Cinequesting is Four Years Old!

Wednesday, May 13

CQ Happy Hour - Mezcal - This Friday, May 15th

Will def be going to this one!


  Its that time again, CQ Happy Hour! This week we will be enjoying the freshly made guacamole and excellent tequila at Mezcal (next to Billy Berk's on San Fernando and First St). Please join us and invite your friends! It is a no host bar, but Mezcal provides excellent happy hour discounts.

CQ Happy Hour
4:30-7pm Friday, May 15th
Mezcal

Hope to see you there!

Cinequest, Inc.
22 North Almaden Avenue
San Jose, CA 95110
(408) 995-5033


Thursday, April 16

CQ Happy Hour Tomorrow at Billy Berk's

A friend dropped the 411 on tomorrow night's open bar and we wanted to pass the word along. Clear your sched, we'll see you there.




The first will be held from 4:30 to 6:30 at Billy Berk’s.
Heads UP….These will be scheduled every other Friday at different sponsor locations. Come whenever you can.
It is a no-host bar, bring friends, family, festival followers.

We want to support our sponsors throughout the year so we will be rotating locations, trying new drinks, having laughs!
E&O will be in 2 weeks!
p.s… Tomorrow we will also be heading over to Cameras for screening of ALL ABOUT DAD! (following the Happy Hour)


http://www.maxsworld.com/billyberks/index.php


Wednesday, April 8

Cinequest Audience fav All About Dad coming to Camera 3 on April 17th

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_R5uhlefVFmQ/Sa3yx2eP_zI/AAAAAAAADJY/PqqRLA98PDo/s800/allaboutdad.png

Your browser may not support display of this image.CINEQUEST AUDIENCE AWARD WINNER OPENS THEATRICALLY

Viet Dynamo Holds Camera Cinema Premiere Run

SAN JOSE, CA – April 2, 2009 – Cinequest Distribution proudly announces the theatrical release of Viet dynamo All About Dad. Written and directed by San Jose local Mark Tran, this compelling film will premiere April 17th at the Camera 3 Cinemas in downtown San Jose, CA.

The comedy’s remarkable success began at this year’s Cinequest Film Festival 19, where it was the hit of the fest, winning the Audience Choice Award for Best Narrative and enjoying two sold out screenings.

This delightful and heartwarming film shows what happens when “Old World” traditions meet “New World” attitudes. This charmer sheds light on the often ignored Vietnamese-American community, yet transcends cultural boundaries for audiences of all backgrounds to appreciate this affectionate family picture. Cinequest had the honor of presenting the World Premiere of this film at Cinequest Film Festival 19, proving to be a huge hit amongst audience members.

Festivals across the country are booking All About Dad including the Asian American Film Festival of Dallas, the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and the Vietnamese International Film Festival where the film will be the festival’s closing night film.

Tran, a graduate of San Jose State University, possessed passion and dedication for filmmaking since the age of 16. The ambitious young filmmaker has already completed over 30 short films including the award-winning The Fisherman’s Troubled Odyssey and fan favorite Binary City. Tran moves forward with his most recent project California Saigon, a fully financed feature allowing his career to flourish.

All About Dad was produced by Spartan Film Studios, the San Jose State University-based film production company led by production chief and producer Barnaby Dallas. Spartan Film Studios has produced several successes including Generic Thriller and co-produced Glory Boy Days.

For more information, please visit www.cinequest.org or email publicity@cinequest.org.

###

Empowering the Maverick

Cinequest, a premier film institute, serves Maverick artists, innovators, film lovers and students via:

    · Cinequest Film Festival: a discovery festival of Maverick films and innovations that was recently named the Top 10 festival in the world by the Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide.

    · Cinequest Distribution empowers Maverick films and fans via leading Internet, Internet TV and DVD distribution.

    · Mentoring and Education: groundbreaking empowerment for elementary through college students.

Cinequest Film Festival 20 occurs February 23– March 7, 2010

Cinequest Distribution releases films monthly

www.cinequest.org






Sunday, March 29

Review -- Whiskey Tears

Though it didn't play at Cinequest we felt compelled to write about a film made in San Jose, a short entitled WHISKEY TEARS. Local production studio Element 151 Films kindly sent us a screener copy though the promotional handle of Jack Daniels was strangely absent.

Could be our mailman was thirsty.

The movie opens with two female leads navigating a hooptie around deserted streets near the museum of modern art. The two are styled after characters from the Tarentino oeuvre. They're both immaculately dressed and made up in pinup girl fashion. They drink heavily but show a soft side to a homeless man. Later they laugh off a knocked out tooth but sob quietly into nearby bushes at a night gone awry.

We especially liked how the movie reverses gender roles typical of 1950s culture that the characters emulate. It's the lady who ditches her arm candy and wanders to another night club, usurping the microphone and doing impromptu karaoke while the backing band plays on.

An understated script gleams like polished chrome on a chopper bike. The script of a typical bar crawl never deviates far from the usual anyway. That's why it resonates so well, we think. It's a ritualized war against a mundane suburban experience. The weapon of choice is a blunt force instrument made from the distillation of rye mash and corn.

The battle plan remains familiar: establish a beachhead in someones backyard. Drink. Play some variant of beer pong, lawn darts or foos-ball. Drink. Ride bikes to watering hole #1. Drink. Do something impulsive that gets you kicked out. Ride wobbly away. Post up some other place and then kick off the whole process again with similar results.

This isn't the first film to glorify the wanton consumption of alcohol, nor will it be the last. Underneath that, though, is a love letter to the people and places that remain tethered to their community despite gentrification and redevelopment. If there's any Anglo-Saxon culture left in downtown San Jose this is it.


Element 151 Films Official Site

Saturday, March 14

Twitter #CQFRVW Contest Winners

To everyone who entered: we rspct yr wit & brvity.

1st Annual Cinequest Twitter winners 2009

March 11, 2009 – 11:45 am
Filed under: Cinequest 2009 — RvB @ 11:45 am

A laurel and a hearty-handshake to three Twitterati who kept the conversation going during (literally during, if they were posting in dark theaters) Cinequest, 2009:


First Prize: ”Puppymeat”, whose tweets are sampled below:

puppymeat#cqrvw JOHNNY MAD DOG: Awesomely brutal, brutally awesome–on crack.puppymeat#cqff19 Rumor/scandal?! RAGING GRANNIES should be RAGING OLD LADIES. At least one not a grandma yet? Are fans angy at lie? Developing…puppymeatRanking the front rows of #CQFF19 (descending order): California, Rep, Camera screens 10, 12, 11. Grateful screen 2 isn’t used this year.puppymeatKILLER POET: Fascinating doc of 2 people. Norman, a 2x murderer from MA. JJ a poet in Chicago. Same person, 40+ years apart. #CQRVW

Second prize: Alejandro Adams, dedicated twitterer and director of Steve Rhodes’ pick for the worst of the ‘Quest, Canary:

A Adams Garr Keillor: The “experience” here was watching two salt-of-the-earth WASPs in their declining years hold hands, clap and hum along. #CQRVWA Adams: Honored to have CANARY in same programming section as Johnny Mad Dog but lets change category title from “provocation” to “assault.” #CQFF19

Third Place: beekerstudios

Billy was a Deaf Kid: mundane life brought 2 life, day in the life of an adventure in a small town, riding a couch through a carwash #cqrvwabout 2 hours ago from web


Congrats to all winners, and next year when there isn’t a Depression anymore, let’s have a prize or something.

Monday, March 9

Cinequest 19 Awards Announced, Congrats to All the Winners!

Excuse the quick copy paste job, wanted to get these up ASAP. Some surprises here and some favorites. How does this list sit with you? Did anyone get robbed?



Film Festival 19 Award Winners:

NARRATIVE FEATURES

Maverick Spirit Award (Cinequest's top prize)
Firaaq
Director: Nandita Das

Best First Feature
The Friend (Der Freund)
Director: Micha Lewinsky

Special Jury Award for Narrative Feature
The Tour (Turneja)
Director: Goran Markovic


DIRECTORS AWARDS

Global Visions Award
Historias Extraordinarias
Director: Mariano Llinas

New Visions Award
Why Am I Doing This?
Directors: Tom Huang

DOCUMENTARY FEATURES

Best Documentary Feature
Heart of Stone
Director Beth Toni Kruvant

Special Jury Award for Documentary Feature
Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders
Director: Mark Hopkins

SHORTS

Best Student Short Film
Thanksgiving
Director: Anja Marquardt

Best Documentary Short Film
Life for a Child
Director: Edward Lachman

Best Animated Short Film
Slaves
Director: Hanna Heilborn, David Aronowitsch

Best Narrative Short Film
Glory at Sea
Director: Benh Zeitlin


AUDIENCE AWARDS

Audience Award for Best Feature (Co-Winners/Tie)

All About Dad
Director: Mark Tran
&
For My Father
Director: Dror Zahavi

Audience Award for Best Documentary
Witch Hunt
Directors: Dana Nachman & Don Hardy

Kaiser Thrive Award:
Heart of Stone
Director: Beth Toni Kruvant


MAVERICK SPIRIT AWARD RECIPIENTS
The following individuals received Maverick Spirit Awards at Cinequest 19 for their Maverick careers in the film industry: Louis Gossett Jr., Kevin Pollak, and Diablo Cody.

SCREENPLAY COMPETITION WINNERS

First Place
Ora by Frederica Bailey

Second Place
Feed the Monster by Rob Rex

Third Place
The Juno Incident by Cody Yarbrough

Finalists: The Circle Cast (Montana Moss); Dog Land (Writer: Jay Nuzum); I Got You Babe (Will Hicks); The Re-Education of David Singer (Todd Friedman); Squirt (Talmage Cooley); Survival High (Aaron Mento); and The Wonder (Gregory Abbey)

Sunday, March 8

Cinequest 19 Recap: Film Invasion led by Attila the Hun

Every year Cinequest receives fantastic films from that ethnically murky continent known as Europe. This year, of course, was no exception to the rule.

Foreign films like THE INVESTIGATOR, PHOTOGRAPH, AS SIMPLE AS THAT and THE FRIEND sold out screenings throughout the entire festival. It proves that San Jose audiences are willing to take the leap of faith with unfamiliar casts and subtitles.

Our favorite European movie of Cinequest 19 was the before mentioned INVESTIGATOR. Directed by Gigor Attila, this Hungarian film blends the intrigue of a noir detective story with the surrealism of a Dali painting.



The story focuses on Tibor, a dead-to-the-world mortician who's only connection to the world is caring for his sick mother. In order to pay for her operation he takes a job as an assassin for hire. Tibor is cold, calculating and methodical as a killer. He's perfect for the job. There's only one problem, though. The man he killed was connected to him, somehow. Now he must find out who hired him to do the deed and why it happened.

The Investigator's wonderful story and bizarre execution make it ripe for American adaptation. We're sure whatever Hollywood studio remakes it will screw it up. We're just jaded that way.

The continued efforts of Cinequest and film curator Charlie Cockey to bring fantastic films like the Investigator should be lauded at every opportunity. Our biggest thanks go out to them.




Official Trailer [youtube]

Links Ahoy: One More Round Before We Go

The last look around Cinequest on the web before we shut off the lights and sob quietly to ourselves until next year.


  • Jason gets all textual with a preview of the closing night film NATURE OF EXISTENCE. [CQ Central]
  • A report from the front lines of the Diablo Cody maverick spirit event. [like to write stuff]
  • Pischina's take on the penultimate day of the festival. Any bonus points for using the word penultimate? [A Grown Woman]
  • Video from the Writers Mindset seminar. Asking the question: "How do you attack the blank page?" [Traveling Valentine]
  • We found 457 photos matching Cinequest, taken after 02/28/2009. [flickr]

All About Dad - The Cinequest Rush

Oh yeah, how could we forget about Dad in our Cinequest wrap up? Our bad.

Cinequest 19 Recap: What the hell happened here?


0307091736.jpg
Originally uploaded by Pischina.
There's one question that we're asking ourselves on this final day of Cinequest: What the hell happened here?

Twelve days ago, though it feels like hours, we were standing in the lobby of the California Theatre before the opening night film WAKE. There was familiar faces all around us. Faces of people who have probably attended Cinequest much longer than we have. People who spend their entire year assembling this brazen display of independent cinema from around the world.

Outnumbering those familiar faces, though, were those that belonged to people we've never seen before. We spoke to a few of in the lobby that night, and every night since then. Some are attending for a first time, others were back after an absence. One even described it as a "homecoming of sorts."

We kind of agree. It feels good to be home.

It's Sunday morning, the final day of Cinequest 19. As you straggle into the final screenings of movies it's worth looking back on what made this past week and half special.

LONG FORM ART This year's festival brought a few films with running times over four hours. The behemoth films of BIRTH OF A NATION and HISTORIAS EXTRAORDINARIAS told stories on an entirely different timescale. They transformed the relatively passive act of movie watching into an accomplishment.

GONE SOCIAL The tsunamic wave that is Twitter crested and broke onto at Cinequest. We used it to share our thoughts on film, sure. But we used it more to keep in touch with attendees, film makers, fellow blogger and friends. It's fundamentally altered the seemingly solitary act of watching a movie.

MADNESS AS ART Maybe you've noticed that everyday the world flirts closer to, how should we put this, total economic collapse? One film at Cinequest seemed to harness this moment, turn up the gain and blast it back in a "blaze across your cornea." That film is JOHNNY MAD DOG.

Our editor is telling us it's time to wrap this up. According to them most people don't really read blogs, they just scan them.

So we'll be as direct as possible:

We had an amazing time at the festival, thanks to the great films and fantastic people we met. Thanks for Cinequesting with us. See more movies and talk about them. See you next year.

Shootin' Spit with Rhett and Burke Lewis

We stick by our description of BILLY WAS A DEAF KID as left handed film making at its finest. So, after much horse trading between our agents, we finally went man-to-man-to-man about Billy, Diablo and the future for the brothers Lewis. They're really charming kids. And they -really- want a DeLorean.

Click here to listen to the interview.

There is such a thing as too Mavericky


Diablo Cody-3602
Originally uploaded by qtschlepper.
Just ask anyone who attended the Diablo Cody spirit event.