Festivals
Cinequest
San Jose Film Festival 2009
19th Annual Cinequest Wraps With Closing Night Gala and Awards Ceremony
San Jose, CA--The 19th Annual Cinequest Film Festival came to a close on Sunday, March 8th with a packed screening of Roger Nygard's provocative documentary, The Nature of Existence, at the palatial California Theatre. Recognized as one of the world's top 10 festivals, Cinequest hosted screenings and events Feb. 25-March 8 in downtown San Jose at Camera 12 Cinema, SJ Repertory, and the California Theater, smashing all previous records for film submissions, attendance and box office sales.
Featured celebrity guests this year include Maverick Award recipients, Diablo Cody (Academy-Award winning screenwriter of last year's hit comedy, Juno) and Academy Award-nominated actor Kevin Pollack (Tropic Thunder, Deterrence, Buffalo 66, She's All That).
The Opening Night feature was Ellie Kanner's superbly crafted dark romantic comedy, Wake, that reveals the future of the dating scene is not in bars, clubs or via the Internet . . . but at funerals. Roger Nygard -- who explored the phenomenon of Trekkies (Cinequest, 1998) and the world of car salesmen with his dark comedy Suckers (Cinequest, 2000) -- took on The Nature of Existence in the Closing Night feature.
Following are the 2009 Cinequest Award Winners:
DIRECTORS AWARDS
Global Vision Award--Historias Extraordinarias (Mariano Llinas)
New Visions Award--Why Am I Doing This? (Tom Huang)
SHORT FILM COMPETITION
Best Student Short Film--Thanksgiving (Anja Marquardt)
Best Short Documentary Film--Life for a Child (Edward Lachman)
Best Short Narrative Film--Glory at Sea (Benh Zeitlin)
Best Short Animated Film--Slaves (Hanna Heilborn, David Aronowitsch)
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Special Jury Award--:Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders (Mark Hopkins)
Best Feature Documentary--Heart of Stone (Beth Toni Kruvant)
MAVERICK NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION
Special Jury Award for Overall Excellence--The Tour (Turneyja) (Goran Markovic)
Best First Feature Film--The Friend (Der Freund) (Micha Lewinsky)
Maverick Spirit Award--Firaaq (Nandita Das)
AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARDS
Best Feature Film--All About Dad (Mark Tran)/ For My Father (Dror Zahavi)
Best Documentary--Witch Hunt (Dana Nachman, Don Hardy)
Best Short Film--X to Y (Matt Sobel)
SCREENPLAY COMPETITION
First Place--Ora (Frederica Bailey)
Second Place--Feed The Monster (Rob Rex)
Third Place--The Juno Incident (Cody Yarbrough)
MAVERICK SPIRIT AWARDS
Kevin Pollack, Louis Gossett Jr., Diablo Coby
Go to official site of CINEQUEST, THE SAN JOSE FILM FESTIVAL.
Cinequest 2008: 18th Anniversary Wrap-up
San Jose, CA--The 18th Annual Cinequest hosted screenings and events Feb. 27-March 9, 2008 in downtown San Jose at Camera 12 Cinema, SJ Repertory and the California Theater, smashing all previous records for film submissions, attendance and box office sales.
Featured celebrity guests included Maverick Award recipients, Michael Keaton (Batman), Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon), Bobby Moresco (Academy-AwardŽ winning writer, Million Dollar Baby, Crash) and Michael Arndt (Academy-AwardŽ winner Best Original Screenplay, Little Miss Sunshine).
The Opening Night feature was Paul Leuer's poignant comic drama, Eden Court, in which anxiety strikes Schroeder as he turns 30 in his trailer home, while Charles Oliver's Take, starring Minnie Driver in a powerful drama about a desperate prison inmate seeking salvation and a woman looking for closure, closed the festival.
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