James Franco arrived at the Vista Theatre on June 1 to stand beside his longtime girlfriend, Izabel Pakzad, as she opened her first feature. Franco’s presence on the red carpet made the night a public family affair for Pakzad’s directorial debut, which she both wrote and directed.
The screening brought a compact crowd: Dave Franco and Betsy Franco were among those in attendance, Pakzad’s mother Marie sat in the house, and several members of the cast walked the carpet — Bella Thorne, Chloe Cherry, Zion Moreno and Sophia Ali. Thorne came with her fiancé, Mark Emms; later that night the couple shared a kiss at an after party at Mirate, a pairing that underlined how much the evening was staged as a celebration as much as a premiere.
Pakzad’s film is not a light summertime picture. The story follows Amber and four friends on a girls’ trip to Joshua Tree that turns violent; a contemporary review called it a blazing feature debut and said the movie is an intense, bloody examination of consent and the ways toxic men can derail a night out. That darker subject matter was inescapable even as the cast and guests smiled for photos on the carpet.
The contrast between the festive red carpet and the film’s darker substance was the night’s quiet friction. On one level the screening functioned like a classic launch: friends, family and co-stars gathered to mark a first feature and, the next evening, one of the principals posted highlights from the screening on social media. On another level, the applause and after-party capped a movie whose plot turns on violence and contested consent — a clash between the glamour of a premiere and the film’s unsettled core.
For Pakzad, the evening served its primary purpose: it positioned her as a director with a built-in support network. Franco’s attendance, joined by his brother and other family members, turned the red carpet into a public show of backing for a name few would have associated with directing before this month. That backing will meet a more neutral verdict when the film reaches a broader audience.
Find Your Friends is scheduled to begin streaming on Shudder on June 12, and that release date is the next real test. Franco’s appearance at the Vista Theatre made the premiere an unmistakable statement of support; the film itself, bloody and probing, will now be judged by viewers when it becomes widely available less than two weeks after the Los Angeles screening.
