The Mods & Rockers Film Festival is an annual Los Angeles film festival that celebrates rock culture. It is presented by the non-profit cultural organization American Cinematheque.
The festival was founded in 1999 by humorist/producer Martin Lewis and Cinematheque programming director Dennis Bartok, who jointly produced the event through 2005. After Bartok’s departure from the organization, his successor as programmer, Chris Desjardins, continued producing the festival with Lewis. The festival takes place in Los Angeles each summer at the American Cinamatheque’s two theaters: Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. A June 18, 2007 story in the Los Angeles Times stated that the 2007 festival would take place from July 13 to August 1.
The festival was originally a celebration of 1960s pop culture, and presented British and American films made in that decade – especially those that reflected the more exuberant aspects of the 1960s. The festival title was inspired by the name given to the two warring British youth subcultures prevalent in the early to mid-1960s - the mods and rockers. The festival later started showing films from other decades. The films screened represent a broad mixture of filmmaking, including mainstream hits, offbeat cult classics, obscurities, feature films, documentaries and concert films. A few films have received their world premiere at the festival. Other films have received their US, West Coast or Los Angeles theatrical premiere at the festival.
The festival has attracted major celebrities to discuss films with which they have been associated. Guests who have made appearances at the first seven festivals include: Roger Daltrey, Michelle Phillips, Micky Dolenz, Spencer Davis, Howard Kaylan of The Turtles, Jack Casady of Jefferson Airplane, Andy Summers, Denny Laine, Peter Noone, Nancy Sinatra, Rod McKuen, Barry McGuire, Olivia Newton-John, Lynn Redgrave, Michael York, Judy Geeson, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, Barbet Schroeder, Eleanor Bron, Michael Des Barres, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.