Droves of film enthusiasts and Ken Kesey fans are expected to flock to the premiere of “Magic Trip: Ken Kesey’s Search for a Kool Place,” the main attraction in the second annual student-managed Cinema Pacific Film Festival.
The film world will converge in Eugene this weekend, saturating as many theater screens, lecture halls and studios as possible to discuss, practice and screen contemporary films. Taking place all over campus while extending to some city theaters, the second annual Cinema Pacific Film Festival will dominate the art scene April 6 through 10.
This multi-layered festival spends as much time educating as it does celebrating film.
Centered around the University, the festival has a strong student involvement.
“The most unusual thing about the festival is that it’s mostly student managed,” said Richard Herskowitz, director of the Cinema Pacific.
Almost every independent theater in Eugene will be screening movies from the festival, including the Bijou Art Cinemas, McDonald Theatre, the Hult Center and multiple on-campus venues.
There will be more than 20 films screened throughout the five-day festival, all of which fit the festival’s theme of originating in Pacific-bordering nations.
The festival focuses on a specific nation each year; this year’s focus is Chinese film, but it also features films from all across Pacific coastal nations.
“Every year there’s a country that gets special attention,” Herskowitz said. “There is a special focus on China in the festival, but there is also a film from Chile, there’s a film from Hong Kong and a number of films from the West Coast of the U.S.”
The main attraction of this year’s festival is the West Coast premiere of the documentary on the famous counter-culture author Ken Kesey. “Magic Trip: Ken Kesey’s Search for a Kool Place,” documents the iconic author’s LSD-spurred road trip around the country. Screened at the McDonald Theatre on Friday, the premiere is expected to attract droves of Kesey fans and film enthusiasts.
“Having Eugene be the West Coast premier of the ‘Magic Trip’ movie and day-long Kesey celebration gives us the perfect excuse to once again put on our outrageous Merry Prankster outfits and hit the streets of Eugene in the Magic Bus spreading our weirdness,” said Zane Kesey, Ken Kesey’s son.
While movie patrons appreciate the hard work of professional filmmakers, a selected group of amateur filmmakers will be scrambling all around Eugene to make their own short films. The Adrenaline Film Project is a 72-hour production workshop where participants are challenged with the task of writing, shooting and editing their own short films. Each three-person group must find actors and locations to make their film. Industry professionals are present to mentor and assist each group throughout the production process. All participants get to showcase their work at a screening in Columbia Hall on Saturday after the event ends where awards accompanied with cash prizes are given out.
“To me, the AFP is a difficult challenge that could not be more rewarding,” said Lucas Cruzen, a junior cinema studies major and Adrenaline Film Project participant. “It really teaches you about yourself not just as a filmmaker and artist, but as a person who must cooperate with his teammates to work towards a major goal, and that kind of experience is invaluable.”
Other highlights of the festival include the Fringe Festival, which showcases three artists who remixed the silent film “The Goddess,” and the live documentary “Utopia in Four Movements,” where performer Sam Green interactively presents his documentary at the Hult Center on Saturday night.
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