April 21, 2000

As the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival emerges as a hot venue on the festival circuit, its slate of documentaries has captured the attention of audiences and critics alike. Acclaimed films like "Colors Straight Up," "The Cruise," "Better Living through Circuitry" and "The Lifestyle" made their debuts here, and the Audience Award for Best Feature has gone to documentaries three out of the past four years. "As far as documentaries go, that's the strangest part of LAIFF," says programming director Thomas Ethan Harris. "Here we are in Hollywood, a narrative town, yet when people look back at the history of LAIFF, they will notice very strongly that it is our documentaries that have had a chance to move out the fastest."...

..."Amargosa," once short-listed for the Academy Award, profiles the life and unusual career of Marta Becket, a 70-something performing artist who, for three decades, has created and presented her art in a small theater at the edge of Death Valley. She rebuilt the theater herself, even painting an applauding audience on the walls to ensure that someone will see her work....What is ennobling and interesting about Ms. Becket's story is her quiet, yet fierce, determination to make a unique livelihood out of her solitude...