SAN JOSÉ, CA – As a member of  CINEQUEST since 1994, what inspires the work of MICHAEL RABEHL is his passion to discover new talent and help artists connect with audiences through the art of cinema. As Director of Programming, he has programmed thousands of  World, North American, and United States Premieres, jump-started the careers of many successful artists, and is responsible for bringing celebrities like JACKIE CHAN and WILLIAM H. MACY to CINEQUEST.  One can say that MICHAEL RABEHL has helped make CINEQUEST one of the Top Film Festivals in the world and the leader in innovations.

In this exclusive interview, with CULTURAL WORLD BILINGUAL, Mr. RABEHL informs our readers about some the LATINO FILMS that CINEQUEST Film and Creativity Festival, will be presenting from March 5 to March 17, 2019 in the California Theatre (CAL), Hammer Theatre (HAM), and 3Below Theater and Lounge, (3B)  in San José, and in Century in Redwood City (RWC).

“This year CINEQUEST receved ten entries of movies with Latine themes." he tells us in his offive. "Some have Latino actors (Spoken in Spanish with English subtitles) and others are in English. We have two big features from MEXICO. Two completely different movies, which is great.

“One of them is BUY ME A GUN (Cómprame un Revólver). The story, in an unspecified future, is that in Mexico women keep on disappearing and a father tries to protect his daughter by making her wear a mask so nobody knows that she is a girl. The film is set a little bit on the future and its world looks like the Apocalyptic world. It is a really interesting film because it is part science-fiction, part poetic, and part reality. The film is incredibly visual. A very artistic powerful movie."

BUY ME A GUN (SAT 3/16; 11AM)  California Theatre

"Another feature from México is Tripping Thru Keta (El Viaje de Keta). This movie is a comedy. It is about a girl with big hair, big life, big dreams that ends up in this weird world selling drugs where she interacts with swindlers, housewives, actresses, and all types of people. It is a weird slice of life kind of thing, but we have to remember that it is a comedy, so it is a fun movie. Very colorful, Very big and kind of psychedelic at times."

TRIPPING THRU KETA (EL VIAJE DE KETA)

SAT 3/9;2;15PM  and Mon3/11; 5:30PM (RWC)

"These are the two different kind of movies that we got from México. They are both really entertaining. One is more powerful. The other one is about a woman. About her life, About her interaction with people and her trying to find her way in life."

"Another good movie is from Cuba and it is one of my favorites",|

THE EXTRAORDINARY JOURNEY OF CELESTE GARCIA

SUN 3/10;1:25PM (RWC) and on 3/13;7:30PM (CAL) and SAT 3;16;1;15PM (CAL)

It is called "THE EXTRAORDINARY JOURNEY OF CELESTE GARCIA (How Far will you travel to Find Happiness) I would say that Celeste is a woman on her sixties, living in Cuba, who one day her weird next door neighbor (who is actually  an alien from another world) appears at her door and invites her, and other Cubans, to join them (the aliens) on a journey to space. The whole film is about their planning when they (the aliens and the Cubans) are going to leave, (the earth) and Celeste is part of that group. I really like it a lot. I saw it at its world's premiere in Toronto and I just felt in love with it. It is a creative movie and the actress is very good. It has very smart writing. Very good story-telling. I am hoping that this movie is one of those that lots of people get to see because it is such a good movie.”

Original Sin (Pecado original)

Sun 3/10; 10;45AM (RWC) and FRI 3/15;2;55PM (Hammer theatre HAM)

“Another fun comedy is ORIGINAL SIN from Paraguay. It is a very absurd comedy about an unfulfilled housewife who buys a painting, and when the very handsome painter shows up to give her the painting, she suddenly gets into an affair with him. Then, her husband walks in. After that, the whole movie becomes a real triangle among them, but because it is a comedy, everybody gets frustrated. I though this movie was hilarious."

BRING ME AN AVOCADO

SUN 3/10; 105PM (RWC) SAT 3/16: 12;15PM (RWC) SUN 3/17; 10:45AM (CAL)

"I also would like to talk about a very good fiction film from the Bay Area.  It is a drama. It is in English, and it was shot in Oakland, The film is called BRING ME AN AVOCADO.  It is directed and produced by women and written by its Director, which is also a woman, from Bolivia. The lead actor is also from Bolivia. We are doing the world premiere of it. The Director is actually the head of the San Francisco Cinefend Collectors, The film is about a woman who is on her way home for what she does not know is going to be her "surprise birthday party," when something tragic happens to her on her way there. She gets shot and she gets into a coma. So, the whole film is centered around her family working together (while se remains in a coma) trying to be strong. It is a good film.”

CLEAN HANDS 

SUN 3/10; 4;35PM (RWC) WED 3/13;1:40PM (3B)

“And then we have “CLEAN HANDS,” a World Premiere documentary that was shot mostly in Nicaragua, It is a very inspirational movie because the director of the film, who is from the United States knew the family who was very poor and living in the dumps. But one day, a benefactor from the U.S. gave them a home and helped their children get an education and have a life. The story is real (the film is a documentary) and shows the strength of somebody given up something to give this family and their children a chance to better themselves, and the result, which was that he better himself by helping others.”

"And we also are going to have a world premiere of  CLOWNVETS, a Documentary make by a Chilean about Dr. PATCH ADAMS in his trip to Guatemala. And Dr. ADAMS is going to be here. We (CINEQUEST) are going to give him the KAISER PERMANETE THRIVE AWARD" (The description of the event could be read in www.culturalworld bilingual.com. )

"CINEQUEST, Film and Creativity Festival will close on March 17, at the California Theatre with a real fun movie, THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE. An Spanish/English film that was shot in Spain by TERRY GILLIAM, and is a very strange re-telling of the story."

For the complete description of all the CINEQUEST Film and Creativity Festival movies, documentaries, parties and events and to buy tickets go to www.cinequest.org