IndependentFilm.com

For one week every year, glitz and glamor join together with Indie filmmaking to form what is known as the Beverly Hills Film Festival (BHFF). Featuring almost 50 films, many of them indie shorts, the BHFF is positioning itself as a new home for independents, while the physical position makes it a natural playground for the fashionable elite.

With gift bags bursting with getaways to Palm Springs, self-tanning lotion and private jet rental discounts, this festival certainly caters to the fabulous and fashionable — while the filmmakers attired in their jeans and bright button-downs show that the independent spirit is alive and well. Tonight marked the debut of David Duchovny’s directorial debut, The House of D. The film managed to hold the audience in the palm of its delicate hand as it traced the coming of age story of Tommy, played by Duchovny, as, from the viewpoint of a new life in Paris, he recalls a youth spent in New York. Before the feature the audience was treated to a short, Mr. Dramatic, which could have been a beer commercial, only with considerably more intelligence, verve and humor.

Having opened with such an exciting combination of films, it's going to be great to see what the rest of the week at the BHFF has in store.