Notices from Virginia Gause

3rd Annual CineSol 36 Hour Film Race Kicks off the 15th Annual CineSol Film Festival!

On August 29 at 6 pm at least 12 competitive teams are expected to line up in Harlingen for the 3^rd Annual CineSol 36 Hour Film Race.  It is hard for me to imagine being able to write, produce, direct and shoot a 10 minute film in only 36 hours.  But annually our local filmmakers do it from start to finish and we all get to see the results as part of the Annual CineSol Film Festival.  This event takes the CineSol Film Festival to a whole new level!

CineSol, for those of you who might have just come in during the middle of the movie…started in 1993 as the brainchild of Evy Ledesma Galan native of Harlingen.  Soon she was joined by Lupita Guiterrez Garza, Rick Leal, Armando Garza, and several others who were way ahead of mainstream America in desiring to see the faces of Latinos, particularily Mexican Americans like themselves on the silver screen.  The founding CineSol Board members and others who believed in the cause converged on South Padre Island Convention Center like magnets set in motion to change the film world forever.  George Gause and I decided we would go down for opening night to witness this new event.  As we viewed the first of three film shorts (“How Else Am I Supposed to Know I’m Still Alive?”) on opening night, we quickly found ourselves swept away by the tide and came back home to get more clothes and go back to South Padre Island to complete the 1^st Annual CineSol Film Festival!  It was easy to sense that something ground-breaking was going on in the Valley Art World!

Now here we are in 2008, some 15 years later, proud to see Latinos starring in videos, producing and directing them!  And we have seen the CineSol Film Festival appreciate to another level, offering independent videos from around the world.  Through the years we have seen some excellent documentaries, some hilarious comedies, and some clever animations,  But one of the most satisfying outcomes has been watching young filmmakers learn and perfect their craft!  Take a close look at www.CineSol.com for the complete schedule and get out to Cine El Rey in McAllen, The University of Texas at Brownsville, and The University of Texas – Pan American during the month of Sepember to see independent films you won’t  be able to find on television, Netflix, and through other sources.  The festival screens start September 6 and end September 27.

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A notable event on September 3 is the Noche de Fiesta, The South Texas Civil Rights Project event to celebrate commitment to community.  Being honored are the legendary Tejano musician Ramon Ayala, Rev. Ed Krueger, and Sister Marian Strohmeyer.

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The grand evening we have waited all summer for takes place September 5, and that is the beginning of the 5^th year of McAllen’s First Friday Art Walk which has truly brought fame to McAllen and established its reputation as a destination for internal and external visitors.  It is the night of where you will find scores of artists, both visual and performance, displaying their creativity. The special offerings by the 20 plus galleries, restaurants, and other venues have been pouring in all week. At this point the postings in the www.ArtsRGV.com calendar are up-to-date.  But I am sure tomorrow will bring another avalanche of announcements!  However, there will be more about First Friday Art Walk in the next weekly art alert.