FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Kyle Burt
Tel: (408) 995-5033
E-mail: kburt@cinequest.org
CINEQUEST FILM FESTIVAL 2014
Global Artists and Youth Connect With
Silicon Valley Audiences and Innovators
Neil Gaiman, Matthew Modine & Father of the Cell Phone Headline
Great film festivals connect us to worlds, immersing us in cultures, perspectives, thoughts and
ways of life. The Silicon Valley connects the world through technology, opening information and
communication between friends and strangers. March 4 - 16, 2014, Cinequest Film Festival will
connect Silicon Valley audiences and innovators with youth, media and global artists through a
spectacular array of 300+ events, premieres and forums designed to foster innovation, creativity
and ultimately empowerment.
What’s New
• Maverick Innovator Awards: Cinequest Film Festival 2014 continues the powerful
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integration of creativity and innovation, honoring major innovators who have advanced
our abilities to communicate and connect through media. Martin “Marty” Cooper, “Father
of the cell phone,” and actor, filmmaker and technologist Matthew Modine receive the
inaugural awards.
Media Legacy Award: It’s time to turn the spotlight on those who have had a powerful
impact on the lives of artists. The award recognizes the pivotal role journalists play in
connecting audiences to films, providing life blood to filmmakers and their work.
Inaugural recipients include Eric Kohn of Indiewire (March 4, 7 p.m.), Harry Knowles,
founder of Ain’t It Cool News (March 6, 7:15 p.m.) and Kenneth Turan of The Los
Angeles Times (March 8, 3 p.m.).
Picture The Possibilities: Global youth present movies and their vision for a better
tomorrow to leaders and audiences. See the impact here and review the PTP press
release for more details.
Highlights
• Maverick Award Events: Recipients include famed author and screenwriter Neil
Gaiman, actor Matthew Modine, and the “Father of the cell phone” Marty Cooper.
Honoring those who create from a place of bold and personal vision, Cinequest will
bring their work and thoughts to the stage. Past guest recipients include Harrison Ford,
J.J. Abrams, Kevin Spacey, William H. Macy, Gus Van Sant, Spike Lee, Jennifer Jason
Leigh, Sir Ian McKellen, Edward James Olmos, Alec Baldwin and Sir Ben Kingsley.
Cinequest Film Festival 2014 occurs March 4 - 16, 2014
www.cinequest.org
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Opening Night Screening and Celebration March 4, 7p.m., California Theatre:
Cinequest opens in grand fashion with the uproarious comedy, The Grand Seduction,
from director Don McKellar (Last Night) and screenwriter Michael Dowse (Goon),
starring a brilliant cast that includes Brendan Gleeson (“Mad-Eye” Moody from the Harry
Potter films), Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights), and Liane Balaban (Supernatural).
Award presentations to Martin Cooper (Maverick Innovator) and Eric Kohn (Media
Legacy) precede the screening. Celebrating the theme of “Connect,” the party continues
into the morning at The Glass House.
Closing Night Screening and Celebration March 16, 6 p.m., California Theatre:
Cinequest 2014 culminates with dynamic energy, excitement and celebration. Join
writer/director Joel Surnow (24, The Kennedys) and star Christopher Meloni (Law &
Order: SVU, True Blood) for a spectacular World Premiere screening of Small Time,
also starring Dean Norris (Breaking Bad, Under the Dome), Devon Bostick (Diary of a
Wimpy Kid), Bridget Moynahan (Blue Bloods), Kevin Nealon (Weeds, SNL), Garcelle
Beauvais (Flight), Xander Berkeley (Taken) and Amaury Nolasco (Transformers). A fun
and celebratory party concludes the night at adjacent venues The Farmers Union and
La Piñata.
Premieres, Countries and Star Performances: 84 World, North American and U.S.
Premieres from 43 countries include performances by:
• Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: The Next Generation) in Hunting Elephants
• Jude Law (The Holiday, Cold Mountain), Richard E. Grant (Dracula) and Emilia
Clarke (Game of Thrones) in Dom Hemingway
• Elijah Wood (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy), John Cusack (Being John
Malkovich) and Kerry Bishé (Argo) in Grand Piano
• Sean Penn (Milk) in The Human Experiment
• Bryan Greenberg (Friends with Benefits), Linda Lavin (Alice), Harris Yulin
(Training Day), Emmanuelle Chriqui (Entourage) and Kathleen Rose Perkins
(Episodes, Enough Said) in A Short History of Decay
• David Arquette (Scream) and Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) in Sold
• Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects) and Emmanuelle Devos (Coco Before
Chanel) in Just a Sigh
• Clive Owen (Children of Men) and Juliette Binoche (The English Patient) in
Words and Pictures
• Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange) and Frank Miller (Sin City, 300) in
Masterpiece: Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns
• Jena Malone (The Hunger Games) and Ben Whishaw (Skyfall) in Teenage
• Ben Kingsley (Ghandi), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Romeo and Juliet), James Le Gros
(Justified) and Katie Chang (The Bling Ring) in A Birder’s Guide to Everything
• Helen Shaver (The Color of Money) and Gabrielle Miller (Sisters & Brothers) in
Down River
• Guy Pearce (Memento), Felicity Jones (Like Crazy) and Amy Ryan (Gone Baby
Gone) in Breathe In
• Hugo Weaving (The Matrix), Aaron Pedersen (City Homicide) and Ryan
Kwanten (True Blood) in Mystery Road
• Ken Wantanabe (Last Samurai, Letters from Iwo Jima) in Unforgiven
• Mark Famiglietti (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines) and Beck Bennett (SNL) in
Acting Like Adults
• Gary Busey (Lethal Weapon), C. Thomas Howell (Spiderman) and Andrew
Lawrence (Bones) in Confessions of a Womanizer
Cinequest Film Festival 2014 occurs March 4 - 16, 2014
www.cinequest.org
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Ryan Hansen (Veronica Mars) in Friended to Death
Eric Roberts (The Dark Night, The Expendables) in Eternity: The Movie
Ashlynn Yennie (The Human Centipede) in The Divorce Party
Zelda Williams, daughter of Robin Williams, and Zachary Booth (Damages) in
Never
• Adelaide Kane (CW’s hit show Reign) in Blood Punch
Writers Celebration March 9, 9:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m., San Jose Repertory Theater: Neil
Gaiman conversation (Maverick Spirit Award) and documentary on Frank Miller’s career
inspire the writer in all of us.
Cinequest Grown Parties: Fostering its theme of “Connect”, Cinequest produces all of its
celebrations and parties internally and with community partners. Daily Soirees from 5
p.m. – 7 p.m., nightly Meetups from 9:30 p.m. onward and the four-block proximity of
Cinequest’s state-of-the-art venues facilitate the spectacular connection of visiting
artists, innovators, executives and film lovers.
CINEQUEST AT A GLANCE
Cinequest will continue to present its events, forums and premieres in seven emotive categories
allowing audiences to interact based on “What They Want to Feel.” Click on each category
below to jump to the desired section and review the related films and events.
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CELEBRATION
INNOVATION
INSPIRATION
THRILLS
LAUGHS
LIFE
LOVE
Ticket, event and schedule information:
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Complete lineup and schedule at www.cinequest.org.
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Tickets and passes may be purchased by phone (408) 295-FEST (3378) or online.
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Sophisticated Tablet, Droid, and iPhone applications at www.cinequest.org/mobile•
home or simply by logging onto www.cinequest.org via your mobile device.
Press releases and media information available at www.cinequest.org/news-media
About Cinequest
Cinequest is a vanguard organization that fuses creativity with technological innovation to
empower, improve and transform the lives of people and communities worldwide, through:
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Cinequest Film Festival showcases premier films, renowned and emerging artists, and
breakthrough technology—empowering global connectivity between creators, innovators
and audiences.
Cinequest Mavericks Studio creates innovative and transformative motion pictures,
television and distribution paradigms.
Cinequest Picture The Possibilities: a transformative leadership movement, where
empowered youth create films expressing visions of a better tomorrow—inspiring us to
improve worlds.
Cinequest Film Festival 2014 occurs March 4 - 16, 2014
www.cinequest.org
CQFF Partners: Applied Materials (NYSE: AMAT), City of San Jose, Barco, Kaiser Permanente,
Knight Foundation, Harmonic (NYSE: HLIT), Synaptics (NYSE: SYNA), Comcast-Xfinity (NYSE:
CMCSK), NBC Bay Area, KGO 810, KFOG 97.7, Cisco (NYSE: CSCO), Dolby (NYSE: DLB),
Stella Artois (NYSE: BUD), Tito’s Handmade Vodka, iON, Adobe (NYSE: ADBE), eBay
Foundation (NYSE: EBAY), Macy’s (NYSE: M), Seagate (NYSE: STX), United Airlines (NYSE:
UAL), PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE: PEP), VTA, Liquid Agency and Agile.
CELEBRATION
Cinequest artists, innovators and film lovers connect and empower each other through a
bonanza of parties and celebrations.
• Opening (March 4) and Closing (March 16) celebrations feature sterling films (The
Grand Seduction and Small Time) and magnificent parties, chock full of superior drinks,
food, music and the phenomenal people of Cinequest.
• Cinequest VIP Soirees (March 5 - 15, 5 - 7 p.m.) connect visiting artists and innovators
with Silicon Valley leaders and Cinequest patrons of the arts. The March 9 Soiree, at
The Fairmont San Jose, features a wonderful conversation with Michelin 2 Star Chef
David Kinch and farmer Cynthia Sandberg. Kinch will receive the Cinequest Maverick
Award for his fusion of innovation and art in his culinary creations.
• Nightly Meetups (March 5 - 15, 9:30 p.m. to midnight) bring us together after screenings
and events to share. The March 7 Meetup at The Glass House features a fun and
exhilarating DJ contest featuring three sound ambassadors vying to play Cinequest’s
closing party.
INNOVATION
Cinequest highly prizes and recognizes the world-leading power of the Silicon Valley –
innovation. An early adopter of new technology and keen to push boundaries, Cinequest Film
Festival has the legacy of presenting “the future of film.” This year’s innovation components
include:
• The World Premiere of Uneasy Lies the Mind, a cutting-edge, psychological thriller
entirely shot on an iPhone 5.
• A vanguard film, APP will have its United States Premiere at the festival, asking
audiences to “Please turn on your cell phones”! Through their smart phone app, APP
draws audiences into the dark and fearful world of a diabolic app wreaking havoc.
• On March 15, 3:30 p.m. at the Camera 12 Cinemas, Cinequest proudly honors
technologist, actor, and Maverick Innovator Matthew Modine (The Dark Knight Rises,
Jobs) with the Maverick Innovator Award and presents this intimate look at his new
“appumentary” Full Metal Jacket Diary. Based on his award-winning, limited-edition
book, Modine’s diary chronicles the making of Stanley Kubrick’s Vietnam War
masterpiece Full Metal Jacket—becoming an entirely reimagined, interactive
audiovisual experience and a stunning journey into new storytelling territory. Through
this lively presentation and conversation with Matthew Modine, fans will revel in a
celebration of one of cinema’s greatest directors. Like Kubrick, Modine has embraced
new technologies to craft an awe-inspiring new way of looking at the movie experience
in a fresh and adventurous way.
• On March 4, 7:00 p.m., Maverick Innovator Award presentation to Martin Cooper is sure
to inspire. Cooper’s vision of a world connected via mobile cinema took him over thirty
years to see adopted globally. Cooper will discuss the genesis of his creation and the
path that made him the first person to complete a cell phone call and then pass that
power onto the world. After serving as a submarine officer in the U.S. Navy, Cooper
embarked on an idea sparked by the communications devices he watched in Star Trek.
Cinequest Film Festival 2014 occurs March 4 - 16, 2014
www.cinequest.org
His vision for the future saw its first moment in reality as he stood on a New York street
corner in 1973 and placed the first cell phone call on a massive device. Little did he
know that it would take decades to convince people that individuals wanted mobile
calling. And now…all of us and the users of over five billion cell phones around the
globe can thank this incredible innovator, futurist and man of great passion for our
ability to connect, share and excel like never before.
INSPIRATION
Inspiration, the driving force behind all creativity, innovation and change plays a dominant role
at this year’s festival. We are thrilled to connect our audiences with positive, encouraging tales
from across the world!
• Between the Media Legacy and Maverick Spirit Award presentations, audiences will
undoubtedly leave with an abundance of new ideas and perspectives. Awards will go to
Neil Gaiman, Eric Kohn, Harry Knowles and Kenneth Turan. Please see the Maverick
Award release for details and bios on these inspirations.
• Go on an artistic journey with the North American premiere of Masterpiece: Frank
Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns (Frank Miller and Malcolm McDowell) or follow Rae
Spoon, a transgender Canadian folk singer-songwriter in My Prairie Home.
• World Premiere Documentaries Bite Size, Know How and Life is Love are moving
portraits of children and youth fighting battles bigger than themselves!
• The Rugby Player explores the life of Mark Bingham, one of the heroic passengers on
United Flight 93 on 9/11 and an athlete, a son and a hero.
Full of motivation and muses, the section underlines the power of the inspired movie goers and
the films’ creators!
THRILLS
A dash of blood, a hint of suspense and a lot of mystery add up to a whole lot of fun. This year’s
selection is sure to have hearts pumping and palms sweating in less time than it took you to
read this line.
• The Circle Within; It’s Only Make Believe; Love in the Time of Monsters; Parallel Maze;
A Thief, A Kid, and A Killer; and White Rabbit make their premiere this year at the
festival.
• Mystery Road, starring Hugo Weaving, Ryan Kwanten and Aaron Pederson, takes
viewers through an eerie investigation regarding the shocking discovery of a dead
teenage girl beneath a local highway.
• Ken Watanabe gives a masterful performance in the Japanese remake of Clint
Eastwood’s Academy Award-winning Unforgiven.
• Sip a cocktail of mishaps, meth and murder in Blood Punch, as we are pulled into this
genre-bending “mind fuck” romantic, yet thrilling magical world.
We don’t guarantee anyone’s heart will be at ease, but for the brave souls willing to put their
sanity on the line, we will take them to a dark world of macabre, terror and the unknown
LAUGHS
From the exhilaration of a bank robbery, to a fake social media death, to high school friends
reuniting for a road trip to rehab, this year’s comedy films will be sure to leave your stomach
sore.
• With ten world premieres, Cinequest audiences are in for a treat with A is for Alex,
Acting Like Adults, Confessions of a Womanizer, Eternity: The Movie, Loaded, Nothing
in Los Angeles, A Practical Guide to a Spectacular Suicide, The Purple Onion, Sex(ed):
The Movie and When the Man Went South.
Cinequest Film Festival 2014 occurs March 4 - 16, 2014
www.cinequest.org
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Jude Law, Emilia Clarke and Richard E. Grant share the screen in a crime-comedy
following notorious safe-cracker, now ex-prisoner as he sets out to collect what he’s
owed in Dom Hemingway.
• Patrick Stewart works a bank heist as an eccentric British Lord in Hunting Elephants.
• Here comes the bride…across the finish line! Starring SNL’s Beck Bennett and Mark
Famiglietti, Acting Like Adults follows couples on a scavenger hunt in LA, but will they
ever make it down the aisle?
• Gary Busey, Andrew Lawrence and C. Thomas Howell headline the comedy
Confessions of a Womanizer.
• Sex(ed): The Movie hilariously chronicles sex education over the years.
Audiences will be laughing tears, guffawing beyond control and leaving with a surge of
endorphins!
LIFE
With a vast array of films, the Life section explores the different facets of the human condition.
We showcase the beauty of the ups, downs and the in-betweens of our existence through some
captivating cinema!
• With 16 World, North American and U.S. Premieres, the Life section offers Silicon
Valley audiences a chance to be among the first to watch these enthralling films.
Packed with stellar actors and impressive stories , the films explore life’s high-points, dilemmas
and its unsavory aspects:
• With Sold, Executive Producer Emma Thompson and actors Gillian Anderson and
David Arquette take us to the horrific world of child trafficking.
• Executive Producer and narrator Sean Penn, along with Emmy Award-winning and Bay
Area directors Don Hardy, Jr. and Dana Nachman explore the toxic chemicals in
everyday products in the documentary The Human Experiment. “Welcome to the Lab!”
• Breathe In features Guy Pearce, Felicity Jones and Amy Ryan toying with love and
boundaries.
• Clive Owen and Juliette Binoche come together in the playful, romcom Words and
Pictures.
• The Man Behind the Mask reveals the secret world of Lucha Libre and two famous
Mexican wrestlers, El Santo (The Saint) and El Hijo del Santo, his son.
• Helen Shaver and Gabrielle Miller go Down River and allow audiences to rise up with
three young artists forced to overcome their fears.
• Gabriel Byrne and Emmanuelle Devos explore truth and lies in Just a Sigh.
• Zelda Williams and Zachary Booth explore identity and sexuality in Never.
• Jena Malone and Ben Whishaw revisit the origins of the “teenager” in Teenage.
• The Russian film Winter Journey courageously centers on a gay relationship, especially
with the recent passing of the Russian law criminalizing “gay propaganda.”
Audiences have a chance to connect with other worlds–geographically and figuratively–bonding
over commonalities, celebrating differences and empowering themselves for a better world!
LOVE
We pine for it, celebrate it and cry over it…love blooms in all its glory at this year’s festival!
• Famed animator Bill Plympton is back with a spectacular offering with Cheatin’, a
beautiful, dreamlike feature that has been entirely hand-painted!
• With the World Premiere of The Divorce Party, we bring you Ashlynn Yennie (The
Human Centipede) in a vibrant romantic dramedy film that will echo for many 30-yearolds!
Cinequest Film Festival 2014 occurs March 4 - 16, 2014
www.cinequest.org
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From a modern day “The Scarlet Letter” in Asquared to impulsive flings in Tempo Girl,
we’ve got it all for the perfect date night!
Thoughtfully curated, the section beautifully uncovers love and its many nuances. We are glad
to tingle your nerves, mush your hearts and spread the love!
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Cinequest Film Festival 2014 occurs March 4 - 16, 2014
www.cinequest.org