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11.19.09
ARTISTS AND AUDIENCES EMBRACED THE FIRST EVER
CINEMA ARTS FESTIVAL HOUSTON
Houston Cinema Arts Society produced nearly forty programs including feature films, documentaries, live music, outdoor projections, video installations & celebrity guest appearances
HOUSTON, TX – Tilda Swinton, Richard Linklater, Guillermo Arriaga, Susan Meiselas, Dengue Fever, Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men, Chip Lord and Curtis Schreier of Ant Farm, Jennifer Reeves and Holly Fisher are just a few of the artists who appeared in Houston for the 2009 Cinema Arts Festival Houston, which drew more than 4500 attendees and concluded on Sunday after five days of jam-packed cinematic multimedia events at cultural locales throughout Houston.
“This is my first time to Houston and I can tell you this – I will be back!” said Tilda Swinton during her visit to Houston to participate in Cinema Arts Festival Houston. “Houston, you are the best and I can’t think of a place that’s truly richer per square inch in not only art but art lovers.”
The only U.S. festival devoted to films by and about artists of all stripes, the 2009 Cinema Arts Festival Houston program involved collaboration among many of Houston’s extraordinary film and arts institutions, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The Menil Collection; the Houston Ballet; FotoFest; and many others. It was more than just a film festival; it was a vibrant multimedia arts event that broke out of the confines of the movie theater through live music and film performances, outdoor projections, interactive video installations and more.
“It was gratifying and exciting to see appreciative audiences at so many sites around town, including the Miller Outdoor Theater, where MacGregor Elementary school children accompanied a silent film with their own musical compositions; in Discovery Green, where Houston Ballet students danced beautifully before The Red Shoes filled the screen; at Warehouse Live, where audiences adored the magnificent score Dengue Fever created for The Lost World, and in the Alabama Theatre, where hundreds of people attended panels, visited H BOX and partied,” said Richard Herskowitz, Festival curator.
The Festival’s opening night kicked off with a star studded and paparazzi riddled red carpet event at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Walking the red carpet was Texas’ own maverick filmmaker Richard Linklater, a Houston native screening his latest theatrical release, Me and Orson Welles.
Other red carpet guests included fashion designer Chloe Dao; diplomat Joanne King Herring; Festival board chair Franci Crane; actor Todd Waite; race car driver Susan Krohn; Houston Arts Alliance CEO Jonathon Glus; former Astro Larry Dierker; Houston mayoral candidate Gene Locke; and many Festival guest filmmakers and partners.
The series “The Worlds of Tilda Swinton” celebrated the Academy Award winner’s many artistic achievements in producing, writing and acting, as well as her passionate commitment to the cinematic arts. The weekend culminated with “The Ballerina Cinema of Dreams,” a celebration at Discovery Green Park which featured a free outdoor screening of The Red Shoes and a performance by Houston Ballet II. Swinton introduce the film and then joined Festival goers on the lawn and enjoyed the film, one of her favorites, beneath a blanket of stars.
“This film is exactly the kind of film that we want to promote,” Swinton said of The Red Shoes. “It’s not necessary to go to a multiplex. It’s not necessary to be dependant on the great gods of Disney or Pixar. It is so necessary to know the width and the elastic luxury of cinema from a very early age because it will always hold us and always keep us company.”
While in Houston, Swinton toured the city and became a devotee of the local eatery, The Breakfast Klub. She returned on three separate occasions to The Menil Collection, which she found dazzling. Swinton attended two receptions hosted in her honor by local arts supporters Michael Zilkha and Lynn Wyatt. The receptions were held immediately before and after the sneak preview screening of her latest film, which drew two standing ovations from the capacity crowd.
Mexican author and screen writer Guillermo Arriaga, the extraordinary artist who wrote the trilogy of films Amores Perros, 21 Grams and Babel, introduced Amores Perros, the film that first brought him worldwide acclaim, and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones. Arriaga was very pleased to be reunited with the crew members, including line producer Eric Williams, who were in town for the screening and the Festival’s “Setting the Scene” workshop. Arriaga also treated Festival goers to a reading from his novels and a discussion about his approaches to writing across media and also gave a fascinating lecture on Mexican-American border relationships at Rice University’s James A. Baker Institute.
Filmmakers Laura Harrison and Beth Federici and legendary artists and Ant Farm founders Chip Lord and Curtis Schreier attended the special preview of What if, Why not? Underground Adventures with Ant Farm. Houston Mayor Bill White surprised the audience by introducing the film, made by a Houstonian director about an architecture and media collective with many ties to Houston. A massive Ant Farm-inspired inflatable structure created by University of Houston architecture students was displayed and admired by many.
Probably the best reviewed component of the 2009 Festival was the building that housed the Festival headquarters, the Alabama Theatre. Emptied of its bookshelves from its days as a local book store, the building’s magnificent art-deco architecture impressed the hundreds of visitors who came for the daily panels organized by the Southwest Alternate Media Project and to see the H BOX nomadic screening room housed there.
The building also hosted two late night parties. On Saturday night, 400 Festival volunteers, sponsors and friends danced to sounds and images mixed by Patrick Kwaitkowski and DJ Ceeplus Bad Knives. On the final night, Festival organizers threw a surprise birthday party for beloved guest filmmaker, Morgan Riles, splashing “Happy Birthday Morgan!” on the theatre marquee.
About Houston Cinema Arts Society and Cinema Arts Festival Houston
Houston Cinema Arts Society (HCAS) is a non-profit organization created in 2008 under the direction of a dedicated task force with the support of Houston Mayor Bill White and the leadership of Franci Crane to organize and host Cinema Arts Festival Houston, a ground-breaking and innovative film and multimedia arts festival featuring art by and about artists and celebrating the vitality and diversity of the arts in Houston and enriching the city’s film and arts community. HCAS is funded in part by grants from the Crane Foundation, City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance and the City of Houston Convention and Entertainment Facilities Department. Cinema Arts Festival Houston debuted in Houston November 11 – 15, 2009. For more information, visit www.cinemartsociety.org.
