For 20 years, the Cinequest Film Festival has been bringing unique and enthusiastic films to San Jose and the SF Bay Area. The Media Launch Party for Cinequest 20 - Mavericks - promises a continuation of the spirit that celebrates the Independent Film movement with an impressive line up of stars and films from around the globe.
Extending the festival by a day for encore showings of favorite films, Cinequest now promises 13 days of film-viewing fun.
The Media Launch Party was full of excited, enthusiastic people from all aspects of the film industry. With the bulk of the crowd being from the media: reporters, photographers and small news crews; there were also film directors, Cinequest volunteers and Cinequest VIP contributors, all mingling, trading business cards, and swapping stories about themselves, their work and the eagerness for the upcoming festival.
Most of the Cinequest organizers were more than happy to take the spotlight, announcing the previews, giving rousing speeches about Cinequest and its maverick spirit (accompanied by a handsome contortionist who performed some amazing pretzel-like feats) and upcoming Maverick Spirit Award winner, Benjamin Bratt. Some were more reluctant to take the stage, recalcitrantly shuffling up the stairs to face the receptive audience.
Cinequest had a wonderful last year, thanks to contributors, attendees, stars and volunteers. To encourage the next generation of writers, film producers, directors and actors, Cinequest is offering two forums for film enthusiasts: Maverick Artist & Innovator forums and Day of the Writer forums. Both offer an insider's view of the tools and skills it takes to produce quality films, whether long or short.
Andrew interviews Sherry Huss, the Director of Maker Faire. Huss explains what goes into putting on this amazing, creative DIY event here in the bay area, and othercitiesworldwide. Huss also talks about some of the various events and exhibitors that attend the faire.
Free Speech TV is the community access channel on the Dish satellite network. It airs nationwide. Besides the usual lovely plaque, the winner will be aired on Free Speech TV! “What’s Up Wit’ That? Bone Marrow Donation” won, and will air to a network reaching over 30 million households! I will post more information as I learn it.
The other winner was in the Special Audience category for our episode “What’s Up Wit’ That? TransGender San Francisco.” Transgender people are poorly understood, so I feel this episode helps breach that gap. We will also get a lovely plaque for that.
Overall, the station we tape from, KMVT 15, received 18 nominations, including the four categories where “What’s Up Wit’ That?” was a finalist. I’m told there were two additional wins, and I hope the total is even more.
I found out about Zombie-O-Rama in a round-about way. My sister said that she and her friend were going on a zombie bar crawl that was happening later in the month. Soon thereafter there was an article in the paper saying that there was a Zombie Event happening in downtown San Jose. Andrew saw it and wanted to find out who was running it.
At the Zombie-O-Rama website I discovered Dan Vado, who is the commander in chief of SLG Publishing, was the man behind the event. He is a well-respected publisher of indie comics, including being the launching point for Jhonen Vasquez. Jhonen Vasquez is best known for the cartoon, Invader Zim, but he has many other fun little dark and gruesome comics that SLG publish.
As expected Vado was definitely busy before the event - too busy to come be interviewed on our program. Andrew wanted to get Vado really badly though, so I knew he would possibly succeed in doing so. And thus, I ask my sister to take a video camera with her to the Zombie-O-Rama.
I have not yet seen the videos that Maureen took at Zombie-O-Rama but she also graciously agreed to be a guest as well as Dan Vado and they were a good team. Maureen was also kind enough to come in a costume very similar to the costume she wore at the actual Zombie-O-Rama, so we have some great color to go along with her and Vado's stories. All in all a fun, fun show that I'm sure that our viewers will enjoy.
Andrew interviews David Canavese and Shanna Porcari, dance instructors at Dance Boulevard. They talk about the history and culture of ballroom dancing, such as Foxtrot, Samba, Rumba, Cha Cha, and Swing. Porcari and Canavese perform a couple of dances for us. Both also compete in ballroom dance events and discuss their experiences.
In order for democracy to flourish, people must be active participants in their government, educated to think critically and free to express themselves.
