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CINEQUEST 15 WRAP-UP :
Full Details: Cinequest.org

March 14, 2005

FESTIVAL ORGANIZERS DO IT UP - AGAIN
San Jose, CA -

by Hester Schell

The very best of the Bay Area film festivals wrapped up last night after 12 days of amazing national and international programming, celebrity sightings, and awesome and innovative new works. What really works about this festival is the city itself. Downtown San Jose rocks. It is compact with screening venues, seminars and workshops, hotels and restaurants, after hour parties, all within about 10-block radius. Film lovers can easily get from one screening to the next cramming in premiere and after short program after seminar. Numerous filmmakers commented on how gracious the hosts, Jens Michael Hussey, Halfdan Hussey and Mike Rabehl, truly are. They created a "maverick" celebration of this year's crop of new films from over 30 countries. They are to be commended on another successful, delicious, thrilling 15th festival. I can’t wait for next year. See the column to the left for the winners.

New this year is the Camera Cinemas multiplex, Cinema 12, offering comfortable and spacious screening rooms. The gorgeous San Jose Repertory theatre also offered their large capacity theatre, affording many of the world premieres a venue to be proud of. The jewel in the crown, however, is the multi-million dollar renovation of the California Theatre, a silent era movie palace fully restored to its former glory complete with pipe organ. With so many large theatres, and so many sold out screenings, easy access, public transportation, great affordable hotels and restaurants, we can look forward to years of great festivals.

A bold and brave teenager, Cinequest 15, was not without a few minor problems. Several filmmakers complained of over saturated projection, and one world premiere screening had to rewind and re-start due to faulty projection. The audience was patient, our hosts kindly offering free tickets to other screenings, but most of us stayed while they worked out the kinks (and we munched down free popcorn) and the premiere went ahead. The film was wonderful, worth the wait and ready for an audience – which was not true of every premiere I attended. At the Q & A following one world premiere, the filmmaker admitted that the picture wasn't finished. Now, it's easy understand how this happens: Many times filmmakers submit a rough-cut to make submission deadlines and then rush to finish up post production, sometimes just days before the screening date. Most festivals allow this. However, if you want to compete in the big time, and Cinequest is definitely big time, then you've got to be ready to compete against big budget post-production. When lousy craft interrupts the flow, it pulls the viewer right out of the action and ruins the audience’s experience. There’s just no excuse for bad sound and poor focus. If a film isn’t ready, it isn’t ready.

Another problem area, and I really want to get this off my chest, is the abuse of online voting masked as viewer’s choice awards. When it takes several hundred people to make a movie and those several hundred folks and their families go online and vote so the movie wins the vote, it undermines the whole process. One feature in this category had so many problems, it became clear why the programmers left it out of the official line-up.

Here are a few reviews from over 80 features and 70 shorts screened this year.

Additional reviews by Nina Hauptman are below.

DUCK, starring Philip Baker Hall
Written and directed by Nic Bettauer

Winner - AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARDS. 1ST PLACE TIE: Best Feature (Tied with OUR OWN)

This one deserves distribution. Brilliant images, refreshing story, inspiring content. Great production values, consistent acting with no weak links in the supporting cast. Philip Baker Hall gives a commanding performance in this "urban fable set in the not so distant future" a future none of us want, yet clearly we are headed in this direction. Arthur (Philip Baker Hall) is saved from suicide by a baby duck; images of hope leap off the screen. The filmmaker’s use of filters to depict an oxygen depleted ozone infested rotten city is a brilliant way to get exteriors to work on a digital shoot. Watch for this one in theatres and other festivals. View the trailer online at www.nicspics.net. It’s brilliant.

Film Threat’s creator and publisher of several filmmakers’ survival guides to festivals goes behind the camera and offers up a hilarious spoof of independent filmmaking. This one also deserves distribution and will no doubt be showing up at other festivals. It’s a laugh out loud romp. Very enjoyable comedy with an ensemble cast that reminds us what it means to love what you do. www.mybigfatindependentmovie.com

Cities across the nation compete with great results. This line-up of competition finalists proves once again how much audiences love shorts. Keep ‘em coming. Film teams get a line of dialogue, a prop and a character to include in a 4 minute short and have 48 hours to deliver finished material. Should be available on DVD. Check it out at www.48hourfilm.com.

The following reviews, written by Nina Hauptman

MISSION MOVIE
Lise Swenson
CINEQUEST Film Festival

The Mission District is a neighborhood with many personalities. It's large Mexican immigrant population is made apparent by the crowds of day laborers lining Cesar Chavez, as well as the concentration of some of the best taquerias in the city. However, one only needs to stroll a block away from these ethnic pockets to see the other side of the Mission--the trendy side with galleries, nightclubs and upscale eateries. In between these two extremes live people of nearly every ethnicity and income range.

MISSION MOVIE attempts to capture the flavor of this multi-faceted community (which happens to be one of my favorite neighborhoods), and give a glimpse into the personal lives of some typical Mission residents. It follows the daily routines of a Mexican-American mural artist, a group of rowdy, neglected children, a Palestinian convenience store owner and his teenagers, an immigrant family, and a group of Caucasian roommates that include an artist, a couple of full-time partyers and a naive, snow- white young woman. Sound like an awful lot of clashing personalities for one movie? Well, it is. Although the concept is intriguing, the film presents itself as a mess of plots and subplots, all loosely intertwined with one another. Pair this with acting performances that are consistently sub-par, and it becomes clear that MISSION MOVIE just isn't ready for the big screen.

There are really only two reasons one should go see MISSION MOVIE: either to see some of the familiar sights and situations of one's own neighborhood, or to view a sort of fictional ethnography of a very unique community. As a former Mission resident, I couldn't help but smile as the characters underwent experiences that I knew all too well first-hand--like that seemingly inevitable trip to the Tenant's Union on Capp Street, or dealing with the cat-calling perverts on Mission. It was also kind of nice to see some of my favorite restaurants and clubs make their appearances. In addition, an outsider watching the film would get a fairly decent overview of the area, and Mission artists were certainly given their proper dues. It is unfortunate that the film's cinematic value is compromised far too much to give the audience a quality movie experience.

I was not prepared for FREEDOM FROM DESPAIR. Honestly, I'm not sure it is possible to prepare one's self for documentaries such as these. Like most Americans, I was unaware of the full extent of terror that has plagued Croatia for the past 50 years or so, and certainly had never heard detailed personal accounts of living through it. Whether or not the Yugoslavian government was torturing and murdering Croatians in the name of Communism or Democracy (obviously skewering both ideologies), the stories of torture and concentration camps rival those of the Holocaust in their atrocity, if not in their numbers.

FREEDOM tells many tales of horror experienced in Yugoslavia-controlled Croatia, using interviews as well as stock footage and recreations to paint a picture of the oppressive lifestyle endured by the native people. While giving a broad picture, the film also closely follows the life of a man named Kruno Brkusic. After being repeatedly abused and persecuted by the government (he was imprisoned at the age of five!), Kruno finally made it to Italy where he was recruited from his refugee camp into the US army. Although he had managed to escape physically, his thoughts never strayed from his homeland and thus Kruno has spent his life fighting for the freedom of his people. He never thought that the battle would last as long as it did, but is now thankful that things are finally improving over there.

Almost as shocking as the carnage is the seeming indifference of the rest of the world. Though the Yugoslavian government tried its best to present a humanitarian front by hiding it's actions from the media, neither America nor the rest of the world can claim that it was unaware of what was happening. In fact, tens of thousands of Croatian refugees protested in front of the White House, receiving no media coverage whatsoever. As President Bush was invading Iraq on the pretense of preserving freedom in Kuwait, Croatians continued to suffer a fate even worse than those in the Middle East. However, there was no monetary incentive for the United States to place sanctions on the Yugoslavian government, so nothing was done.

This documentary is exceptionally well-crafted, giving a detailed account of both the situation in Croatia and the political mood in the U.S. at the time. Several American political figures were interviewed, including Congressman Dennis Kucinich. I strongly recommend this film to anyone who is ignorant of the full extent of the "ethnic cleansing" in Croatia, and I have a feeling that includes the majority of U.S. citizens.

The issue of domestic violence (and escaping from it) is certainly not new to film. Neither, of course, is the topic of coping with death in old age. However, PLANTING MELVIN deals with these two very different crises together in a way that offers a bit of fresh insight into both.

A story of major life changes and the preservation of human history, MELVIN follows the flight of battered wife Billie(Irene Bedard) from her high-profile married life to an existence of quiet anonymity. After a particularly brutal beating by her television-psychiatrist husband (Richard Van Vleet), Billie finds herself grabbing a pile of money and heading out to a new town to restart her life. Her only friend now is her older sister (played by Alma Martinez), who rushes over to stay with Billie in order to help her through this difficult time.

Soon they befriend Melvin Howard (Hal Robinson), who owns the property and lives in the main house next door. Melvin is a dying man, aided in his daily living by his eternally optimistic nurse (Yvette Freeman). A WWII soldier, Melvin has a disturbing story to tell about some friends he had long ago but can never forget. In Billie he finds not only a new friend, but a way to help ensure that the horrible events of the past do not repeat themselves in the future.

BACN's own Hester Schell has a role in the film as the television doctor's super-bitchy TV producer. I can honestly say that some of the brightest points in the film occur when she is on camera, and her energy helps keep the pace of the film. Tammy Massa also makes an appearance as the producer's assistant.

PLANTING MELVIN does a good job of balancing high drama with humor and optimism. It is profound without being overly preachy, and never gets too sappy (as so many movies that deal with death tend to do). In addition, it offers relevant warnings of the dangers of mass media and propaganda.

Melvin is a low budget film, and Nevil did a good job of portraying this story with interesting characters and a worthwhile message. PLANTING MELVIN is a film worth checking out.

A man with a perpetual grimace, CHARLIE THE OX (played by Cory McAbee)is an underdog of a hero. A "professional" safe cracker who has yet to pull off a heist (he breaks in, but never takes the money), poor Charlie can't even earn a dollar at the poker table. It seems that life is passing him by, and he has absolutely nothing to show for it. Then one day, of course, along comes the opportunity to make a nice chunk of cash. Naturally, nothing turns out as planned...or so it would seem.

CHARLIE is an amazingly intelligent and humorous film. My interest was not once lost throughout the entire span of the movie, and it is pretty rare when that happens. Just as fascinating as the film's characters is the intricate scheme woven by Charlie in order to outmaneuver his seemingly endless opposition. Especially refreshing is Charlie's leading lady, played by(Jahnika Blythe). An African-American with an unusual-for-Hollywood (in other words normal) physique and an adorable persona, she complements Charlie in an unexpected way.

Although definitely a comedy, CHARLIE is firmly planted in classic noir tradition. All of the characters have an old fashioned quirk to their character, and the mood of the film is decidedly dark and campy. Making a genuinely funny appearance is actor Jon Polita as himself. After the screening, he appeared onstage to answer questions about his career and accept his Maverick award to a standing ovation. I hope CHARLIE THE OX wins some awards of it's own--it is a truly unique and clever film that I whole-heartedly recommend seeing.

I suppose it was inevitable. At some point somebody had to make an independent film that is a spoof of independent films. Chris Gore's MY BIG FAT INDEPENDENT MOVIE does exactly that, satiring every major indie film made in the past ten years.

Loosely basing it's story line on Pulp Fiction, the film focuses on the characters played by John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson (portrayed by Eric Hoffman as Harvey and Neil Barton as Sam). Ordered to perform a botched robbery, they set out on a road trip and are soon bombarded by a host of indie film stars--everyone from Amelie (Ashley Head) to Lola (Regina Berger) make an appearance. The actual plot-line of the film is unimportant--the goal here is simply to poke fun at all of our favorite indie characters.

Basically, the film plays like an hour-and-a-half long Saturday Night Live sketch. Anything but subtle, the film is strewn with episodes of flatulence and brash language. At times the low-brow humor works--there actually IS something funny about watching Antonio Banderas's Desperado character get smashed by a semi on that lonesome, hazy stretch of highway. Other times, the dialogue is simply more crass than funny. I suppose it was meant to shock, but hearing Amelie called "bitch" over and over again by an answering machine wasn't really that funny.

The best parts of the film happen when the humor gains a bit of intelligence. My favorite scenes showed the classic PULP FICTION arguments of semantics between Sam and Harvey, such as the debate over the irony of playing "killing me softly" while torturing that earless cop from RESERVOIR DOGS its ironic if we put it in the right context!) All in all, I would recommend this film--with a grain of salt.

Full Details: Cinequest.org

DEAR BACN:
I want to take this opportunity to tell you how much I appreciate BACN. I was a hard copy subscriber and missed my BACN issues terribly when I was not online. I am so grateful to now be online and to be able to resume my BACN subscription. I work the leads avidly and enjoy reading the articles. I appreciated your recent article on "Auditions..." I did not know that I shouldn't sign a release form at the audition. That has certainly come up from time to time and now I know what to say!
I agree with you on the pay issue for non-union indie film actors. I wish we could all stand together!
I can't believe how much competition there is out there to work for free! It is sickening how actors are taken advantage of sometimes. I am SAG eligible and know the pay will be better once I join the union, but I am concerned the workload will decrease! I just love to act and need to be able to support that habit! Thanks again for all your hard work and support!
Glorinda Marie -Actor

DEAR BACN:
Having been a BACN member for several years, I can say without pause that many, many projects I've become aware of, and submitted my materials for, would never have been known to me unless I had been a subscriber to BACN. And it's not only the audition news, and well presented resources, the articles and other helpful tools I've read since becoming a BACN subscriber have proven to be invaluable to me. I can happily say that the numerous independent, and feature film, and V/O gigs I've been fortunate enough to do, were all initially audition listings on BACN. Hester, your great work and vision are an inspiration to this gal.
Cheers, Jules DivensACTORS RETREAT 11/04 - It is such a pleasure to work with somebody who clearly knows what she is talking about,who gives positive feedback and who so obviously knows the business. What a treat to have a safe, positive environment in which to take risks and make mistakes - an atmosphere so conducive. Thanks!
Maya Maher It was a great introduction and refresher of the opportunities and ways to overcome challenges in the area. Just being in front of a camera: that experience of being on film helps loosen me up and prepares me for auditions.
Ashley RockwoodSUBSCRIBER QUOTES -I want to take a moment and thank you so much for your website...This weekend, thanks to audition info from BACN, I'm participating in a delightful film shoot directed by a very talented young SFSU student.  The big surprise is that the other 2 actors are L.A. pros and friends of his family! I'm very lucky.. wouldn't have known about it were it not for your website.
Best wishes,
Debbie Rakotomalala

REMINDERS:Do not ever sign a release at an audition.
Never take your clothes off at an audition.
Never do anything you're not completely comfortable with.
Do not put your home address, or your social security number on your resume.
Advance notice is required for nudity, and must be discussed before you agree to do a role.