FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Vera Ryzhik
Tel: 408-995-5033
Email: vera.ryzhik@cinequest.org
Cinequest Film Festival 25
Media Legacy Award Events
Anne Thompson with Wild Tales;
Richard von Busack with L’Atalante
Spotlighting those who discover cinematic art and innovation, Cinequest’s Media Legacy Award
recognizes the pivotal role journalists play in connecting audiences to films and technologies,
providing the life blood to artists, innovators and their work. CQFF 25 Media Legacy Award
recipients are Anne Thompson and Richard von Busack.
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Wild Tales with Anne Thompson February 25, 7:30p.m., California Theatre: Join
Anne Thompson for the award presentation and spirited conversation following a
screening of the international sensation–and a Thompson favorite– Wild Tales. Six
short narratives of wreaked vengeance, with both hilarious and catastrophic results,
offer one of the most riotous cinematic rides you’ll ever encounter.
Anne Thompson-A trailblazer for women journalists and a global tastemaker for film lovers and
artists, Anne Thompson’s sterling career has included top posts at leading press institutions such
as The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, The Washington Post, Wired, Variety, LA Weekly,
Film Comment Magazine, and IndieWire. After graduating from NYU’s esteemed Cinema Studies
department at the Tisch School of the Arts, she began her career in media journalism for WNDUTV in Indiana. She joined NBC News in 1993 and has been a paragon of entertainment news ever
since. Over her illustrious career, this native New Yorker’s voice filled the above media pages and
countless readers’ hearts and minds with compelling insights into global cinema. She was honored
to co-host Ebert and Roeper in 2006 and then started her own daily blog: Thompson on
Hollywood. This cemented her status as a powerful voice of entertainment and cultural media and
a pillar of the industry. She currently lends her talents to IndieWire which has been the go-to for
myriad of film artists, critics, and fans. She was one of the first to embrace new online media in
journalism and is currently leading the way in spearheading entertainment media in the new
millennium. With her creative instinct and unique voice, Thompson has earned the respect of her
colleagues, the admiration of her readers, and a fearless reputation. Cinequest is honored to
bestow its Media Legacy Award to trailblazer and tastemaker Anne Thompson.
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L’Atalante with Richard von Busack. March 3, 7:30p.m., Camera 12 Cinema:
Revered by Bertolucci and Godard, Jean Vigo was a cinematic genius; L’Atalante his
masterpiece. Join Media Legacy Award winner Richard von Busack for a postscreening conversation and award presentation. “The story is fairy-tale simple, yet
told with implications that are absolutely modern...a romance set against the iron
and smoke of an industrial corridor, on the banks of a canal.... Jean, the newly
married barge captain, takes his bride Juliette aboard L’Atalante to join the rest of
the crew.... At first, the voyage is as happy as can be...[but] as the barge
approaches Paris, Juliette begins to be bored, and…” (Richard von Busack, Metro
Newspapers)
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Richard von Busack-Having once described David Lynch’s Inland Empire as if “playing the
viewer’s spine like a xylophone,” Richard von Busack has always dedicated himself to maintaining
his passion as a film lover. His unique brand and wit eloquently lend themselves to his loyal
followers, and the mutual respect between himself and his readers has made him one of the most
reliable voices in film journalism. He is the rare literary and journalist whose tastes and
appreciations span a diverse array of content, form, and genre. Yet, von Busack also brings a
Silicon Valley-esque disdain for the pretentious or commonplace, but an enjoyment for work of
impact or that’s just plain fun. He knows what it means to be a film fan, as well as a critic. Rather
than praise or trash a film, he prefers to express a film’s mood and style and let the readers
decide whether or not they might enjoy the movie. Von Busack, the chief film and literature writer
for Metro Newspapers and a member of the San Francisco Film Critics Circle, has been the guiding
voice of Silicon Valley’s audiences and a champion of global artists for over two decades. Von
Busack has also connected audiences with more Cinequest Film Festival film premieres,
innovations, and events than anyone-so it is fitting that Cinequest bestow its Media Legacy Award
on the beloved writer and journalist, Richard von Busack.
For a look at the highlight’s from last year’s inspiring Media Legacy Award events with
Eric Kohn of Indiewire, Harry Knowles, founder of Ain’t It Cool News, and Kenneth
Turan of The Los Angeles Times, please watch Cinquest’s Media Legacy video.
CINEQUEST is a vanguard organization that fuses creativity with technological innovation to empower,
improve, and transform the lives of people and communities worldwide, through Picture the Possibilities,
Cinequest Film Festival and Cinequest Mavericks Studio. www.cinequest.org
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Picture The Possibilities by Cinequest empowers global youth with the tools, confidence and
inspiration to form and create their dreams from art to science--regardless of their situation and
challenges. Picture It. Create It.
Cinequest Film Festival—Silicon Valley 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.
CQFF Partners: Applied Materials (NYSE: AMAT), City of San Jose, Barco, Kaiser Permanente, Knight
Foundation, Harmonic (NYSE: HLIT), Synaptics (NYSE: SYNA), Quantum (NYSE: QUAN), National Association
of Broadcasters of America, Canon (CAJ), Yellow Pages, Panasonic, Hint Water, NBC Bay Area, Metro, KGO
810, KFOG 97.7, Cisco (NYSE: CSCO), Dolby (NYSE: DLB), Stella Artois (NYSE: AHBIF), Tito’s Handmade
Vodka, Adobe (NYSE: ADBE), eBay Foundation (NYSE: EBAY), Macy’s (NYSE: M), The Fairmont San Jose
(NYSE: FHR), Seagate (NYSE: STX), VTA, and Agile Ticketing Solutions. Picture The Possibilities Partners:
Kaiser Permanente, The Hearst Foundations, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The David & Lucile
Packard Foundation, Morrison & Foerster Foundation, Capital Group, Hewlett Packard Workstations (NYSE:
HPQ), Brett Company, Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), Liquid Agency, Seagate (NYSE: STX), Litepanels,
Cisco (NYSC: CSCO), AudioTechnica, Media Center, Adobe (NYSE: ADBE), Eddie Lira, GlideCam, CreaTV,
Rhino Camera Gear, Manfrotto, Red Giant (NYSE: REDG)
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