CINEQUEST 2016 Highlights (Top 5): James Franco & More

CINEQUEST 2016 Highlights (Top 5): James Franco & More – Bigger and better than ever, the film festival, March 1-13, 2016, has something for everyone. It will unite 700 world leading artists and innovators with audiences (expected to top 100,000) in the Silicon Valley to experience the fusion of creativity and innovation—and to celebrate and reimagine storytelling via film and new technologies. Be sure to visit the Cinequest website to choose which new movies you’d like to see among the dozens of great films that will be shown. Cinequest has ticketing options for virtually any type of budget, with upgrades starting at $100, but here are the two most exciting festival pass options we found:

CINEQUEST emPOWER PACKAGE – $1500

• VIP Lounge Access
• Access to All VIP Soirees
• Opening Night Screening & Party
• Closing Night Screening & Party
• Maverick Event: Rita Moreno
• Maverick Event: Robert Hawk
• All Media Legacy Events
• Writers Celebration
• All Regular Film Screenings
• Silent Cinema Event
• All Encore Day Screenings

* James Franco Pre-Festival Event is not included. Event ticket required.

CINEQUEST 2016 HIGHLIGHTS

1) SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2016

STORYTELLING REIMAGINED CONCLAVE: PRE-FESTIVAL EVENT IN PALO ALTO (LIMITED $100 TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE)

Storytelling Reimagined Conclave: Global Leaders (representing diverse media, art, and technology fields) join Cinequest’s Leadership Council for an electrifying event around story-telling opportunities in new and exciting media. It used to be that story-telling was relegated to “the creatives.” Now filmed story-telling is a normal part of people’s lives from social media to executive communications. Further, new technologies, such as virtual reality, open new ways for audiences to experience stories and for artists to tell them. Conclave event will include a moderated conversation with a thrilling roundtable of leaders, video presentations, and a Maverick Spirit Award presentation to a futuristic and dynamic story-teller, James Franco. The Conclave will give leaders a chance to cross-pollinate and grow their ideas with a stunning group of thought influencers from different walks of life, forging inspiration, collaborations and opportunity for our future.

2) TUESDAY, MARCH 1st, 7:15PM

Opening Cinequest with a bang! Award-winning director Gavin Hood will present his captivating new thriller Eye in the Sky, starring Dame Helen Mirren (The Queen, Trumbo), Alan Rickman (Harry Potter, Die Hard), Iain Glen (Game of Thrones, Downton Abbey), Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips), and Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad)

3) FRIDAY, MARCH 4TH, 7:30PM

Maverick Spirit Event – Robert Hawk with screening of Film Hawk

4) SATURDAY, MARCH 5th, 7PM

Maverick Spirit – Rita Moreno with World Premiere screening of Remember Me

5) SUNDAY, MARCH 13th, 6PM

Cinequest Film Festival 2016 culminates with the United States Premiere of Simon Stone’s beautiful and haunting The Daughter, which boasts an incredible ensemble cast including Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush (Shine), Ewen Leslie (Sleeping Beauty), Paul Schneider (Lars and the Real Girl), Miranda Otto (The Lord of the Rings), Anna Torv (Fringe), Odessa Young (Wonderland), and Sam Neill (Jurassic Park).

NOTABLE PREMIERES AND STAR PERFORMANCES

Cinequest presents a superlative lineup of 129 World and U.S. premieres of which 64 have women directors. The full line-up includes:

• Helen Mirren (The Queen, Trumbo), Alan Rickman (Harry Potter, Die Hard), Iain Glen (Game of Thrones, Downton Abbey), Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips), and Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) in Eye in the Sky (Opening Night)
• Geoffrey Rush (Shine), Ewen Leslie (Sleeping Beauty), Paul Schneider (Lars and the Real Girl), Miranda Otto (The Lord of the Rings), Anna Torv (Fringe), Odessa Young (Wonderland), and Sam Neill (Jurassic Park) in The Daughter (Closing Night)
• Alyson Stoner (Step Up), Bill Engvall (The Bill Engvall Show) in Mr. Invincible
• Kevin Smith (Clerks), Edward Burns (The Brothers McMullen), Ira Sachs (Love Is Strange), and Rob Epstein (Howl) in Film Hawk
• Rita Moreno (West Side Story) in Remember Me
• Gordon Getty (Composer and Subject) in Gordon Getty: There Will Be Music
• Clea Duvall (Argo, American Horror Story) in Heaven’s Floor
• Emma Watson (Harry Potter, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower) and Daniel Bruhl (Inglourious Basterds, Rush) in Colonia
• Jason Ritter (Parenthood) in Embers
• Kiernan Shipka (Mad Men), Emma Roberts (American Horror Story), and Lucy Boynton (Miss Potter) in February
• Annette O’Toole (Smallville) and John Glover (The Good Wife) in We Go On
• Comedians Dana Carvey, Bob Saget, Paula Poundstone, Ellen DeGeneres, Bobcat Goldthwait, Bill Maher, and Robin Williams in The Comedy Club
• Sally Field (Forrest Gump), Max Greenfield (New Girl) and Michael Showalter (Wet Hot American Summer) in Hello, My Name Is Doris
• Daphne Zuniga (Spaceballs), Joely Fisher (Ellen), Michelle Hurd (90210), Natasha Gregson Wagner (Two Girls and a Guy), Nick Court (The Last Ship), Barry Watson (7^th Heaven), Jonathan Slavin (Better Off Ted), Devon Graye (Dexter), and singing legend Connie Stevens in Search Engines
• Grant Rosenmeyer (The Royal Tenenbaums) and Lindsey Shaw (Pretty Little Liars) in Temps
• Aly Michalka (iZombie), AJ Michalka (The Goldbergs), and Mimi Rogers (Austin Powers) in Weepah Way for Now
• James Franco (127 Hours), Ed Harris (Pollack), Amber Heard (The Danish Girl), Jim Parrack (True Blood), Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City), and Christian Slater (Mr. Robot) in The Adderall Diaries
• Matthew Modine (Full Metal Jacket, Fluke) producer on The Brainwashing of My Dad
• Penelope Cruz (Volver) in Ma Ma
• Christopher Walken (The Deer Hunter, Hairspray) and Amber Heard (The Danish Girl, Hidden Palms) in One More Time
• Terence Davies (The Deep Blue Sea, The House of Mirth) director of Sunset Song
• Briana Evigan (Step Up 2: The Streets), Tyler Blackburn (Pretty Little Liars), Emily Osment (Cyberbully), Kyla Kennedy (The Walking Dead), Ana Ortiz (Ugly Betty), Elisabeth Röhm (The Client List), and Jeremy Sisto (Suburgatory) in Love Is All You Need?
• Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski), Rachel McAdams (Spotlight), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Marion Cotillard (Inception), James Franco (127 Hours), Ricky Gervais (The Office), Paul Giamatti (Straight Outta Compton), Bud Cort (Pollack), Benicio Del Toro (Guardians of the Galaxy), and Albert Brooks (Finding Nemo) in The Little Prince
• Briana Evigan (Step Up 2: The Streets) and Kerry Norton (Battlestar Galactica) in ToY

For more on Cinequest’s story, watch This Is Cinequest video.

About Cinequest

A vanguard organization set in the Silicon Valley, Cinequest’s uniqueness and impact result from being ahead of the curve in the powerful integration of creativity and technology. Cinequest fuses the world of the filmed arts with that of Silicon Valley’s innovation to empower youth, artists, and innovators to create and connect – driving transformations and a better tomorrow. Cinequest does this through Cinequest Film Festival, Picture The Possibilities, and its sister company Cinequest Mavericks Studio. (Voted Best Film Festival by USA Today Readers.)

CQFF Partners: Applied Materials (NYSE: AMAT), City of San Jose, Barco (EBR:BAR), Kaiser Permanente, Harmonic (NYSE: HLIT), Synaptics (NYSE: SYNA), Canon (NYSE: CAJ), Panasonic (OTCMKTS:PCRFY), Cisco (NYSE: CSCO), Dolby (NYSE: DLB), Stella Artois (NYSE: AHBIF), Tito’s Handmade Vodka, , Google (NYSE: GOOG), SIMEON Property Group, Inc. (NYSE: SPG), Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ESS), Atomos, Macy’s (NYSE: M), Hint Water, PayPal (NYSE: PYPL), Sonic.net, Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA), Seagate (NYSE: STX), VTA, Agile Ticketing Solutions, NBC Bay Area, Metro, 94.5 KBAY, Mix 106.5, Fairmont San Jose (NYSE: FHR), Hyatt Place San Jose (NYSE: H), Hilton San Jose (NYSE: HLT), Marriott San Jose (NYSE: MAR), Hotel De Anza, Camera 12 Cinemas, and San Jose State University.

Picture The Possibilities Partners: Kaiser Permanente, The Hearst Foundations, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The David & Lucile Packard Foundation, Morrison & Foerster Foundation, Capital Group, Hewlett Packard Workstations (NYSE: HPQ), Brett Company, AT&T (T) Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), Google (NYSE: GOOG), Liquid Agency, Seagate (NYSE: STX), Litepanels, Cisco (NYSC: CSCO), AudioTechnica, Media Center, Adobe (NYSE: ADBE), Eddie Lira, GlideCam, Atomos, CreaTV, Rhino Camera Gear, Manfrotto, Red Giant (NYSE: REDG)