Cinequest goes live today..It's the best and the brightest of the independent film world (least in the concentric circle of the valley.)

It's all about the creative process and labor of love that encapsulates what goes into these little indie films and shorts.

Misery loves company, and what better place to go and wonk out about the solitary confinement that best describes the process of film editing. Imagine the scene from the Bill Murray movie Ground Hog Day with real time gnats eyebrow focus frame to frame to friggin frame (sorry about that little burst of angst) until you can't imagine watching the edited piece because your head will explode. All for 15 min [short format] of creative bandwidth.

Cinequest is a creative end run...movies movies movies. Quirky surprises abound and the ability to ask a film maker her reason for choosing a certain camera angle to tell the story makes it a mini tutorial & therapy session all wrapped up nicely. If only I could just get to my biggest sticking points with my last two little film projects: sound editing but instead of crying the blues to the deaf and uninterested I need to get downtown and partake. You should too.

Remember those lightrail transit trains run quirky schedules but drop you door to door. The highlight of this festival always seems to be the film shorts. Even if you can stop in for a small bite of the offerings, you won't leave disappointed.
The Chicago playwright turned movie director David Mamet had this interesting piece to share about the magic of creating movies. Mamet: “Now, we have two plans here. Which is simpler? Always do things the least interesting way, and you make a better movie. This is my experience. Always do things the least interesting way, the most blunt way. Because then you will not stand the risk of falling afoul of the objective in the scene by being interesting, which will always bore the audience, who are collectively much smarter than you and me and have already gotten up to the punch line. How do we keep their attention? Certainly not by giving them more information but, on the contrary, by withholding information-- by withholding all information except that information the absence of which would make the progress of the story incomprehensible.

This is the kiss rule. K. I. S. S. Keep it simple, stupid.
Kinda sounds like we could apply to real life too huh?