Mike Rabehl looks at the 2015 Cinequest

Cinequest Director of Programming/Associate Director Mike Rabehl
Cinequest Director of Programming/Associate Director Mike Rabehl

I asked Cinequest’s Director of Programming/Associate Director Mike Rabehl to compare the 2015 Cinequest with the programs of previous festivals.  After all, he’s put his imprimatur on twenty Cinequests.   “The first time feature filmmakers are the strongest in many years,” Rabehl noted, specifically calling out the overall quality of this year’s writing.

What are your predictions for the biggest audience pleasers?  Something like The Sapphires from 2013 or The Grand Seduction from 2014?

Rabehl:  Probably  Batkid Begins, Wild Tales and Slow West.”

 

What might be the festival’s biggest surprise hit?

Rabehl:  “Possibly Milwaukee, The Center and/or Marry Me.”

 

Is there anything that we haven’t seen before in a movie?  Something wholly original like Polski Film or The Dead Man and Being Happy from the 2013 Cinequest?

Rabehl: “Beast of Cardo is a film that is more about her relationship to the town than it is about the supernatural.  Corn Island is completely unique, with very little dialogue, and the filmmakers built their own island to film it. ”

 

Is there any remarkable new filmmaking talent (a la the 2013 German gem Oh Boy, which later secured a US theatrical release as A Coffee In Berlin)?

Rabehl: “The Center, Antoine et Marie (a second feature), Dermaphoria (a first narrative feature), Fever and Happiest Place on Earth.  Plus For An Inexplicable Reason, Factory Boss, Malady and In the Company of Women.”

 

How does this year’s international cinema shape up? 

Rabehl: “Belgium (especially the Flemish side) and Norway are really strong this year.”

Belgian entries include the Flemish films Halfway, In the Heart, Marry Me and Plan Bart, plus the French/Belgian Three Hearts. Cinequest’s Norwegian films are Amnesia, Beatles and Chasing Berlusconi.

WILD TALES
WILD TALES

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