CineVegas 2009, The 11th Annual CineVegas Film Festival was held June 10 – 15, 2009 at the PALMS Casino Resort in the BRENDEN THEATRES in Las Vegas.

 

JOHNNY BRENDEN – OWNER of BRENDEN MOVIE THEATERS

 

The CineVegas Film Festival is a platform for artists and art lovers who are drawn to the edge. Held amidst the unique, unpredictable and intoxicating environment that is Las Vegas, the CineVegas Film Festival pushes the boundaries of Cinema. The Festival annually presents work by innovative, uninhibited, and renegade artists to an audience of local and national film lovers, journalists, and film industry representatives.  Robin Greenspun serves as the festival’s President, Trevor Groth serves as Artistic Director and Dennis Hopper serves as the Chairman of the Creative Advisory Board.

 

DENNIS HOPPER

 

There were so many films and events that I was unable to see and attend all, however, below are some I did attend.

 

The opening night World Premiere of SAINT JOHN OF LAS VEGAS was presented at PLANET HOLLYWOOD.  The Red Carpet proceeded with some of the stars of the movie including the writer/director Hue Rhodes in his feature directorial debut.

 

WRITER/DIRECTOR HUE RHODES AND WIFE

 

The movie had a good leading man, Steve Buscerni who has had better roles, although he did add stature to the production with his acting. Sarah Silverman who is a great comedienne had a wasted role in that she was not able to show her incomparable talents. She did show some of that at the Q&A after the movie, but there was not much for her to do in the part that was given to her.  However, she did say she had been a replacement. Her name did give value to the production.

 

SARA SILVERMAN

 

Saint John of Las Vegas had a storyline that was interrupted by a non-explainable dream and dislocated scenes in a minimart did not help.  Las Vegas was not very much in the movie except for some gambling scenes that show the difficulty a gambler has to be realistic or compulsive.

 

(Pictures of some stars in Saint John of Las Vegas)     

      

 

My opinion is that this movie will not make the movie circuits, but I can be wrong. I was disappointed that CineVegas chose this movie for its opening.  Prive was the afterparty location, but I had been to the Red Carpet since 6p.m. and then at the movie until 9:30.  I thought there would be some food at the afterparty as I had to leave at 5:30 to be at the Red Carpet at 6, but only drinks were served, so I was unable to stay at the party very long.

 

One of the best films shown at the festival was VEGAS: BASED ON A TRUE STORY.  Director Amir Naderi put together a fine believable cast that engrossed the audience with deep emotions that put a loving family into despair by believing a scam that put them into a greedy state and tore their lives apart.  Three leading roles of mother, father and son were handled with extremely fine acting.  Although the movie was somewhat long as the audience continued to feel the suffering of the characters, this one may be the one to watch for commercial distribution.

 

REDLANDS was so-so.  The director embellished his own sense of his early country upbringing in a storyline about the depression, causing starvation and morality or immorality that went along with survival.  The film was mainly done in sepia tones with some extremely bright lightness scenes.  Some unexplained happenings at the beginning were helpful when I spoke to the ingénue of the film afterwards.

 

DAYLIGHT was a shocking psychological thriller with a small, but able cast.  An actually pregnant actress played the role of a pregnant hostage along with her hostage husband.  Her interpretation of the part was menial at first, but became more believable as the plot emerged.  The QandA gave the audience the idea that the filming was done in about two weeks, with much improvisation that created the storyline as rehearsals and improves continued. Not bad, but with some improvement it could become a mainline film.

 

Although I usually am a party animal that does not drink liquor, I did not attend too many of the parties as I didn’t have time to eat between movies and parties and all that was served were hard drinks.  Food was not on the agenda.  I can remember when CineVegas first started we had sit-down dinners with the stars.  This stopped even before the recession that we are now in.  However, there were some good party events.

 

BEAUTIFUL DARLINGS is a documentary about Candy Darling, a beautiful transvestite who was very popular during Andy Warhol's Factory days. She was in many movies and was viewed as a goddess by many of those in Warhol’s click.  Unfortunately she died of lymphoma at age 29 perhaps brought on by the hormones she was taken. These hormones have since been taken off the market. This documentary is still in the works the director James Rasin says.  Diaries, interviews, pictures, and many other interesting aspects of her life brought to life are very well told.  Especially her own thoughts on her sexuality keeping her from living a normal life.  A deep hearted friend Jeremiah Newton holds her memory dear and we feel his emotion of her death and internment. This movie is very well done and it should be interesting to see the finished product.

 

Director JAMES RAISEN and Associates

 

While I was watching ASYLUM SEEKERS I began to think the writer/director must be like one of the lunatics in the film.  Although it was supposed to be fantasy and maybe a message that the world is crazy, it was crazy to watch this piece of junk. Supposedly it was a film that came from a play with the same people involved. They all said they had lots of fun making it in 21 days, but it was less than fun watching it.

 

GODSPEED was a pretty good film, although excessively brutal and graphic.  Good storyline and well acted, especially the lead actor, Joseph McKelheer

 

STARS IN GODSPEED

 

JON VOIGHT was delightful as he was presented with the MARQUEE AWARD.

 

 

Most of what he said was dedicated to director Hal Ashby, who is deceased.  Hal Ashby’s daughter, who had never met Ashby, and was not acknowledged by him as his daughter, was on the panel.  A book has been written about this.

 

Hal Ashby’s daughter with author of the book.

 

Also on the panel was the remastered director of `Lookin’ To Get Out,’  Al Schwartz. (I knew his deceased brother Sam very well when I lived in California).

 

 

After Jon Voight’s conversation, The film, ‘LOOKIN' TO GET OUT’ was shown.  This was a very old film that featured a very young Jon Voight, Ann Margret, Bert Young and other well known actors.  A documentary of the film prior to the showing was quite interesting. Jon explained that now the film was a remastered director’s cut that truly showed Hal Ashby’s skill that was not there when the film was originally shown.  It will be available shortly on DVD along with the documentary on the film.  An interesting aside about the film is the little girl in the film, as it was a very young Angelina Jolie, and an extremely young, energetic Jon Voight.

 

WILLEM DAFOE received the VANGUARD ACTOR AWARD.  He was interviewed by Elvis Costello onstage.  The mellifluous toned actor explained some of his acting intentions in the roles that he plays.  A very early film in which he starred,

 

 

‘THE LOVELESS’ was shown.  This was a campy film, suggestive of ‘The Wild One’s. with Willem playing a Hell’s Angels type character.  The film was fair, but showed his talent and ability to play different roles.

 

The closing night CineVegas film, WORLD’s GREATEST DAD’ was directed by Bobcat Goldthwait.  Although Bobcat, is mainly known as a comedian, and he showed that he was during the Q&A part of the event, he is also a very able director.  The film starred Robin Williams in what could have been a sad commentary.

 

 

 

However, the tragedy of the son’s untimely death due to autoerotic asphyxia turned into a turnaround for the Dad.  The Dad, played by Robin Williams, was a teacher hoping to be an author, who tried to make a hero out of a miserable son by writing false positive journals he attributed to being from the son’s diary. Quite a good film that will be coming out soon, I think in August.

 

When the Jury Awards were announced, I decided to see the winner, `EASIER WITH PRACTICE.` Performance by Brian Geraghty was outstandingly believable. This is a story based on an article of a true experience by Davy Rothbart.  The story is based on phone sex, and although the film is erotically charged, it was quite interesting and intellectually stimulating, especially the scenes toward the ending.

 

A fun closing of CineVegas 2009 was the Dive In open air presentation of `THE ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN.’  Shown outdoors downtown on 3rd and Fremont, this oldie but goodie was enjoyed along with popcorn and drinks.  Folding chairs were not the most comfortable, but everyone seemed to be having a good time. After the film, the attendees enjoyed drinks at THE SIDEBAR across the street.

 

A Saturday night at MANDALAY BAY’s BEACH was the setting for the Beatle’s `THE YELLOW SUBMARINE.` Reclining on chaises and indulging on popcorn while viewing the movie was fun.  An Afterparty at the Beach Club had a performer from the Cirque shows doing acrobatic dancing.  The walk to the Beach was very extensive and that knocked me out, so I reclined on the bed at the Club with a drink rather than dance and mingle as I would normally do. But friends passed by and it was fun.

 

The 11th ANNUAL CINEBEGAS FILM FESTIVAL announced its jury award winners at the CineVegas Awards Reception at Rain Niteclub where Jon Voight, Willem Dafoe, George and Mike Kuchar, Jenova Chen and Kellee Santiago were also honored.

 

Festival winners included Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s Easier with Practice, which received the Grand Jury Prize; Godspeed was acknowledged with an Exceptional Artistic Achievement Award for Cory Knauf, Joseph McKelheer and Robert Saitzyk; and Jeff Mizushima with the Filmmaker to Watch Award for his film Etienne!

 

Additionally, the Grand Jury Prize for Pioneer Documentaries was awarded to Douglas Tirola’s All In: The Poker Movie, with a Special Jury Award for Artistic Vision going to Jessica Oreck’s Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo.

 

Kerry Prior’s The Revenant won the audience award for best narrative, and Ben Steinbauer’s Winnebago Man won the audience award for best documentary. 

 

Feature Jury Competition This year’s feature jury was presided over by indieWIRE editor-in-chief and co-founder Eugene Hernandez, writer/director Jody Hill, The Associated Press film critic Christy Lemire and film journalist Glenn Whipp.

 

The Grand Jury Prize went to Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s Easier With Practice. While on a road trip to promote his unpublished novel, Davy Mitchell finds himself falling for a mysterious phone sex caller.

 

An Exceptional Artistic Achievement Award was given to Cory Knauf for Godspeed. Directed by Saitzyk, Godspeed is an intense, dramatic thriller set in the lingering light of the Alaskan midnight sun.

 

Jeff Mizushima was also given a Filmmaker to Watch Award for his film Etienne! After Richard's best and only friend, a dwarf hamster named Etienne, is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he decides to take his pocket pet on a bicycle road trip up the California coast to show it the world before he must put it to sleep.

 

Documentary Jury Competition Producer/Director Heather Rae, Senior Editor of Features for Variety Sharon Swart and Bob Tourtellotte, editor-in-charge for entertainment for Reuters news service, made up the Pioneer Documentaries Jury.

 

The Documentary Jury Award went to Douglas Tirola’s All In: The Poker Movie, which tells the story of poker focusing on why one of our nation’s oldest games has had a renaissance in the past decade and why for so many people poker is a way to chase the American Dream.

 

Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo, directed by Jessica Oreck, was awarded with a Special Documentary Jury Prize for Artistic Vision. Working backwards through history, Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo solves the mystery of the development of Japan’s cultural obsession with bugs. 

 

Shorts Jury Emily Doe, associate editor/producer for Wholphin, Denver Film Society Festival Director Britta Erickson and film and culture writer Stu VanAirsdale made up this year’s shorts jury.

 

Destin Daniel’s Short Term 12 received the CineVegas Short Film Jury Prize while Justin Nowell’s Acting for the Camera won a special Grand Jury Prize in Directing. The jury also acknowledged Markus Kirschner’s Communion with the CineVegas Nevada Short Film Jury Prize.

 

Audience Awards CineVegas audiences chose The Revenant to receive the CineVegas Dramatic Audience Award, and Winnebago Man to receive the CineVegas Documentary Audience Award.

 

The Revenant is a satirical treatise on friendship, regret, and the nature of evil under the guise of a rootin'-tootin' vampire buddy movie.

 

Jack Rebney’s outrageously funny outtakes from a Winnebago sales video became an underground phenomenon and made him an Internet superstar. In Winnebago Man, filmmaker Ben Steinbauer sets out to find him.

 

Congratulations to all the winners and congratulations to CINEVEGAS FILM FESTIVAL 2009 that had full houses at all the films.