Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival
The Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival is an annual independent film festival held each March in San Jose, California and Redwood City, California.[1] The international festival combines the cinematic arts with Silicon Valley’s innovation. It is produced by Cinequest, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization that is also responsible for Picture The Possibilities and the distribution label Cinequest Mavericks Studio LLC. Cinequest awards the annual Maverick Spirit Awards. In addition to over 130 world or U.S. premieres from over 30 countries, the festival hosts writer's events including screenwriting competitions, a shorts program, technology and artistic forums and workshops, student programs, and a silent film accompanied on the theatre organ. Founded in 1990 as the Cinequest Film Festival, the festival was rebranded in 2017 as the Cinequest Film & VR Festival and expanded beyond downtown San Jose to Redwood City. It took its present name in 2019.
Location
History[edit]
Filmmakers Halfdan Hussey and Kathleen Powell founded Cinequest in 1990. That year the festival showed 60 films in a single theater, the Camera 3 Cinemas in San Jose; 3,000 people attended. By 2013 there were 100,000 attendees.[2] In 2014 the festival showed 84 world premieres, by film makers in 43 countries, including one filmed using an iPhone.[3]
The festival expanded to ten days in 2000,[4] Cinequest Online was launched in 2004[5] and Cinequest Mavericks Studio in 2010.[6] and in 2017 changed its name to the Cinequest Film & VR Festival, to reflect the major role of Silicon Valley in developing virtual reality.[7] In 2019, the festival was rebranded as Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival and occurred March 5 – 17, 2019.[8] That year it held events at the California Theatre, Hammer Theatre Center, Camera 3 Cinemas, Redwood City Century Downtown 20, and Fairmont Hotel.[9][10][11]
In 2019, the festival was again renamed to the Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival in recognition of the many creative experiences presented each year including film, virtual and augmented realities, comedy, television, fashion, art and design, dance, and more.[12] The 30th-anniversary 2020 festival, scheduled for March 3 – 15, 2020 in San Jose and Redwood City, has Elation as its theme;[13][14] the second week was postponed to August because of the COVID-19 outbreak.[15]
Cinequest Film Festival has gained a reputation as a discovery event: Chris Gore's Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide recommends it as showing "the future of film".[2] USA Today readers voted Cinequest as the best Film Festival.[16]