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…