Cinequest Film Festival

{{unreferenced|date=January 2011}} The '''Cinequest Film Festival''' is an annual [[independent film|independent]] [[film festival]] held in [[San Jose, California]]. The festival highlights the work of new film makers. Cinequest, a nonprofit 501(c)3 institute, produces the Cinequest Film Festival, Cinequest Distribution Label, and Cinequest Mentoring & Education Programs. Cinequest serves Maverick film artists, movie lovers and students. Each year, the festival awards its "Maverick Spirit Award" to honorees selected by the festival's organizers. ==History== Cinequest was founded in 1990 by filmmakers [[Halfdan Hussey]] and [[Kathleen Powell]]. The scheduled guest of honor that year was [[Jon Jost]] (director of ''[[All the Vermeers in New York]]''), but he failed to appear. The festival occupied a single theater (the Camera 3 Theatre in San Jose) and showed 60 films during this debut event. In subsequent years, the festival has grown to an eleven-day event showing over 150 films and attracting over 80,000 attendees. ===Maverick Spirit Awards=== The Maverick Spirit Award has honored the following artists over the years: {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year !! Honoree |- | 1990 || [[Jon Jost]] |- | 1992 || [[Lena Stolze]] |- | 1993 || [[Paul Bartel]]
[[Carl Franklin]] |- | 1994 || [[Russ Meyer]]
[[Werner Herzog]]
[[John Waters (filmmaker)|John Waters]] |- | 1996 || [[Luis Valdez]] |- | 1997 || [[Jennifer Jason Leigh]] |- | 1998 || [[Kevin Spacey]]
[[Elmer Bernstein]]
[[Jackie Chan]]
[[Walter Murch]]
[[John Schlesinger]]
[[Barry Sonnenfeld]] |- | 1999 || [[Gabriel Byrne]]
[[Rod Steiger]] |- | 2000 || [[Robert M. Young (film director)|Robert M. Young]]
[[Dario Argento]]
[[Alec Baldwin]]
[[Wes Craven]]
[[Peter Fonda]] |- | 2001 || [[Mia Trachinger]] |- | 2002 || [[Lalo Schifrin]]
[[David Strathairn]]
[[Lili Taylor]]
[[Ian McKellen]] |- | 2003 || [[Ralph Bakshi]]
[[Stephen Frears]]
[[Lupe Ontiveros]]
[[William H. Macy]]
[[Val Kilmer]]
[[James Woods]] |- | 2004 || [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]]
[[Kurt Miller]] |- | 2005 || [[Blanchard Ryan]]
[[Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah]]
[[Ben Kingsley]]
[[Jon Polito]] |- | 2006 || [[Edward James Olmos]] |- | 2007 || [[Stewart Copeland]]
[[Minnie Driver]]
[[Christine Vachon]]
[[J.J. Abrams]]
[[Christopher McQuarrie]] |- | 2008 || [[Kevin Pollak]]
[[Louis Gossett Jr.]]
[[Diablo Cody]] |} ==Notable debuts== Independent films that premiered at Cinequest that went on to further distribution by a major [[movie studio]]: {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year !! Films |- | 2001 || ''[[Maze]]''
''[[The Adventures of Barry Ween]]'' |- | 2002 || ''[[Blue Car]]'' |- | 2003 || ''[[Hukkle]]''
''[[Robot Stories]]''
''[[Suckers (film)|Suckers]]{{Disambiguation needed|date=June 2011}}''
''[[Spellbound (documentary)|Spellbound]]'' |- | 2004 || ''[[I.P.O.]]''
''[[The Agronomist]]''
''[[The Praying Mantis]]''
''[[One Man Show]]''
''[[The Story of the Weeping Camel]]''
''[[Imelda (film)|Imelda]]'' |- | 2005 || ''[[Accordion Tribe]]''
''[[The Civilization of Maxwell Bright]]'' |- | 2006 || ''[[Edmond (film)|Edmond]]''
''[[Water (2005 film)|Water]]''
''[[Thank You for Smoking (film)|Thank You for Smoking]]'' |- | 2007 || ''[[The Namesake]]''
''[[A Dog's Breakfast]]''
''[[Sublime (film)|Sublime]]'' |- | 2008 || ''[[Sherman's Way]]''
''[[The Village Barbershop]]''
''[[The Sinking of Santa Isabel]]'' |- | 2009 || ''[[All About Dad]]''
''[[Billy Was a Deaf Kid]]''
''[[Blue Road]]''
''[[Heart of Stone (2009 film)|Heart of Stone]]''
''[[Historias Extraordinarias]]''
''[[The Nature of Existence]]''
''[[Rocaterrania]]''
''[[Wake]]'' |- | 2010 || ''[[Anyone You Want]]''
''[[Cost of a Soul]]''
''[[The Desert of Forbidden Art]]''
''[[Gabi on the Roof in July]]''
''[[Hell is Other People]]''
''[[Kill the Habit]]''
''[[Krews]]''
''[[Peepers]]''
''[[Professor]]''
''[[The Real Revolutionaries]]''
''[[Tercer Mundo]]''
''[[To Whom It May Concern: Ka Shen's Journey]]'' |} ==Oscar Nominees== Several short films shown at Cinequest have received nominations for [[Academy Awards]]. In recent years, these have included {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year !! Films |- | 2004 || ''(A) Torzija'' |- | 2005 || ''[[Ryan (film)|Ryan]]''
''Little Terrorist'' |- | 2006 || ''[[Cashback (film)|Cashback]]''
''[[9 (2005 film)|9]]''
''[[The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello]]''
''[[Our Time is Up]]'' |} ==External links== *[http://www.cinequest.org Official site] {{San Jose and Silicon Valley attractions}} {{coord missing|Santa Clara County, California}}