The great CineVegas Film Festival, coming off its strongest year, has announced it will go on hiatus for 2010.
“Given the current economic climate and the pressures it has created, we made the difficult decision to put CineVegas on hiatus for the coming year. CineVegas has become such a well respected film festival, and rather than allow the economy to affect its level of quality we have opted to put the event on hold,” said Robin Greenspun, Festival President.
“We are so proud that CineVegas has grown to become a premiere showcase for uninhibited filmmakers and a scintillating festival experience for our attendees. CineVegas has developed a growing legion of supporters over the years who truly appreciate film and life on the edge, and we thank them for all of their support. We are very sad to be announcing this hiatus, but it is our hope to keep the CineVegas brand alive and re-launch the Festival once the economy recovers,” said Trevor Groth, Artistic Director.
San Francisco Film Society exec director Graham Leggat announced this morning that Rachel Rosen will be the fest’s new Director of Programming.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Rachel back to a leadership role in the organization after her extraordinarily successful tenure in Los Angeles,” said Leggat. “Her intelligence, flair for innovation and keen eye for exciting new work are just what we need as we enter our next phase.”
Rosen will leave her eight-year gig as director of programming for FIND‘s Los Angeles Film Festival, which recently wrapped up one of its best years. She was the associate director of programming for the San Fran Film Society before joining FIND.
Rosen steps in for former SFIFF programmer Linda Blackaby, who left August 7.
You know Comic-Con has turned a corner when a vendor hawks cologne for geeks. The box for this Star Trek-inspired perfume called Red Shirt reads: “Because tomorrow may never come.”
The Comic-Con volunteer working the registration desk has seen most every character in the universe pick up their badge, from the Green Lantern to Alice in Wonderland. “But it was the girl in the French maid outfit carrying an Uzi had me scratching my head,” she says. “Bless her, but her generous body just wasn’t built for that get-up.” Yet that is Comic-Con—a celebration of secret joys made public. And while its geek growth has made it a target of Letterman and Leno, genre lovers come here to be loved no matter how they look.
A big winner out of Filmmaker Mag‘s 2009 list of 25 New Faces of Indie Film is CineVegas. Three of the twenty-five filmmakers premiered their pic at this year’s event—Frankie Latina (“Modus Operandi”), Jeff Mizushima (“Etienne!”—pictured above), and Asiel Norton (“Redland”).
I’d even add a 26th from the CineVegas lineup—Kyle Patrick Alvarez, whose assured drama, “Easier with Practice,” (below) won the fest’s top award. Check out Cinematical’s review.
“Let me irrigate your barren earth with fresh cream.”
Austin’s Fantastic Fest will open with Jared Hess‘s new Fox Searchlight comedy “Gentlemen Broncos”
Benjamin (Michael Angarano), home-schooled by his eccentric mother (Jennifer Coolidge), is a lovable loner whose passion for writing leads him on an offbeat and hilarious journey as his story first gets ripped off by the legendary fantasy novelist, Ronald Chevalier (Jemaine Clement) and then is adapted into a disastrous movie by the small town’s most prolific homespun filmmaker.
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