The 30th annual Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival was six days in when it came to a screeching halt, along with the rest of the world, with the arrival of the first COVID-19 shelter-in-place order.
Now, a year later — with festival producers trained and equipped for the pandemic streaming era — Cinequest is back and rebranded asCinequest on Cinejoy, with a lineup of 200 films from 55 countries (111 of them world and U.S. premieres) and virtual experiences for a 10-day event that kicks off Saturday, March 20.
The new name points to the festival’s transformation from a live to virtual event and aims to emphasize both the pleasure of watching films and the possibilities for viewer engagement.
Cinequest首席执行官兼联合创始人Halfdan Hussey说：“ Cinejoy是我们认为重要的术语，电影院确实为人们带来欢乐的方式以及与他人建立联系的经历。”
作为硅谷的电影节，Cinequest一直与技术联系在一起，但今年组织者计划使用该活动启动自己的流媒体平台Crossics。这是Cinequest的另一个里程碑，它在2005年和2007年举办了首个在线全球电影节。
这是您对今年的电影节需要了解的：
The Films
The festival is broken into two sections: Showcase Screenings and Spotlight Events. The showcase films are the ones screening on demand throughout the festival. The spotlight events are for appointment viewing, at specific times.
The Spotlight Events are also the festival’s biggest films . This year’s highlights include the opening-night feature, “Death of a Ladies’ Man,” starring Gabriel Byrne as a man whose brain tumor causes movie-musical hallucinations, inspired by the oeuvre of Leonard Cohen. Byrne will take part in a live conversation preceding the screening, while a Q&A with other cast members and crew will occur after the movie.
Other spotlights include tributes to Eddie Izzard, who screens his latest film, a prewar thriller, “Six Minutes to Midnight,” and Sam Neill, who is screening one of his most recent films, 2020’s “Rams,” a comedy about feuding sheep farmer brothers.
The Northern California Connection
Although it is an international film festival, Cinequest also makes room for work originating in our own backyard, with the Bay Area and surrounding regions represented by 17 features and shorts. Among the more intriguing of these is the latest adaptation of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s 19th century feminist short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The tale of a woman said to be suffering from some form of hysteria has been transformed into a horror film. What’s more, it is a U.S.-Irish co-production, a partnership between Stockton’s Hysteria Pictures and Emerald Giant Productions, shot in both Ireland’s County Clare and the University of the Pacific Campus in the Central Valley.
晚会时间
The red carpet is a staple of any film festival, but here it’s reimagined for a virtual world where the stars take part in live, preshow interviews.
“I enjoy a good red carpet, like the next person. The fun of it, seeing the gowns and everything,” Hussey said, adding that their plans are to use the time to present interviews that pose “more in-depth questions about (the filmmakers and actors’) art … things that matter more than the gown I’ve got on tonight or the necklace or earrings, or who am I dating this year.”
另一个元素是放映派对，其中一些由与电影有关的艺术家主持，而另一些则由电影迷。任何人都可以登录举办聚会，并选择他们想制作的电影。最好的部分 - 除了电影票的费用之外 - 是各方是免费的。“这个想法是，聚会的主持人正在让他们的一些朋友和同事出现，然后有一些新朋友。这就是它的兴奋，也是它的乐趣。” Hussey说。“我们的意图是履行'Cinejoy'的标题，并为人们带来代表真正关心的电影制片人的电影的乐趣。这些艺术家非常关心他们拍的电影。”
Cinequest on Cinejoy:Virtual film festival. March 20-30. $3.99-$11.99;$199 all-access pass. To purchase tickets and the full lineup, go tohttps://creatics.org/cinejoy.