The Cinequest Film Fest in San Jose combines technology and filmmaking

San Jose, California – One of the largest free film festivals in the Bay Area is taking place in San Jose. Cinequest opened last week and runs until next Monday, showing a variety of films and documentaries from filmmakers across the country.

It’s fitting that Cinequest is based in Silicon Valley because it’s a festival where technology filmmaking and filmmakers from different walks of life meet, tell their stories.

“A lot of people don’t realize that there’s a lot of technology that goes into media, whether it’s film or photographs, so it’s a lot of technology that we use,” says Athena Crosby, host of Cinequest.

Cinequest screens dozens of films each year, including short films, features, documentaries, comedies and dramas. Director Tom Huang presents his own Chinese-American family film Dealing with Dad.

“I got into this business, tell these stories. I was an actor before, and then I realized that there were no roles for me. So I realized that if we want to tell these stories, we have to make these stories ourselves,” Huang said.

Cinequest attendee Bonnie Lee said, “Well, they’re all Asian actors and that’s why we’re here because there aren’t many of them. It’s starting to be a lot, but we wanted to come and support them.”

Cinequest says its mission is to showcase creativity and artistic innovation in film. It gives emerging filmmakers an opportunity to bring their own unique voice to a new audience.

“You’re really trying to find yourself. You really have limited resources to be able to make a short film. So that’s what I’ve been doing with my work,” says Anna Yevtushenko, who produced the short film Khan. t Talk, movie on.

Filmmakers from all over the country present films about people from all over the world. Cinequest was once voted USA Today’s Best Film Festival, a writer says Cinequest is the exposure independent filmmakers need.

“Tell the stories that are true to you. The ones that you can tell that really mean something to you because those are the real ones. Those are the stories the world wants to hear because you’re the only one,” he said. Nupur Sinha, Writer and Editor-in-Chief of Shoebox.

The Cinequest Film Festival will be in San Jose through Monday, August 29th. For more information on screening times and tickets, go to cinequest.org