FESTIVAL OVERVIEW:
The Cinequest film festival takes place annually in my hometown of San Jose, CA. Ranked in recent memory by The Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide as one of the top ten film festivals in the world (and don't think they'll let you forget it), Cinequest rides on the tension of celebrating "mavericks" of independent cinema while also luring big-name star attractions to whom the festival organizers can present their Maverick Spirit Award. Honorary Board members include directors Robert Wise (Maverick Spirit Award winner and frequent attendee), Luis Valdez (also an Award honoree) and Bryan Singer, former L.A. Times critic Sheila Benson (who interviewed Maverick Spirit Award winner Kevin Spacey on stage for the 1998 fest), screenwriter Barbara Turner (also Jennifer Jason Leigh's mom), and editor Paul Seydor (who edits most of Ron Shelton's films). For many years, Gideon Bachmann consulted with the festival on its foreign film offerings (Bachmann is a noted Fellini intimate featured on Criterion's DVD of 8 1/2).
Recipients of the Cinequest Maverick Spirit Award form an impressive list, including Spike Lee, Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Ben Kingsley, Val Kilmer, Elmer Bernstein, Gabriel Byrne, Barry Sonnenfeld, Gus Van Sant, John Schlesinger, Werner Herzog, Russ Meyer, Walter Murch, Jennifer Beals, Rod Steiger, Vilmos Zsigmond, Wes Craven, Dario Argento, Ralph Bakshi, and many more. Cinequest has also proved its resilience by rallying and recovering from the rare last-minute no-show, including tributees Neil Jordan and Billy Bob Thornton, whose absence in 2001 was announced the day of the event as people began to queue up.
Current venues include the Camera Cinemas, the San Jose Repertory Theatre, and the California Theatre. I've attended the festival since 1996 (almost always as a working reviewer). A big plus for Cinequest is the opportunity to rub elbows with famous talent. Many of the honorees have made themselves approachable (Peter Fonda, in fact, held court for quite some time after his on-stage chat, talking with folks, posing for pictures, and signing autographs).
The best bets at Cinequest are usually the documentaries, the foreign films, and the tribute events. Filmmakers and cast often attend the screenings of films small and large, for short pre-screening or post-screening chats. The biggest tribute events, like 2002's McKellen coup, have commonly played to sizeable crowds, now ushered to downtown San Jose's gloriously restored California Theatre. For complete information about Cinequest or to order tickets, visit www.cinequest.org.
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Cinequest is back! Rolling out another bold program--crammed with 70 narrative features, 14 documentary features, 8 programs of shorts, 17 special events, 41 Maverick Spirit Tributes, and, of course, a few parties--Cinequest offers the biggest little city of San Jose the film festival it deserves. The tr... 
Cinequest's sweet sixteen party has another bountiful sampling of party favors and guests. Around sixty-five narrative features, twenty documentaries, and eight short-film programs are the meat of a schedule that includes tribute events, multiple filmmaking and technology forums, two silent-film bills, and a few good parties. Edward James Olmos&mda... Cinequest has always been a reliable purveyor of international cinema, so it's appropriate that, this year, the festival will open and close with foreign-film selections. Cinequest 15 rolls out March 2 with a gala screening and reception of the Brazilian romantic comedy Manual for Love Stories. The U.S. premiere will play at the newly restored Cali... Cinequest 14 opens March 3 with a gala screening and reception for the Norse film United, in its U.S. premiere (at the San Jose Repertory Theatre), followed by a gala reception (with special festival guests) in the San Jose Ballroom at the San Jose Marriott. Closing night will round out the festival with The Conscientious Objector. The evening will... THIS YEAR'S PROGRAM:
The 2003 festival (lucky 13) runs from Thursday, Feb. 27-Sunday, Mar. 9.
The festival will screen over 60 feature films in 11 days. The complete
program guide is available online at the Cinequest web site. The
Maverick tributees this year are actors James Woods (Mar. 1), Lupe
Ontiveros (Mar. 5), William H. Macy (Mar. 7),... The 2002 festival (the twelfth one) ran from Feb. 21-Mar. 3. The festival screened over 60 feature films in 12 days. Of those, I saw 35 films in 11 days. Excepting Dirty Harry, the film presentations were fine, though the festival occasionally had trouble sticking to its schedule. The crop of films was a solid one, and the tribute events impressive... 
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