Cinequest Film Festival 17 closed last Sunday night with the Vietnamese film Owl and the Sparrow in the capital of the Silicon Valley after 12 days of showcasing 160 films. Over 40 features and over 40 shorts were World, North American or United States premieres. Several hundred filmmakers and a collection of distributors came in from around the globe, and over 70,000 film fans were in attendance. This year’s festival broke attendance records and was about true discovery, empowerment through k...

Globally unique in its concept, the seventeenth edition of the Cinequest Film Festival presents an event that goes beyond the traditional concept of “film festival," providing the world of independent and foreign filmmakers, technology innovators, students and film lovers with a revolution of discovery, empowerment and distribution. Cinequest Film Festival is not only a platform to premiere films and celebrate talent, but Cinequest Distribution is a viable option to reach a worldwide audi...

A very different film festival took place in Los Angeles last night with cinema buffs huddled around cell phones rather than gazing up at the big screen to view and vote for their favorite short movie. More than 200 attendees cast their votes in real time via text messaging powered by Mozes.com to select the $3,000 Jury Prize winning film – a 90 second comedy entitled “Pumpkin” by Matt Paige of Sante Fe, New Mexico. An alum of the College of Sante Fe where he’s now an adjunct professor t...