Three years after Huntington Beach's City Council dissolved the committee that founded it, the Huntington Beach Cultural Film Festival is opening its doors again this Labor Day weekend, running Friday and Saturday, Sept. 4-5, at Community United Methodist Church in Huntington Beach. The lineup includes more than 20 short films, an awards presentation Saturday evening, and panel discussions tied to each film block — all put together without a dollar of city money.
That funding gap traces back to September 2023, when the council voted to eliminate the Human Relations Committee, the body that had originally organized the showcase. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, festival director V.C. Rhone chaired the Human Relations Committee before its disbanding and has since kept the festival alive as a self-funded, independent event. Rhone told the paper that the festival is continuing despite the committee's disbanding, and said she is looking for community members who share the former committee's principles and values.
A Committee Born From Hate Crimes, Then Voted Out
The Human Relations Committee traced its roots to 1997, when it was formed as the Human Relations Task Force after the City Council unanimously adopted a Declaration of Policy About Human Dignity in May 1996 following prominent local hate crimes, according to the City of Huntington Beach. The council's conservative majority dissolved the committee through Resolution No. 2023-40 on a contentious 4-3 vote along party lines, a move detailed by the city and reported by outlets including Voice of OC.
Conservative council members argued at the time that the committee's work duplicated Orange County resources and that its focus on local hate incidents created a false negative narrative about the city, according to Voice of OC. On the same night the committee was dissolved, the council also updated its Policy on Human Dignity, removing explicit references to hate crimes while adding language recognizing what it called the genetic differences between male and female from birth, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Rhone's Path From City Hall To Independent Cinema
Rhone, a Huntington Beach-based writer, producer and director, was appointed to the human relations body by former Mayor Kim Carr and had partnered directly with the Huntington Beach Police Department on community panels and police ride-alongs, according to Shoutout LA. She earned a B.F.A. in Film and Television Production from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts under Oscar-winning director Carol Dysinger and runs the production company Dominion InnerTainment, per FilmFreeway. Rhone has also served as a missionary in the Middle East and has directed several films that have played at other festivals, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The festival opens with “Tough Enough,” which Rhone produced and Laura Somers directed. The film tells the story of Frankie Groves, described as the first female high school football player in Texas in 1947. It was filmed on location in Sealy, Texas, in June 2024 and stars Indigenous actor Litefoot alongside Lee Eden as Groves, according to the Colorado County Citizen. Somers is expected to attend the Huntington Beach screening.
A Netflix Feature And Films Confronting Trauma
Among the higher-profile selections is “Color Book,” directed by David Fortune and acquired by Netflix, which tells the story of a single father raising his son with Down syndrome. Fortune, an NAACP Image Award nominee, developed the project after winning a $1 million grant in the AT\u0026T Untold Stories competition at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival, according to Film Independent, leading to a Tribeca premiere in 2024 and a Netflix release on June 19. Fortune also directed “Natty,” which chronicles the life of Natalie Rose, a woman with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The festival's short film block “The Brave Ones” starts Saturday at noon and features work from military veterans, active first responders and disabled filmmakers. Among them is “Every 85 Minutes,” about a U.S. Army veteran in Las Vegas grappling with post-traumatic stress disorder and military sexual trauma, with an active-duty Army reservist in the lead role and a Vietnam veteran in a supporting role. The title reflects a national statistic that a U.S. military veteran dies by suicide roughly every 85 minutes, or 17 times a day, according to the UNLV School of Cinematic Arts, which notes the Clark County, Nevada production received grant funding from the Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts to address the reality that one in four female service members report military sexual trauma.
Surf Culture, Disability And A Festival's Closing Note
Friday night's two-hour block, made up entirely of films directed by women, leads into three additional blocks Saturday. The third block is dedicated to Huntington Beach culture and lifestyle and includes “Salty,” about an aging surfer, and “The Sea \u0026 She,” a coming-of-age surf documentary narrated by five-time world surfing champion Carissa Moore. The block also features “Disordered,” an experimental nine-minute documentary directed by Corey Allen that follows J. Doe, described as a Black patient zero, through a post-apocalyptic wreck of a nation.
The festival closes with its fourth block, “Can We Talk?,” featuring films dealing with weightier issues. Rhone said the festival uses the arts to promote human dignity, a mission she has continued to pursue even as city funding disappeared. Tickets run $20 per film block or $60 for an all-weekend pass, with tickets and information available at thecinemashowcase.com.
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