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    Cinequest - San Jose Film Festival

    March 7, 2008

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    Day of the Writer - These not-to-miss presentations from industry leaders expose filmmakers and film fans to the people and technologies that aid the creation and delivery of Maverick, independent and international cinema. As Chris Gore, author of The Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide has stated: “This festival is one that sets the trends and is actually ahead of the trends. Other festivals are copying Cinequest; I see it all the time…You find the future of film at Cinequest.” Empower yourself via exposure to cutting-edge technologies as well as insight and how-to knowledge from leading film professionals. Cinequest is able to bring film makers, students and lovers of film these groundbreaking forums at such affordable prices due to the generosity of its forum sponsors: Intel, Panasonic, Canon, Avid, AlwaysOn and the San Jose Mercury News.

    • Part I, Option A: Prepare to Succeed: The Right Idea for the Right Writer - Cinequest favorite and San Jose State University professor Scott Sublett returns to entertain and inform. Sublett’s inspiring lecture will ease you through the all-important first step of screenwriting: selecting your material and shaping it into a sharp idea that will write quickly and easily. Aimed at beginners but utterly relevant to advanced writers, too, Sublett’s methods make the whole process easier, whether you’re indie or Hollywood. Prof. Scott Sublett (MFA UCLA) heads the screenwriting program at San Jose State University. He has written and directed two feature films: the first, “Generic Thriller,” will be distributed by Cinequest later this year. The second, an animated satire entitled “We Bombed in Baghdad,” is about the run-up to the war in Iraq and will debut this spring. His feature screenplay “I Was a Teenage Sumo” was optioned by Disney, and his musical play “Die, Die Diana” was presented at the New York Fringe Festival in 2004.
    • Part I, Option B: Fargo’s Foreplay: Emotional Rhythm in Screenwriting - Engaging emotional rhythm is the raison d’etre of traditional screenwriting elements. Using clips from the Coen brothers’ Academy Award® winning masterpiece, Fargo, Mr. Phelps will teach writers to look beneath the surface structure of screenplays in order to pinpoint and create emotional rhythms that not only whet but satiate viewer appetites from start to finish. After this innovative lecture, you will have producers and directors begging you for more screenplays. Robert G. Phelps is an attorney with the Santa Clara County Public Defender Office. He is a screenwriter and lecturer who has written for ScreenTalk Magazine. As a feature writer, he has covered skysurfing for Parachutist Magazine and the San Jose SaberCats for CNN/Sports Illustrated and the San Jose Mercury News. At Cinequest, he created the Day of the Writer.
    • Part II, Option C: Structure, Structure, Structure - Barnaby Dallas’s powerful presentation will take you and your idea through the outlining phase, supported by conflict, linearity, and the simplest, clearest explanation of three-act structure you’ve ever heard. Whatever your personal style, solid plotting gives your story muscle and meaning, and doing it in advance prevents blocks. Barnaby Dallas is Director of Film Production for Spartan Film Studios. He teaches screenwriting at DreamWorks Animation and is a screenwriting instructor and produces film and theater for San Jose State University’s Department of Television, Radio, Film and Theatre.
    • Part II, Option D: Great Movie Scenes - “I could have been a contender.” We have all seen them and quoted them repeatedly. What makes a great scene, an indelible moment? What is often lost in the impact of these memorable moments is how these scenes affect the entire movie, lifting the film to almost mythic proportions. Showing film clips from some of the finest movies ever made, screenwriter and filmmaker James Dalessandro expands on last year’s film clips for Breaking the Rules and brings us back in touch with our favorite film adventures with a fun and informative 90 minutes. James Dalessandro is a regular contributor to the Day of the Writer. He is the author of the best selling novel, 1906, and screenwriter of the Warner Brothers epic of the same name, now in production. In his 25-year WGA career, he has sold more than 20 feature films and currently has three screenplays in pre-production, including The Italian Girl, which he will produce, and San Joaquin, which he is directing. His documentary, The Damnedest, Finest Ruins, won four film awards in 2006 and 2007.
    • PART III: Cinequest Maverick Spirit Event – A Conversation with Academy Award® Winner Michael Arndt - “I wrote Little Miss Sunshine when I was unemployed, living in a small, one-bedroom walk-up in Brooklyn and slowly burning through my hard-earned savings. I had quit my job and given myself a year off, hoping to write a salable script in that time. It was the financial equivalent of jumping off a cliff and trying to build an airplane on the way down. I had never made a dime from creative writing. I had no credits, no agent, no publishing history. I was—in every external—a complete and total loser…. What I did have, though, was an enormous sense of happiness and purpose…(finally, I could write full-time!) and boundless, delusional self-confidence.”—Michael Arndt, Academy Award® Winner Best Original Screenplay (2006) Little Miss Sunshine. From the forward of Little Miss Sunshine: The Shooting Script Cinequest is proud to invite you to share Michael Arndt’s inspirational creative journey and his insights on screenwriting. Moderated by the dynamic bestselling author, screenwriter, and UCLA professor Richard Walter.
    • Cinequest 18 Screenwriting Competition - Cinequest 17 Screenwriting Competition received submissions from hundreds of screenwriters. Ten finalists have been choosen. Finalists will have their scripts read by an outstanding jury.

    Mardik: From Baghdad to Hollywood - In the maw of the Hollywood machine, it can be a quick and precipitous fall from being yesterday’s darling to today’s ignored and unemployable pariah. Mardik Martin had it all: beautiful women, a big house in the Hollywood Hills, a good friend and colleague in Martin Scorsese and a résumé which included screenwriting credits for Mean Streets, Raging Bull and New York, New York. But for the wunderkind who immigrated to New York City from Iraq, success, and the fame and money it brought, not to mention a self-destructive drug habit, sent his career into a seemingly bottomless downward spiral...
    Glory Boy Days - The pain and ecstasy of being young glow like ember in Glory Boy Days, one of the most extraordinary debuts at Cinequest. On the day he turns twenty-one, Lando takes stock of his life so far and looks ahead at what the future holds for him. He may be worried about going to college and standing up to his stepfather, but to his friends finding a good party is the concern of the day...
    On the Doll - “Show me on the doll where he touched you....” A bullet careens through the air in search of its target, but all of the lives it passes will be affected in some way. Two high school girls play a game with the man in the car who watches them. A patient is bludgeoned in a hospital room. A prostitute seeks something else and takes out her own ad in the paper.

    • Ticket Info

      Tickets: Presentation: $10-$15
      Films: $5-$10
      Festival passes also available

      Info Phone: 408-295-FEST

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    • Dates & Times

      Dates:
      March 7, 2008

      Times:
      9:30am: Day of the Writer
      4:30pm: Mardik: From Baghdad to Hollywood
      7pm: Glory Boy Days
      9:30pm: On the Doll

    • Venue Info

      San Jose Repertory Theatre

      101 Paseo de San Antonio San Jose, CA 95113-2603

      Full map and directions

    • Accessibility Info
      • Wheelchair Access

    • NOTE: We do our best to ensure all information is accurate, however it's a good idea to visit the website or call the venue to verify the information.

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