After last year’s Cinequest Film and Creativity Festival was cut short by the pandemic, organizers made the inevitable move to a virtual format this year. The Cinejoy Showcase lineup features more than 150 movies from more than 50 countries.
The online festival opens March 20 with the first of 12 live Spotlight events, when actor Gabriel Byrne will introduce his film, “Death of a Ladies Man,” in which he plays a man with a brain tumor that causes hallucinations, many of which are set to the music of Leonard Cohen.
While the Spotlight events have definite start times, films in the Showcase can be screened on demand through March 30. To help create the camaraderie that is part of the live Cinequest experience, festival organizers are asking film fans to host or attend Cinejoy Screening Parties online. Some parties will be hosted by the filmmakers.
Here’s a look at some of the festival’s feature films and documentaries.
Feature films
“A Beautiful Curse” embraces several elements Cinequest films are known for: The quirky take on “Sleeping Beauty” was written and directed by Danish film director Martin Garde Abidgdaard, who shot the film on a remote island in Denmark with a cast of British actors. In Abidgdaard’s first feature, a photographer (Mark Strepan) sneaks onto an island where everyone has sleeping sickness to find the girl (Olivia Vinall) he’s in love with.
“Beans” chronicles the 78-day standoff between two Mohawk communities and government forces in 1990 in Quebec, and the struggle of 12-year-old Beans, who is forced to grow up fast to become the tough Mohawk warrior she needs to be during the uprising.
“Demon,” a comic thriller from London-based production company Zersetzung, features Ryan Walker-Edwards as Ralph, an office worker who hides out in a roadside motel to duck an unpaid train fine. His temporary hideout becomes a nightmarish purgatory, and emerging ghosts of the past force him to confront the loss of his father. Director and co-writer George Louis Barlett filmed his debut feature in beautiful black and white.
“Echoes of Violence,” director Nicholas Woods’ second feature, is the story of an immigrant who travels from Sedona to Los Angeles to seek revenge against the immigration lawyer who ruined her life. The film is making its world premiere at Cinequest; the cast includes Sam Anderson of “Lost” and Frank Oz, voice of Yoda, Miss Piggy and other Muppets.
“My True Fairytale” follows Angie Goodwin (Emma Kennedy), a 17-year-old who vanishes after a horrific accident in the close-knit town of Gardenland, FL. As the police, her family, and friends search for her, she embarks on her own mysterious journey to “save the world” and fulfill her childhood fantasy of becoming. a superhero. Writer/director D.Mitry wrote the script for his debut feature after his young daughter died in a car accident.
“Range Roads,” a world premiere film from Canada, will be live-streamed on the Cinequest platform on March 27 at 5 p.m. Directed by Kyle Thomas, Range Roads stars Alana Hawley Purvis as television actor Frankie King, who returns to her hometown in rural Alberta after being estranged from her family for 20 years to deal with the sudden death of her parents.
“Triple Threat,” from writer/director/actor Stacey Maltin, follows three longtime friends whose shared vision for Broadway success is jeopardized as they each decide on their own paths after college. The film features original music by Elizabeth Phillipson-Weiner.
Documentaries
“The Boys in Red Hats” examines how 17-year-old Nick Sandmann became “the mocking face of white supremacy” after his face-to-face encounter with a Native American elder on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during a pro-life rally on Jan. 18, 2019. Director Jonathan Schroder looks at how the 24-hour news cycle led to the viral spread of disinformation about the incident, and the effect it had on Sandmann and his community.
“I’m an Electric Lampshade” is a portrait of Doug McCorkle, the world’s least likely rock star. In this documentary-narrative hybrid feature, corporate accountant McCorkle puts his marriage and life savings on the line to chase his dream of rock stardom after retiring at age 60. Director John Clayton Doyle shot the film in the United States, Mexico and the Philippines with an international cast, all chasing the same dream as McCorkle.
“Non Western” follows a couple in Montana, one Native American and the other not, ahead of their wedding. Mexican documentary filmmaker Laura Plancarte shows the challenges their interracial family faces and the impact childhood trauma has had on them, while exploring gender and identity issues that are present in Montana’s society.
“The State of Texas vs. Melissa” follows Melissa Lucio, the first Hispanic woman sentenced to death in Texas, who has been on death row for more than 10 years and is now on her last appeal. While it looked to many as though Lucio was responsible for the death of her 2-year-old daughter, others see her conviction as a bizarre miscarriage of justice.
Films in Cinequest 2021 are screening March 20-30. For tickets and more information, visit https://creatics.org/cinejoy
