with? Perhaps.

Will they secretly pine for that long-ago weekend at the Vista, when they got to talk about the short they made in exchange for paying the actors with a casserole dinner and so-so bottle of wine? You betcha.

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