Today at noon the Japanese consulate in Los Angeles is expected to be overrun by people with fins on their heads (Jimmy Buffet fans, this is your time to shine) and fires in their dorsals as they gather to protest marine massacres during International Save Japan Dolphins Day. more ›

One of the major talking points in the Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove" was that Japan continues to hunt whales--under the auspices of scientific study--with the meat sold across the country. It's still illegal to sell to the U.S. or South Korea, but DNA tests have confirmed that the meat from The Hump, the shuttered Santa Monica restaurant caught serving the meat, was from a scientific catch some three years ago. more ›

As planned, a protest took place yesterday outside Santa Monica sushi restaurant The Hump. Organized by the non-profit Sea Shepherd group, the goal of the protest was to draw attention to and raise awareness in the community of the perils of serving endangered sei whale meat at the popular restaurant, in addition to garnering media attention. After being outed by the makers of the Academy Award-winning documentary The Cove, The Hump now faces charges from the US Attorney's office. more ›

So it was the week before the Oscars and for the team that put together the documentary The Cove, which highlights mass dolphin killing in Japan (see a preview of it embedded below), it wasn't a week of getting prettied up and schmoozing--it was about what they won an Oscar for: undercover and investigative journalism. more ›

This Valentine's Day, a dozen red roses may be out of the question, but a dozen dead schoolgirls is totally doable courtesy of The Red Riding Trilogy, unspooling in various installments at an exclusive Nuart engagement... more ›

The 35th Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards was held this weekend at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles. The LAFCA is comprised of Los Angeles-based, professional film critics who work in the Los Angeles print and electronic media. LAist was out covering the red carpet of the event and talked with some of the award winners about how they first got involved with their projects and how it feels to be honored by some of the toughest critics in Hollywood. more ›

I don't know if I've gotten even nerdier, or if documentaries have gotten even better, but half the films I've seen or wanted to see this year are non-fictional in nature. Which is why I'm stoked for DocuWeeks 2009, playing through the end of August at the Arclight. Sponsored by the International Documentary Association, the festival features compelling characters & stranger-than-fiction stories in first-look Academy-qualifying runs. Each week is a different program; this week features a look at ecology from the ground up, Up With People, the uphill struggle of Congolese & Nepalese refugees, and the uppest of the up, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. more ›

For the most part, eco-documentaries follow a pretty narrow pattern; either they’re well funded and a little boring or guerrilla style and probably a bit nauseating, but either way you’re supposed to be so outraged you get out of your seat and punch the richest asshole you can find. That’s the gist. But there’s often a disconnect between the images of the film and the actions of the audience because, ecologically, problems tend to be so big any given person feels powerless. more ›