With all the excitement that visitors expect from Sin City, the ninth annual CineVegas Film Festival returns to the Palms Casino Resort and the Brenden Theatres from June 6-16. This year’s festival, which opens with Steven Soderbergh’s latest tango with the incomparable city of Las Vegas, “Ocean’s Thirteen,” offers a breadth of world and U.S. premieres, advance screenings of high-profile films, the best new independent films seeking distribution, and a Mexican cinema sidebar continuing the festival’s tradition of discovering emerging talent and taking chances in showcasing challenging but innovative work.
“Opening with such a classically ‘Vegas’ film as “Ocean’s Thirteen” and closing with a comedy about an alcoholic hit-man, “You Kill Me,” is the perfect way to bookend this year’s festival which is comprised of films which share the same outlaw and risk-taking spirit that has made the city and the festival what it is today,” said Artistic Director Trevor Groth. “CineVegas is a celebration of artists who lay it all on the line, who aren’t afraid to shatter conventions and defy expectation. From our world premieres of American independents and new Mexican films, which both consist of brave works by predominantly first and second-time filmmakers, the festival is a goldmine of talent waiting to be discovered.”
The CineVegas 2007 lineup includes:
JACKPOT PREMIERES
A collection of highly anticipated U.S. and world premieres.
All God’s Children Can Dance
World Premiere
Director: Robert Logevall (USA, 2007)
Based on Haruki Murakami’s short story, the film tells the story of Kengo, a teenager living in Los Angeles’ Koreatown, whose fervently religious mother insists that he is the son of God.
Careless
World Premiere
Director: Peter Spears (USA, 2007)
A simple story of boy meets girl’s finger.
Choose Connor
World Premiere
Director: Luke Eberl (USA, 2007)
Fifteen-year-old Owen Norris gets his dream job as the youth campaign spokesman for a Senatorial candidate, but soon learns about the dark side of politics.
The Fifth Patient
World Premiere
Director: Amir Mann (USA, 2007)
An American wakes up in a hospital in Africa with no memory of who he is or how he got there, he must figure out his true identity before the local regime executes him for espionage.
Have Love, Will Travel
World Premiere
Director: Dan Peterson (USA, 2007)
A journey into the underground world of private dancing, as seen through the eyes of a new dancer and her new driver-bodyguard.
The Living Wake
World Premiere
Director: Sol Tryon (USA, 2007)
A dark comedy set in a storybook universe, The Living Wake chronicles the final day of K. Roth Binew, a quixotic character, who attempts to probe life’s great mysteries before his final hour.
LOOK
World Premiere
Director: Adam Rifkin (USA, 2007)
Shot entirely from the point of view of the hundreds of surveillance cameras we live under everyday, LOOK is a film about the things people do when they don’t know they’re being watched.
Loren Cass
U.S. Premiere
Director: Chris Fuller (USA, 2006)
Adolescents come to terms with their lives after the rebellions of 1996 St. Petersburg.
Throwing Stars
World Premiere
Director: Todd Breau (USA, 2007)
The bond between four childhood friends is tested when they have to cover up a murder.
LA PRÓXIMA OLA
Highlighting the next wave of Mexican films and directors.
Bad Habits (Malos Hábitos)
U.S. Premiere
Director: Simón Bross (Mexico, 2006)
Bad Habits is the story of three women whose eating habits determine and dominate their lives in extreme ways.
Chávez
Director: Diego Luna (Mexico, 2007)
A documentary about the life and career of Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez.
Drama/Mex
Director: Gerardo Naranjo (Mexico, 2006)
Drama/Mex juxtaposes a 50-year-old with the comings and goings of a group of youngsters and their preoccupations.
Once Upon a Time María (Eros una vez María)
U.S. Premiere
Director: Jesús Magaña Vázquez (Mexico, 2006)
Once Upon A Time María (Eros una vez María) is a story told based on the protagonist’s memory, an odyssey of erotic adventures fragmented into memories, experiences and fantasies.
DIAMOND DISCOVERIES
Previously premiered new films available for U.S. distribution
Blue State
Director: Marshall Lewy (USA/Canada, 2007)
John Logue (Breckin Meyer), a committed young activist working on the Kerry campaign, follows through on his promise to move to Canada after George “Dubya” Bush is re-elected.
California Dreamin’ (Nesfarsit)
U.S. Premiere
Director: Cristian Nemescu (Romania, 2007)
During the war in Kosovo in 1999, a NATO train transporting military equipment without official documents is stopped in a small Romanian village by the chief of the railway station, who happens to be the local gangster as well. Their arrival changes the place into the village of all opportunities.
Frownland
Director: Ronald Bronstein (USA, 2007)
Frownland is a seams-exposed comedy – a melee of a movie, really – about a door-to-door coupon salesman who eats popcorn & eggs off the folded-out door of his kitchen oven.
The Grand
Director: Zak Penn (USA, 2007)
A comedy set in the world of professional poker, The Grand tells the story of six poker players who make it to the final table of the world’s most famous high stakes tournament.
In the Land of Merry Misfits
Director: Keven Undergaro (USA, 2007)
A naive young man takes a wrong turn through a mystical tunnel and lands in a fable-like universe where he is forced to assist a whimsical group of misfits in their quest to capture “the Grail of Popularity.”
Kurt Cobain About a Son
Director: AJ Schnack (USA, 2006)
An intimate and moving meditation on the late musician and artist Kurt Cobain, based on more than 25 hours of previously unheard audio-taped interviews conducted with Cobain by noted music journalist Michael Azerrad for the book “Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana.”
On the Road with Judas
Director: JJ Lask (USA, 2006)
On the Road with Judas is a film based on a novel, written by a writer, played by actors, about the real characters and the actors playing those characters in this story. It is also about crime, love and David Lee Roth.
Tie a Yellow Ribbon
Director: Joy Dietrich (USA, 2007)
A rare view into the emotionally complex interior of Asian-American women, featuring a Korean adoptee who needs to come to terms with her damaged past.
SURE BETS
Advance screenings of high profile films with U.S. distribution.
Broken English
Director: Zoe Cassavetes (USA, 2007)
A young woman in her thirties finds herself surrounded by friends who are married, in relationships or with children. She unexpectedly meets a quirky Frenchman who opens her eyes to a lot more than love.
Eagle vs. Shark
Director: Taika Waititi (New Zealand, 2006)
The tale of two socially awkward misfits and the strange ways they try to find love; through revenge on high-school bullies, burgers, and video games.
Great World of Sound
Director: Craig Zobel (USA, 2006)
When a man answers an ad to train as a record producer, he’s excited by the prospect of signing undiscovered artists only to discover his new job isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone
Director: Tsai Ming-Liang (Taiwan/France/Austria, 2006)
In the moist and crowded streets of Kuala Lumpur, two men and two women and an old mattress lose their way in the haze but find one another…
Mr. Untouchable
World Premiere
Director: Marc Levin (USA, 2007)
The true-life story of a junkie turned multimillionaire drug-lord, Mr. Untouchable takes you deep inside the heroin game. With the first hand testimony of the black Godfather himself, Nicky Barnes, the most powerful black drug kingpin in New York City history, this is an epic story of business, excess, greed and revenge.
My Name Is Bruce
Director: Bruce Campbell (USA, work-in-progress)
Bruce leads a posse of dim-witted residents of Gold Lick, Oregon, in search of Guan-di, the Chinese god of War. Be afraid.
Penelope
U.S. Premiere
Director: Mark Palansky (USA, 2006)
Christina Ricci is a woman cursed with a pig snout in a modern romantic fairy tale about love and self-acceptance.
Rocket Science
Director: Jeffrey Blitz (USA, 2006)
A teenage boy with a horrific stuttering problem joins his high-school debate team in an ill-fated effort to win the girl of his dreams.
Sun Dogs
U.S. Premiere
Director: Andrea Stewart (USA/Canada, 2006)
A documentary following the Jamaican dogsled team at the 2006 U.K. championships in Scotland.
La Vie en Rose
Director: Olivier Dahan (France, 2006)
The life story of singer Edith Piaf.
You Kill Me (Closing Night Film)
Director: John Dahl (USA, 2006)
While drying out on the west coast, an alcoholic hit man (Ben Kingsley) befriends a tart-tongued woman (Téa Leoni) who might just come in handy when it’s time for him to return to Buffalo and settle some old scores.
MODERN CRUSADERS
A section of political documentaries.
The Devil Came On Horseback
Directors: Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg (USA, 2007)
At age 27, Brian Steidle became a monitor with the African Union in Darfur, Sudan. He was completely unprepared for what he would see.
I Have Never Forgotten You: The Life and Legacy of Simon Wiesenthal
Director: Richard Trank (USA, 2007)
A documentary on the Austrian-Jewish architectural engineer who became a Nazi hunter after surviving the Holocaust.
AREA 52
A bizarre underground collection of cult and midnight movies for the most hardcore fans.
Blue Velvet
Director: David Lynch (USA, 1986)
After finding a severed human ear in a field, a young man soon discovers a sinister underworld lying just beneath his idyllic suburban home town.
Garbanzo Gas
World Premiere
Director: Giuseppe Andrews (USA, 2006)
A surreal statement against animal abuse dedicated to PETA.
Phantom Love
Director: Nina Menkes (USA, 2007)
A surreal drama about a woman trapped within an enmeshed family.
A Vidjoe Rodeoe
Director: TV Sheriff and the Trailbuddies (live performance, USA, 2007)
A Los Angeles based wild-west videomusic mixing performance act and a delicious soup.
VIVA
Director: Anna Biller (USA, 2007)
A suburban housewife in 1972 goes out to find herself in the middle of the swinging Playboy-era sexual revolution, in a tribute to vintage sexploitation films.
SHORTS PROGRAM
These short films, combined to make feature-length programs, embody the truly creative nature of independent filmmaking.
Aftermath on Meadowlark Lane (Directors: The Zellner Brothers, 2007)
Avant Pétalos Grillados (Director: Velasco Broca, Spain, 2006)
BITCH (Director: Lilah Vandenburgh, 2006)
Bomb (Director: Ian Olds, 2006)
Business Johnson (Directors: Casper Frank and Talia Raine, 2007)
The Caress of the Creature (Director: Stewart McAlpine, 2006)
Cat Piss (Director: Giuseppe Andrews, 2007)
The Delaware Project (Directors: Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky, Canada, 2006)
DUNNY (Director: Phillip Van, 2006)
Equal Opportunity (Director: Howard Duy Vu, 2007)
Everything Will Be OK (Director: Don Hertzfeldt, 2006)
Feedback (Director: Jon Frechette, 2006)
Filthy Food (Director: T. Arthur Cottam, 2006)
Grammy’s (Director: Bryan Poyser, 2007)
His Eye Is on the Sparrow (Director: Bruce Conner, 2006)
Film Noir (Director: Osbert Parker, 2006)
How She Slept at Night (Director: Lilli Carre, 2007)
The Hunter (Director: Benjamin Gray, 2006)
Knock Knock (Director: Jack Ferry, 2007)
LOLA (Director: Matthew Ross, 2006)
Move Me (Director: Jonathan Pulley, 2006)
The New Math (Director: Michael Duffey, 2006)
Pillow Girl (Director: Ronnie Cramer, 2006)
Rabbit Stories (Director: Sean Conway, 2006)
The Rambler (Director: Calvin Reeder, 2007)
Room 10 (Directors: Jennifer Aniston and Andrea Buchanan, 2006)
Stutter (Director: Janice Ahn, 2006)
Year of the Dog (Director: Kevin Lau, 2007)
SHORTS PROGRAM/NEVADA FILMMAKING
Showcasing the best and newest work being made in Nevada.
13 Ways to Die at Home (Director: Lee Lanier, 2006)
The Bet (Director: Michael Dunn, 2007)
CondomNation (Directors: Bethany Bassler and Alberto Lombardo, 2005)
Danuta (Director: Christopher Ordaz, 2006)
Lowell Gleason Wears Glasses (Directors: Adam & Evan Nix, 2006)
The Mark (Director: Thomas Barndt, 2007)
My Wet Brother (Director: Jeremy Helal, 2007)
Recently Deceased (Director: Chris McInroy, 2006)
Sally Peppers: Neighborhood Detective (Director: Jason Leinwand, 2006)
Spanking Lessons (Director: David Schmoeller, 2006)
The festival will also feature a selection of student films from the CCSN, UNLV and Art Institute film programs.
