March 5, 2009

San Jose’s Film Festival gets high ratings

By Cheryl Ryan
Special to the Times

Just days after Hollywood’s celebrated Academy Awards ceremony, Cinequest Film Festival 19 took center stage in San Jose’s downtown theatres. From more than 2,000 film submissions, 188 short and full feature films are being highlighted through March 8.

Matt Sobel’s film “X to Y” depicts unborn children residing in the future. These Pre-births, as they’re called, select and try to direct their future mother’s and father’s destiny by bringing them together to facilitate their own birth. Some Pre-births have better luck at this than others.

Representing 15 percent of box office sales in 2005, films like “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Juno” and this year’s runaway hit “Slum-dog Millionaire” reflect independent, or Indie, films increasing popularity and creative range. And this year, a former Almaden resident is up for a top award.

Matt Sobel has already completed four serious film projects. He was 12 when his first film “Get Reel” won the Bay Area National Children’s Film Festival Award. Now at 22, his film “X to Y” is up for best short Jury and Audience Award at this year’s Cinequest.

Sobel was born in San Jose and attended Bret Harte Middle School. He graduated from Bellarmine College Preparatory high school in 2005 and is scheduled to graduate, with a degree in Fine Art, from UCLA this year. When asked why he started making films he said, “I loved Jurassic Park so much I wanted to be Speilberg.”

While at Bret Harte he began writing “The Cutting Room Floor.” During high school, he enlisted teachers and fellow students as cast and crew and began filming around Almaden and San Jose on weekends. He went on to write and film “Three to Five Pages,” another Cinequest entry, before leaving Bellarmine.

His new project is different than anything he’s done. Sobel raised enough money to hire a film crew and shoot on location in the White Sands desert of New Mexico. He hired actors and a cinematographer. Sobel did all his own editing and after two years work “X to Y” has been accepted at Cinequest. The story depicts unborn children residing in the future. These Pre-births, as they’re called, select and try to direct their future mother’s and father’s destiny by bringing them together to facilitate their own birth. Some Pre-births have better luck at this than others.

“X to Y‘s world premiere is March 6 at 7 p.m. and March 7 at 1:45 p.m. (see ticket info). When asked why Sobel makes films he says, “I love storytelling and I love visual arts. Film-making is the perfect meeting place for the two”.

In the top 10
Cinequest, named in the top-10 of the world’s 2,000 festivals by “The Ultimate Guide to Film Festivals,” has long been promoting the movement. It celebrates maverick movie making through empowering film artists, innovators and students to create and showcase new technology from a personal and global perspective. Oprah Winfrey has featured Cinequest documentaries like “Awful Normal” and “Accidental Hero” on her show.

Besides “X to Y,” this year’s highlights include a closing night film and party, presentations by Louis Gossett Jr. and Kevin Pollak, a feature film “How to Be” starring Robert Pattinson of Twilight fame, Film and Innovation Forums and Day of The Writer (an all day $20 event featuring Diablo Cody, the Oscar winning screenwriter of “Juno”).

This year’s theme is TRANSFORM. Jessica Trainor, head publicist for Cinequest says, “Each submitted film goes before a committee and receives a rating of 1 to 10 and must fall into one of our six transforming categories, love, humor, provocation, inspiration, celebration and innovation. Those with the highest rating are selected for the festival.” Once selected, entrants hope to be the 1 to 2 percent that will get picked-up for national distribution.

Indie films are made independent of major studios’ money and creative restrictions. Film festivals have become an important way for Indie studios to judge audience reaction, as an indicator for a film’s potential. Ticket prices start at $5 for students and $10 for general admission. Films are shown at Camera 12, the newly renovated California Theatre on First Street, and San Jose Repertory Theatre on Paseo de San Antonio. Go to www.cinequest.org for more ticket information and movie schedules.

Director and co-founder Halfdon Hussey has built Cinequest Distribution into a leader in the distribution of maverick pictures. Films and documentaries, that might otherwise lose momentum or be impossible to find after a festival ends, are now available through major retailers like Blockbuster, Netflix, Borders and other digital media outlets such as itunes.

As large volumes of inexpensive film equipment have become available, festivals provide young filmmakers opportunities to showcase their work. Along with film submissions, top Hollywood development executives and independent producers read scripts submitted to the screenwriting competition. Cinequest also offers mentoring and interactive camps for students during the festival.