Friday, June 13, 2003 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Offering Choices

CineVegas International Film Festival features something for everybody

Keisha Castle-Hughes stars in "Whale Rider," a contemporary retelling of a Maori legend. John Hurt, left, and Philip Seymour Hoffman star in "Owning Mahowny." Scott Caan, left, makes his directorial debut with "Dallas 362,'' which co-stars Shawn Hatosy, center. Stuart Townsend, left, Gabriel Byrne and Thandie Newton star in "Shade." Mischa Barton and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers star in "Octane."

When Hunter S. Thompson published "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" in 1971, the notion of a film festival in Sin City probably would have been dismissed as just another drug-fueled hallucination from his savage journey to the heart of the American dream.

Some 32 years later, there's a film festival in Las Vegas. And Hunter S. Thompson will be part of it.

"Breakfast With Hunter," a documentary devoted to Thompson's legal battles with local authorities -- and his struggle to bring "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" to the screen -- is the closing-night attraction at the 2003 CineVegas International Film Festival, which opens a nine-day run tonight at the Palms.

In addition to attending the premiere -- which is also expected to draw "Fear and Loathing" co-star Benicio Del Toro -- Thompson is scheduled to join CineVegas Marquis Award honoree Dennis Hopper, Jefferson Airplane singer Grace Slick and Dave Hickey, professor of art theory and criticism at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, at The Venetian on June 21 for a panel devoted to "Artists, Icons and Legends."

But that's closing weekend.

Starting this opening weekend, CineVegas offers an eclectic blend of world premieres, heralded releases making their Las Vegas debuts, new documentaries, edgy experimental works and assorted short subjects. Along with various seminars, receptions, galas and other events designed to foster interaction among festival attendees.

More than 40 features and more than 30 shorts will unreel during the festival. Officials hope to sell more than 30,000 tickets this year; last year's festival attendance was about 23,000, according to CineVegas president Andrea Weinberger.

In keeping with CineVegas' casino setting, several movies explore gambling themes, including "Owning Mahowny" (a fact-based tale with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Minnie Driver and John Hurt), "Shade" (set in Los Angeles' underground poker world, with Sylvester Stallone, Gabriel Byrne, Thandie Newton, Melanie Griffith and Jamie Foxx) and "Stuey," about the rise and fall of poker champ Stu "The Kid" Ungar, who committed suicide at the infamous Oasis Motel.

The Vegas connection extends to a few movies that don't have gambling as a focus, from "The Road Home" -- a coming-of-age tale starring Las Vegans Drew Johnson and Corinna Harney-Jones -- to "Games People Play," about the world's most uninhibited reality game show, from Las Vegas native James Ronald Whitney, a former Strip dancer.

Made-in-Nevada documentaries and shorts also turn up throughout the festival.

Befitting the "international" in its title, however, CineVegas also offers a world of cinematic choices, from New Zealand's celebrated "Whale Rider," a contemporary retelling of a Maori legend, to "Together," from renowned Chinese director Chen Kaige, about a father pushing his son to become a violin virtuoso.

Tonight's opener, "Octane" -- a Friday-the-13th-worthy chiller with Madeleine Stowe, Mischa Barton, Norman Reedus, Bijou Phillips and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers -- is one of several CineVegas world premieres.

Also premiering at CineVegas: "Dallas 362," actor Scott Caan's directorial debut, which co-stars Shawn Hatosy, Jeff Goldblum, Kelly Lynch, Selma Blair and Heavy D.

This year's CineVegas lineup is the second overseen by programming director Trevor Groth, a Sundance Film Festival veteran, who notes that this year's festival slate reflects a few lessons learned during his inaugural run last year.

Especially the sometimes irresistible allure of Las Vegas itself.

"I learned a lot about the distractions of Las Vegas," Groth admits, citing festival attendees "who were planning on seeing films but got distracted by the (gambling) tables" and other diversions.

Even so, "last year taught me the potential I envisioned" exists, he says, adding that "the audience reaction to the films and the hospitality shown by the city of Las Vegas" proved the festival's possibilities.

CineVegas also proved itself as a showcase for promising features, some of which found theatrical distribution following successful festival runs, including "Spun" and "Poolhall Junkies."

The latter, distributed by the same company that released the runaway hit "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," almost didn't get a theatrical release, Groth points out, until the CineVegas response convinced officials otherwise.

"It was so encouraging to see we could have that kind of effect," Groth says.

That's exactly the kind of response participating filmmakers hope for this year. The ones who don't have distribution deals, that is.

Although "Stuey" has already screened at festivals in Taos, N.M., and Nashville, Tenn., CineVegas "is the first festival likely to have distributors at it," according to "Stuey" director A.W. Vidmer, who spent two weeks on location in Las Vegas with a cast that includes "Sopranos" regulars Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa.

For "The Road Home," it's been a long road indeed, Johnson recalls -- especially when the project ran out of money and had to suspend shooting for more than a year.

The CineVegas debut represents "an attempt to get some buzz and hype on the film," Johnson says, describing CineVegas as "the perfect place to premiere it," given the movie's local connections.

Speaking of local connections, CineVegas spotlights some offbeat Vegas visions in its "Trip Down the Strip" section, while its "Area 52" program features midnight and cult movies.

When planning his first CineVegas lineup last year, "I didn't want to go with the hard-core art house or foreign films," Groth explains, citing a preference for "more U.S., cutting-edge, new voices."

Even so, this year's crop of foreign titles "are some of the best films that are going to come out this year," he notes, indicating that "you need a balance" in programming to appeal to locals and out-of-town attendees alike.

To that end, CineVegas also offers nightly parties at trendy nightclubs around town.

And New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell is expected back to moderate breakfast chats with such screenwriters as Allison Anders ("Sex and the City," "Sugar Town"), Keith Gordon ("The Singing Detective," "I Love Trouble") and Gary Scott Thompson ("The Fast and the Furious," "Hollow Man"), whose NBC pilot "Las Vegas" also is scheduled to be shown at CineVegas.

As for Las Vegas itself, Groth hopes this year's festival will break through to locals who didn't discover CineVegas last summer.

Once again, CineVegas takes place during the heated summer blockbuster season.

But "we're not trying to get the `2 Fast 2 Furious' crowd," Groth acknowledges. "Hopefully there's an audience out there hungry for choice."

The CineVegas International Film Festival opens tonight and runs through June 21 at the Palms, 4321 W. Flamingo Road. Screenings will be in the Brenden 14 Theatres. Ticket prices range from $10 for individual screenings to $45 for a single-day pass; other passes range from $105 (opening- and closing-night passes) to $500 (all-access pass). Individual tickets are available at the Brenden Theatres box office; passes are available online at www.cinevegas.com.

Other events, from screenwriter breakfast seminars to opening- and closing-night galas, will be at various venues throughout Las Vegas. A complete schedule is available at www.cinevegas .com. For more information, call (888) 883-4278.