Cinequest wrap-up

[jfb]

Some final thoughts, great and small, about the festival.

• I just have to start by stating the obvious: I love Cinequest. I love seeing dozens of movies in concentrated doses. I love seeing movies before most people will see them, and seeing movies most people will never have a chance to see (even when they're bad). I love meeting filmmakers, renowned and unknown, and hearing them talk passionately about what they do (even when they're wrong). Most of all I just love spending most of ten days surrounded by people who love movies.
  
• And I love downtown San Jose. Cinequest, along with the San Jose Jazz Festival, was one of the events that brought me to this conclusion soon after I moved to the area. I love the streets and the museums and the restaurants and the light rail and the public library and the nightclubs I'd never get into and the cafes and the theaters and just being there. This affection is constant but Cinequest brings it into focus.
  
• Yesterday I asked Halfdan, the director of the festival, how this year was going, and he gave me what I suspect was a well-trodden but sincere answer: The attendance numbers are up, which is great, but even more important, the feedback he's been getting is that the quality is up: Better movies, fewer glitches than ever before. He asked how the festival was going for me, and all I could say was "I concur." This is my fifth Cinequest, and every year it's been the best one yet.
  
• Also, I think I have a crush on the director of operations.
  
• A few stray thoughts about the movies:
  
  
  
  • This week I saw a lot of funeral scenes. As a result, I have now thought out carefully what I would like done with my mortal remains. I hope not to think about that again for a while.
    
  • Several otherwise good films were marred by mediocre scores--especially the ones with too many synthesizers. I understand how useful synths are to a low-budget production, and I'm not saying I could do better, but I'm thinking again that I'd like to try sometime. Not sure how to go about that.
    
  • There is a contingent of the motion picture audience that regards as a provocation to laughter any appearance of a bong on the screen. I am not among their number. There appears to be no equivalent fan club for heroin needles.
    
  
  
• Finally, I'm thinking I would like to volunteer for the festival again next year. I've done data entry for them in the past, and helped out at the filmmaker check-in desk one year without committing to a firm schedule. (I was working at the time, and seeing movies, so I just dropped by the hospitality lounge whenever I had some time free.) But if I have time available next winter I'd like to make a real time commitment. Because: I love Cinequest.
  

Now, back to real life.