The world’s first-ever film festival dedicated to heavy metal music is set to take place at the Downtown Independent Cinema in Los Angeles, California from March 31 through April 3, 2011. Festival organizer and long-time metalhead Samuel Douek is proud to announce the first portion of the maiden lineup for 2011’s Heavy Metal Film Festival. Many more films will be announced soon.

“I think the metal community in Los Angeles will be surprised in many ways and people around the world will be intrigued about what our festival is all about. This is shaping up to be an international event with films from Lithuania, the U.K., USA, and Finland.
“To open the very first Heavy Metal Film Festival, we have decided to give the honor to ‘Las Marimbas Del Infierno’ (‘Marimbas From Hell’) directed by Julio Hernández Cordón. A Guatemalan film with co-production from France and México, this tells an amazing story of survival, cultural tradition, heavy metal, and trying to live a decent life.
“This film premiered as an official selection at the Toronto Film Festival and then played at San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain. The film has already been selected at the Miami International Film Festival and will definitely travel the world. We are extremely happy to have the Los Angeles premiere of this unique and original story. The opening-night screening will be followed by a reception.”

Other films screening at the Heavy Metal Film Festival include:

** “Promised Land Of Heavy Metal” (Kimmo Kuusniemi and Tanja Katinka Karttunen), Finland, 2010:

A feature documentary film about the history and philosophy of heavy metal and how it became such a big deal in a small country called Finland. From its early “underground” days to the present success stories, interviews with famous — and infamous — musicians, experts, events organizers, a psychiatrist, a priest, and a doctor of theology all tell the story of Finnish metal.

Can metal survive when it becomes mainstream and Eurovision and “Pop Idol” competitions are won by metal? Metal has even entered the Finnish Lutheran church which organizes metal masses. Includes interviews with Finnish metal’s heavy hitters NIGHTWISH, HIM, SONATA ARCTICA, NIGHTWISH, and LORDI plus ENTOMBED from Sweden, Norway’s DIMMU BORGIR, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE from the U.S., plus the Madam President of Finland herself, Tarja Halonen.
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