Exit Through the Gift Shop's Brian Cross to launch opening night of Filmatic Festival

ArtPower! at UC San Diego is poised to debut their first annual Filmatic Festival later this month in Atkinson Hall, headquarters of the Qualcomm Institute on the UC San Diego campus. The event, billed as “four days of media exploration and creation,” runs April 24–27.

Filmatic is spearheaded by ArtPower! founder and curator Rebecca Webb. According to the press release, “The festival was inspired by the notion that the future of film going will lie in immersive and interactive experiences, in which on screen entertainment may be only one part of the experience, if at all. ‘Filmatic aims to explore hybridized thought-provoking, yet entertaining media,’ explained Webb. ‘Audiences are not content to sit passively in a theater anymore because so much of modern life and technology revolves around the ability to interact and create in real time.’”

Festival highlights include an opening night appearance by filmmaker and Exit Through the Gift Shop cameraman Brian Cross and a workshop on Language Creation by Game of Thrones star, David Peterson.

Webb’s co-curators for the festival include Brian Hu, artistic director at the San Diego Asian Film Festival; Neil Kendricks, journalist, educator, and curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art; and Trish Stone, digital media artist and gallery coordinator for the Qualcomm Institute.

Never having touched a video game — and idiotically in support of dead silence once the logos hit the screen — I find myself a bit wary of this audience-participation stuff. So far, the closest I’ve come to interactive cinema is telling someone to stop texting or suspending suspension of disbelief long enough for a member of Cinepolis’ waitstaff to pass before my field of vision with a drink order.

Tickets for the Filmatic Festival are $5 to $25 for a single ticket and $50 to $175 for a four-day pass. For more information visit filmaticfestival.com.

Corrections

Posted April 8, 2014

A letter arrived from ArtPower! Film founder and curator Rebecca Webb regarding this piece on UCSD's upcoming Filmatic Festival. It appears I made a few blunders.

First off, Webb is the found of Art!Power Film, not Art!Power as stated in the article. Nor is David Peterson the star of Game of Thrones. He's the show's creator.

Last, but certainly not least, it appears that the artwork I selected was not the logo of choice. The correct one now appears at the top of the column.

In response to my thoughts concerning interactive cinema Webb writes, "I know this type of event is not for everyone. I do love a dark theater and quiet all around me, but this is an alternative experience — and quality of story is as important as the new medium in which we experience the message. This is a festival that explores digital technologies — and is not meant to replace the traditional experience."

Webb was also kind enough to reference Oscar Wilde's "There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about."

Sorry for any inconvenience or shame-by-association my blunders may have incurred. In the future, please don't billboard it as "Movies of the Future." That kind of lingo scares the bejesus out of my aged-in-multiplex hyde.

Filmatic Film Festival runs April 24-27. Visit filmaticfestival.com for more info.