FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Vera Ryzhik
Tel: 408-995-5033
Email: vera.ryzhik@cinequest.org
Cinequest Film Festival 25
Future Of Film Debuts
Cinequest, Silicon Valley’s creativity and film institute, announces a new Future of Film showcase
to be presented during the 25th edition of the Cinequest Film Festival (CQFF), February 24 –
March 8, 2015, in Silicon Valley / San Jose, California.
Widely regarded as “the future of film,” Cinequest continues to showcase awe-inspiring
technologies and innovators that continually reshape and redefine media and the media arts. The
history of firsts unveiled to the world at Cinequest include: numerous digital filmmaking
technologies that revolutionized and democratized access and opportunity; Internet film
distribution and delivery; digital film projection and servers; smart phone mobile cinema, a
quantum leap, distribution solution for festival favorites; the first online film festival, and much
more. CQFF has presented many of the geniuses and envelope-pushing innovators who have
opened doors to opportunity and widened access, enhancing quality, and expanding the range
and impact of an entirely new sphere of creators.
FUTURE OF FILM 1.0
BARCO ESCAPE EXPERIENCE AND MOVIES
Technology has always been a vital, collaborative partner of film art, beginning with Edison’s first
moving picture cameras to today’s digitally captured and internet-delivered cinema. Barco Escape
technologies brings a thrilling new cinematic experience to audiences and a unique opportunity
for filmmakers. Utilizing three screens of images and sound, Barco Escape immerses audiences in
a virtually flowing stream, fostering a profoundly deeper engagement, visually, aurally, and
emotionally. Experience this exciting new innovation at Cinequest 25. The Escape format film
lineup will include:
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The 9th Hole: A hilarious look at fathers “protecting” their daughters on prom night. For
every happy face on a girl excitedly primping for the prom, there are the frightened
countenances of their fretful fathers. Director: Pierre Marks; Producers: Stephen Nguyen,
Jacob Ohlhausen, Dillon Adams; Writer: Michael Rosa
Withdrawal: A difficult, yet indomitable father struggles to pull his twenty-year-old
daughter through the horrors of heroin withdrawal. In a fever hallucination, the young
woman recalls the loss of her mother and the consequent pain that drove her to her
debilitating drug dependence. Terrifying, yet immensely moving, Withdrawal lays bare the
fragile connections that exist between parent and child and the ferocious, ultimately
triumphant power of love. Producers/Directors: Vijay Rajan and Oscar Arguello, Jr.;
Writer: Vijay Rajan
Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett in concert: Underscoring the timeless magic of great music
and great artists, the Escape format will pull you intimately into this spellbinding
collaboration between Lady Gaga and legendary Tony Bennett; a bountiful feast, for the
eyes, and the ears.
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Canteen: In a post-apocalyptic world, where water is scarce, a woman embarks on a
perilous journey to deliver the remainder of her supply to her far away sister. The parched
landscape and ever-present dangers put her steely resolve to the ultimate test.
Producers/Directors: Kourosh Ahari, Stephen Nguyen, Stephen Alvin, Lisa Laymon, Eric
Anderson and AC Sico
Burning Man: Each year, in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, thousands assemble for one of
the world’s most astonishing communities of public art and radical self-expression. For
past Burning Man attendees and for those who’ve never been, the Escape format draws
you into this bizarre, fiercely independent event, creating an experience intensely
immediate and delightfully overwhelming.
The Maze Runner--Inside and Out: Experience the hit film The Maze Runner from a wildly
different perspective, with added Escape format footage. Afterward, explore the inner
workings and inherent opportunities Escape Format presents for both artists and
audiences.
HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE FILM COMPETITIONS
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Cinequest is committed to building the world’s largest festival exhibition of student films.
Engage with Stage One, the debut of CQFF 25’s High School and College Film
Competitions. Experience the voice and vision of tomorrow, with films that are moving and
entertaining, prefacing a bright future for both filmmakers and audiences.
Future of Film—High School Film Competition. Saturday, February 28 1:00 P.M.; Saturday,
March 7 11:00 A.M. Discover what today’s young visionaries are saying in this eclectic
collection of tremendously imaginative and poignant high school student films. Emerging
from a youthful, vibrant spirit, fueled by an unbridled energy, these shorts offer unique,
dagger-sharp points of view. Taking on complex, universal themes such as relationships,
morality, and duty, these exciting young filmmakers breathe new life into the art form,
bending the ancient story-telling tradition into a shape and perspective all their own.
Future of Film—College Film Competition. Thursday, March 5 10:00 P.M. | Friday, March 6
9:15 P.M. Technically savvy, bursting with ideas, these filmmakers represent the auteurs
of the future, pushing boundaries and turning story-telling and style conventions upside
down. This provocative collection delves deeply and thoughtfully into the human condition
and the world in which we live, exploring relationships, loneliness and isolation, selfdiscovery, our endangered environment, questionable gentrification, family dynamics, and
death.
MEET THE LUMINARIES FORUMS
The College and High School Competition filmmakers will join Cinequest professional artists and
innovators for spirited, informative forums on leading-edge elements to movie and television
technology, funding, production, and distribution. The moderated forums will explore today’s best
filmmaking practices, while also looking forward to exciting developments lying just beyond the
horizon. Forum line-ups will be announced February 14 at www.cinequest.org.
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.
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