QUOTE: Dennis Hopper hosted the 2004 CineVegas Film Festival with help from pals David Lynch, Sean Penn, and Jack.

The vicarious Robin Greenspun of the Greenspun Media empire and President of the 2004 CineVegas Film Festival spearheaded the most-fabulous-yet 9 day event in Las Vegas held June 11 to 19 at The Palms Casino Resort. The CineVegas Film Festival is now firmly in place as a premier showcase for filmmakers thanks to the dominance of hallmark directors and a gang of made men from the Tony Soprano crime family.

The Opening Night film was D.E.B.S. directed by Angela Robinson. It is quite possibly the gay CHARLIE’S ANGELS. The evening ended with a sensational party at Caesar’s Palace “Pool of the Gods.” I understand that 2,000 people were invited and 4,000 people R.S.V.P’d. There was extravagant food and free-flowing drinks for everyone. Even though there was a roped off VIP area, the Sopranos stars (Johnny Sack, Paulie Walnuts, Bobby Bacala and Big Pussy) mingled for photos with guests. CineVegas’s host, Dennis Hopper, was everywhere.

“The Half-Life Awards” were given to Sean Penn, Robin Wright Penn, and Holly Hunter. Jack Nicholson received the “Marquee Award;” “Vanguard Director Award” went to Bruce Conner, David Lynch and Julian Schnabel; and the “Changed My Life Award” went to Dean Stockwell. I campaigned for the “I Sat Through “Around the World In 80 Days starring Jackie Chan” Award” but Robin wasn’t interested in honoring my sitting through almost 300 movies a year.

The CineVegas Jury was comprised of director Darren Aronofsky (REQUIM FOR A DREAM was sensational!), Wendy Mitchell of indieWIRE, and actress Sarah Polley.

Last year Dennis Hopper was given the Marquee Award and he had such a great time that he not only joined CineVegas’s Creative Advisory Board as Chair, he brought along his friends, did commercials, walked around freely among the fans, and did a Frank Booth trailer demanding everyone “respect” filmmakers, turn off their cell phones and, putting an oxygen mask to his face, said: “And no smoking!” Hopper insisted on changing the pronunciation of CineVegas (from Sin-A Vegas to Sin-E Vegas). But will it stick?

Here is a brief capsule of the films I saw:

LUCK directed by Peter Wellingon. Set in the early 1970′s, a young man’s puppy love obsession with a friend’s girlfriend, played by Sarah Polley, drives him to gamble away money he doesn’t have, borrow $5,000 from a loan shark, gamble that away and then gamble away money from his father’s retirement account. He then decides to become a bookie and lose other people’s money. But he gets the girl in the end.

“Las Vegas: Come on vacation. Go home on probation.” James Ellroy.

I’m a new fan of the man James Ellroy. He doesn’t care about fans because he just wants to know how many of his books YOU BOUGHT. He hates talking about L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (“Did you f**king buy the book?,” Ellroy proudly recalled telling a sweet old lady at a book signing). The promise to dish about Dana Delaney never came though. Novelist Bruce Wagner (I’m no elitist – you decide – but Wagner did use the phrases “sisyphian act” and “poetic engine” in discussing Ellroy) sat down at The Lounge at The Palms for a “lively discussion” with his friend Ellroy. After viewing Showtime’s documentary on Ellroy’s mother’s brutal death and Ellroy’s table conversations with detectives, I knew what to expect from him. He didn’t disappoint me. Men of a certain age always brag about oral sex. And, with disgust, what Ellroy says is what his readers really want to know: Is Crowe really an ***hole? Is Leo gay? His book, THE BLACK DAHLIA, will be made into an over 100 million dollar budgeted film by director Brian DiPalma. To Ellroy’s frustration, cute Josh Hartnett stars.

A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD directed by Michael Meyer did not allow any press to the screening. (On the notice barring any press someone wrote: “This must mean it’s ****.) Colin Farrell stars but I cannot report if his full-frontal nudity is on display or was, as rumor has it, excised.

THE TALENT GIVEN US directed by Andrew Wagner is the story of an elderly New York City couple, played by Wagner’s parents (Judy and Allen), who drive across the country to visit their reclusive son in Los Angeles. Their two unmarried, thirty-something daughters, also played by Wagner’s real life sisters (highlighting the very quick and amusing Emily Wagner), tag along. Somewhere in the mid-west they pick up a long-suffering friend, Judy (the adorable Judy Dixon) who has to listen to the Wagners complain about their lack of a sex life and past hard-to-forgive infidelities. This is a fascinating family comedy and Wagner was insightful enough to know his parents and siblings would make a funny, charming film.

PHILEINE SAYS SORRY directed by Jan Westdijk is from the Netherlands/USA. Phileine is a wild girl who likes to hit her boyfriend and fight with her girlfriends. She follows her boyfriend to New York City and tries to ruin his life. I liked this film because the girls were so mean, selfish, crazy, and out-of-control, and everybody understands.

UNTIL THE NIGHT directed by Gregory Hatanaka stars the charismatic Norman Reedus. The stream-of-conscious film is a muddled mess but Hatanaka shows a strong director’s hand. Most of it did not make any sense. Perhaps a better script with a linear story will work better next time.

Director Julian Schnabel was on hand for the screening of BEFORE THE NIGHT. I loved this film the first time I saw it and enjoyed seeing it again. After receiving his CineVegas Vanguard Director Award, he sat down with Dennis Hopper and Elvis Mitchell. Schnabel, a world renowned iconic painter, loved talking about his films and was a joyful, appreciative guest. He, and the audience, would have gladly stayed another hour. Schnabel, a heterosexual, infused the film with lustful and passionate gay sex that is often shunted aside in films. Consider how un-sexy the implied gay sex is in DE-LOVELY. Unlike Irwin Winkler, Schnabel knows a few gay people.

Along with getting Hopper, the Penns, David Lynch(!) and Jack Nicholson, CineVegas’s Program Director Trevor Groth arranged for MGM to give the festival an advance screening of Irwin Winkler’s DE-LOVELY starring Kevin Kline as Cole Porter and Ashley Judd as his long-suffering, but lavishly rich, socialite wife. While the audience loved it, I cannot say that I enjoyed all the singing by Kline, the ponderous opening and closing with Jonathan Pryce, and the constant screaming about how beautiful Judd is (required because it is in a female star’s contract). I still do not know a thing about the Porter’s marriage except he kept telling her he worshiped her while having sex with tons of waiters.

NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, directed by Jared Hess and starring Jon Heder is fabulous! I encourage everyone to see this movie. It is absolutely precious. This was a huge favorite and played to two sold-out audiences. Filmed on a total budget of $400,000, it was brought by Fox searchlight for $3 million. DYNAMITE takes place in rural Idaho. Napoleon is not even a nerd. He is the school’s non-being. When his grandmother falls in a motocross accident and is hospitalized, Napoleon’s uncle comes to babysit him and his 32-year old brother who is having a relationship with a lady in a chat room. Napoleon befriends the new kid in school, a Mexican with righteous self-esteem. The entire cast is sensational.

With David Lynch, Dennis Hopper, and Dean Stockwell attending CineVegas wouldn’t it have been terrific if Lynch chose BLUE VELVET and ERASERHEAD? Lynch asked that ERASERHEAD be screened and perhaps the response will indicate to someone that it should be re-released theatrically. The sold-out screening of Lynch’s 1977 first masterpiece was a triumph. It was one of the first laserdiscs I brought. After the screening, Lynch was given his “Vanguard Director Award” by Hopper and joined for a discussion by Hopper and Stockwell. Moderator Elvis Mitchell did not ask any questions about ERASERHEAD. I was very disappointed Mitchell did not delve into the dominance of psycho-sexual images in ERASERHEAD and query Lynch about the film’s meaning. (Lynch has said that no one who has written about the film has understood it.) While everyone seems to studiously avoid interpreting the film, I will not allow this to intimidate me. Briefly, it is Lynch’s masterpiece because he brilliantly took his nightmarish masturbatory fantasy and visualized the guilt and disgust that sprung from his troubled libido. And what is the masturbatory penalty? Penalty images are everywhere: The deformed, diseased creature-baby, the lady in the radiator with the puffed-out, scarred cheeks, and the diseased man at the machine, to name just a few. Who is not distorted by Henry (Jack Nance) Spencer’s haunted id? The man at the machine symbolizes God, but he is a diseased god who created man in his own flawed image.

Every night the organizers arranged a big VIP evening held at the trendiest nightclubs in Las Vegas. Local Strip performers held a semi-concert at Crustacean Restaurant & Nightclub inside The Aladdin Hotel. Many headliners, including Las Vegas favorites The Scintas, Clint Holmes, and Penn of Penn & Teller entertained. There were also after-parties and a bowling party hosted by the filmmakers of another audience favorite, THE LEAGUE OF ORDINARY GENTLEMEN. There were two big private concerts: a Billy Joe Shaver Concert and Party at the OPM Club at Caesar’s Palace, hosted by “The Portrait of Billy Joe” director Luciana Pedraza and her boyfriend of many years, Robert Duvall, who produced the film (I haven’t yet forgiven them for indulging their vanity in ASSASSINATION TANGO) and a concert by Jason Mraz at Mandalay Bay’s House of Blues. For stars and filmmakers, a private party was hosted by George Maloof at the Real World Suite at the Palms Casino Resort Hotel. If nightly parties were not enough, there was a boat cruise at Lake Las Vegas.

GOZU directed by Takashi Miike. A newly circumcised virgin Yakuza must kill his older insane brother, until the brother disappears and a lactating woman and a half-man, half-cow demon get in the way. What’s not to love about a film celebrating a circumcised virgin and a cross-species demon? Add brother-brother incest and a horrific birth of a grown man and you have the strangest, boldest movie I’ve seen in years. The lactating old woman was so creepy I’ll never drink milk again in Tokyo. Takashi Miike, who attended the screening, has a huge cult following. His fans crowded two sold-out screenings and had an intimate knowledge of his vast body of work.

HAROLD & KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE directed by Danny Leiner. Super-stoned, Asian Harold and East Indian Kumar take a “Vision Quest” obsessy to eat at the hollowed icon of fast food – White Castle. Along the way they meet college girls, security guards, cheetahs, hillbillies, and Neil Patrick Harris. Harold and Kumar are the next big stars. Neil Patrick Harris has arrived back from Limbo. There is enough gay sex in HAROLD & KUMAR to make DE-LOVELY look chaste.

ZATOICHI directed by Takeshi Kitano. This is a new version of the long running and popular Japanese character who is a blind masseur/swordsman. It was too long but nevertheless entertaining. I really liked the transvestite geisha and the ending is fabulous – the entire cast does a wild, uninhibited dance number.

MARMALADE directed by Kim Dempster. A very smart move for Jill Sorensen, who is one of the film’s executive producers, co-writer, and star. Sorensen plays “aging” model Kim fashioned after her own experiences reaching the ripe old age of 32. Creepy agents, drugs, bi-sexuality, model jealousies, and vicious agency jumping are brushed aside as MARMALADE focuses on Kim looking for work and love. Crafted as a showcase for Sorensen’s acting talents means there are a lot of tears, she gets insulted for being old, and she is often made to look sympathetic. Even though Sorensen is gorgeous, she allows herself to look silly. This is a decent debut by Sorensen to develop a movie career and I would say she invested wisely in herself. Yet Charlize Theron certainly raised the bar for models and starlets who want acting careers. In a few years would Sorensen be willing to transform herself as Theron did in MONSTER?

THE HILLSIDE STRANGLER, directed by Chris Fisher, was one of the films people were most interested in seeing. It is two serial killers with instant name recognition. It also had a lot of nudity. A psychologist, who stages orgies, is bi-sexual, and takes drugs, works with the LAPD. She brings women home for her drug-dealing boyfriend, has sex with his friends, and has nude photos of herself framed on her home office walls. When she is brought in to interview suspected serial killer Kenneth Bianchi, she sashays in wearing a backless dress barely covering her aureoles. This is her typical professional attire! Yes, serial killers are popular and the screenings for THE HILLSIDE STRANGLER were sold-out. Kenneth Bianchi did “hoodwink” a psychologist and psychiatrist with claims of multiple personalities but it was Dr. Martin Orne who finally exposed Bianchi as a fraud. (I know this stuff because I do weekend research on serial killers.) Skillfully directed on a small budget, this very promising director needs to craft another story leaving dialogue and plot to other writers.

Sean Penn was gracious after the screening of his film THE INDIAN RUNNER. He talked with Elvis Mitchell and the audience loved him. Unfortunately, Robin Wright Penn was dismissive and graceless. Hopper had to announce she was “held up” coming to the Brenden Theaters after the screening of SHE’S SO LOVELY. When she finally arrived, she waltzed over to Mitchell and Hopper, took her award, barely glanced at the audience, and left by a side door. Perhaps like most of the audience, she did not know why she was being honored.

Jack Nicholson, who walked the red carpet with Penn, posed for photos and introduced his 1971 directorial debut. He made everyone feel good, except for the people who had to sit through DRIVE, HE SAID. That said, there were plenty of nude scenes featuring Karen Black and full-frontal nudity of lots of guys. Jack, what does all this mean and why did every man in the film want to have sex with Karen Black? Lucky for us, Jack has left directing to others.

There were two filmmaker’s luncheons held at Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine Restaurant and Wolfgang Puck’s Postrio. At Roy’s I spoke at length with Judy and Allen Wagner of THE TALENT GIVEN US. They tried to interview me; however, I learned that there was indeed a script they hardly ever strayed from, the story is not from their “real life,” and Judy’s bold line of dialogue was secretly filmed while her son Andrew – who wrote and directed the film – slept.

CineVegas and the entertainment law firm of Quirk & Tratos presented a 4-hour seminar for attorneys, law students, and filmmakers at the Bali Hai Golf Club. Filmmakers were especially catered to with subjects ranging from contract negotiations, music rights, and intellectual property rights. The seminar was packed and hopefully CineVegas will make this a featured event every year.

I overheard a thought-provoking comment while waiting on line to see ERASERHEAD: “More people visit Las Vegas every year than visit Mecca.”

The Filmmakers Award Luncheon was held at Postrio’s Restaurant at The Venetian Resort, Hotel and Casino. The Jury Prize went to THE TALENT GIVEN US with honorable mention to writer/director John Harkrider’s MITCHELLVILLE. The Audience Award went CROSS BRONX, written and directed by Larry Golin. Having lived in New York City and the suburb communities that Golin grew up in and highlights so well, I can confirm that he did a terrific job allowing the neighborhoods of The Bronx, Yonkers and Westchester County to represent themselves in a colorful and daring way. (Here in Las Vegas there are no distinctive neighborhoods. We have strictly-planned communities with rules and regulations.) Golin should not have been surprised his film took the Audience Award since I kept hearing attendees praise the film. This is one of many films shown at CineVegas that looks guaranteed to get a distributor.

I already saw an advance screening of CineVegas’s Closing Night film, THE NOTEBOOK, directed by Nick Cassavetes and starring James Garner and Cassavetes mother, Gena Rowlands. Garner reads to Rowlands every day from her diary. She has Alzheimer’s. I’m not insensitive: My mother died from Alzheimer’s last month, but I still do not like movies where I am read to by elderly people.

CineVegas’s Closing Night Party, held at The Palms nightclub “Skin,” is always a huge event. Among the celebrities enjoying themselves was Josh Coxx of the cable TV show “Strong Medicine.” I’m a big fan of Coxx’s character, the mid-wife Peter Riggs. Coxx told me he was at CineVegas as an attendee because he is a big supporter of young filmmakers.

With Vladimir Lacas
Photographs by John Bradfield

The 5th Annual CineVegas International Film Festival was held June 13-21 at the Palms Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas under the expert guidance of Trevor Groth, Director of Programming. A total of 85 films, including twelve world premieres representing eight countries, were screened at the festival. The Opening Night screening was the world premiere of First Look Pictures’s OCTANE, directed by Marcus Adams and starring Madeline Stowe, Mischa Barton, Norman Reedus and Bijou Phillips. Stowe plays a mother who must save her daughter from a bloodthirsty cult. Is there ever any other kind?

DALLAS 362 is actor Scott Caan’s writing and directing debut. While Caan also stars in the movie, he allows his able cast to shine. Rusty (Shawn Hatosy) teams up with Dallas (Scott Caan) to rob a dangerous criminal. The wonderful Kelly Lynch, as Rusty’s mom, does an unnecessary nude scene, while her boyfriend, played by Jeff Goldblum, stays smugly under the covers.

DALLAS 362 won CineVegas’s Best Feature at the Critic’s Award Luncheon held at Lawry’s “The Prime Rib.” Caan graciously thanked all the people who helped him on the movie. He said he wisely listened to everybody’s advice.

Holly Willis, editor of RES, a bimonthly magazine, and Mike Goodridge, the US editor of the international trade weekly Screen International and its daily news service Screendaily.com, were the judges.

The last taboo to be conquered is male full-frontal nudity (see Danny Boyle’s 28 DAYS LATER) and writer/director Ash breaks the rule in THIS GIRL’S LIFE. Moon (Juliette Marquis) is a porn star/nurse angel. She is caring for her father (James Woods) who is suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Moon even cleans him after he uses the toilet. Apparently, famous porn stars like Moon do not make enough money to hire even part-time nurses. There is a lot of stylish nudity and nice looking sex in THIS GIRL’S LIFE.
I learned that porn stars are intelligent, kind, loving, and never have sex for money. They make terrific friends. They never have to humiliate themselves in the adult entertainment business, take drugs, or make strip club appearances. The only thing missing from Moon’s life is Ash forgot to show her work with AIDS babies. The life of a porn star looks fabulous! It’s having a father with advanced Parkinson’s that is tough.

A movie about two old ladies played by Louise Lasser and Renee Taylor? Luckily I made a screening of LADY KILLERS. This is an absolutely charming, delightful movie! Will Friedle and Chris Owen star as two idiot criminals who decide to marry and then kill the elderly Mundt sisters. But the Mundt sisters have murderous plans of their own. This is writer/director Gary Preisler’s directorial debut. Preisler has a light, devilish touch and a precious love for all his characters. LADY KILLERS was my pick for CineVegas’s best feature presentation.

First time writers/directors should absolutely NOT be allowed to edit their films. Can’t a Hollywood despot make a blanket ruling on this?

Who told Drew Johnson he could co-write and co-produce, direct, star in, and edit a movie? THE ROAD HOME is a vanity project showcasing Johnson as a baseball player in love with a Playmate, played by real-life Playboy Playmate of the Year Corinna Harney-Jones (who also co-produced). Apparently, Johnson and Harney-Jones were high school friends from Nevada. This is their true story. Johnson has a crying scene.

I wish Melanie Griffith would retire. Please. A 45 year-old sex kitten? Except for the misguided casting of Griffith as Sylvester Stallone’s former inamorata in SHADE, this poker caper is a surprising, well-directed treat. Stallone is back in an ensemble cast, playing his age and looking his age. Writer/director Damian Nieman (a card shark himself) was able, through a very clever script, to cast Stuart Townsend, Gabriel Byrne, Thandie Newton, Jamie Foxx and Hal Holbrook.

I’m tired of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s head downcast style of acting. OWNING MAHOWNY, directed by Richard Kwietniowski, is the true story of a bank executive who gambled away over ten million dollars of other people’s money. It is disappointing since Mahowny is dealt with in a rather cavalier light. Joyless, friendless, and miserable, Dan Mahowny got only six years in prison for his crime. While aimlessly squandering ten million dollars, Mahowny’s sole request of the beneficiary casino was a plate of ribs with a coke. Minnie Driver plays his clueless, dumb girlfriend who works for the same bank.

What can you do with four minutes? My favorite short film was directed by Doug Shutte and presented in CineVegas’s recognition of the film department at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Shutte’s “UNLV Shorts Program” student film, ONE DOLLAR DIFFERENCE, was nicely crafted and emotionally moving. Someone should give Shutte a few thousand dollars and some film stock.

The selection of documentary films headlined as “Diamond Discoveries” included one I found personally fascinating, since I recently spent three weeks on a Nepalese trek and lived, a long time ago, in India. THE DAY MY GOD DIED is director Andrew Levine’s four-month investigation of the sex slave business in the Kamathipura district of Bombay. Over two hundred thousand young girls are sex slaves in “the cages,” which is the largest red light district in the world. Hundreds of girls, as young as seven years old, are kidnapped each year in Nepal and taken to Bombay. With the population of India taken into regard, I asked Levine why it was necessary to kidnap girls from neighboring Nepal. Apparently, Indian men prefer the light-skinned Nepalese. I would have liked to talk to Levine about the Dalits and the horrific treatment of the 200-400 million Untouchables in the “outlawed” caste system in India. Could the “outlawed” caste system be the underlying reason Nepalese girls are a commodity in the sex slave industry? (If even the shadow of a Dalit crosses a caste-Hindu, the Dalit will be beaten and the caste-Hindu must undergo strenuous purification rituals.)

While the film focused on the lives of several young Nepalese girls rescued from “the cages,” the men who frequent Kamathipura were not held morally responsible.

One film I enjoyed was in the grouping called “Area 52.” The films selected were identified as a “bizarre and freakish collection of cult and midnight movies for the most hardcore movie fans.” My favorite was called DADDY COOL directed by Brady Lewis. Lewis is the director of Pittsburgh Filmmakers and spent four years making DADDY COOL. It is a homage to 50′s horror films. A woman, who used to be a man, sees visions in her television. Her therapist happens to be a werewolf. It is in the same family problem terrain as David Lynch’s ERASERHEAD. In person, Lewis is so unassuming and mild-mannered that nobody could associate him with the tortured characters he created in DADDY COOL. Lewis also edited his film, but thankfully, did not act in it.

The most anticipated film was scheduled under the banner of “Nevada Filmmaking Showcase.” STUEY, directed by/written by/and edited by A.W. Vidmer, is based on the true story of the rise and fall of poker legend Stu “The Kid” Ungar. It stars “The Sopranos” Michael Imperioli as Stuey, Renee Faia, and Michael Nouri. Vidmer spends way too much time on Stuey’s childhood. It’s not a good sign when we are forced to wander aimlessly around the early, formative years. Will we ever get to the man’s thirties? So here is a half hour we will not be spending at the tables with Stuey or learning how he squandered his fortune. Indulgently edited by Vidmer, we are shown Stuey supermarket shopping twice, and then shopping for his “trademark” blue sunglasses. Did Stuey die of natural causes in a motel room in Las Vegas, a drug overdose, or commit suicide?

The demand to see STUEY was great, as was the world premiere of the NBC TV pilot called “Las Vegas” starring James Caan and Josh Duhamel. We were asked not to review the pilot since it was not officially ready.

The 5th Annual CineVegas was a huge success with all the evening screenings I attended sold out. This was due to Groth’s skill at burrowing through 400 submitted films and finding the most interesting and diverse ones to present. CineVegas attendees also had a full lineup of activities besides films. There was the “Krispy Kreme presents Doughnuts with” series every morning with well-known filmmakers, luncheons, receptions, and special events for filmmakers. Evenings were filled with movies at Brenden Theaters, parties held at “Little Buddha” at the Palms Casino Resort, “Venus” at The Venetian Resort Hotel & Casino, “Tabu” at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino, “OPM” at The Forum Shops at Caesar’s Palace and the “House of Blues” at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino. There were even after parties at the hottest, coolest nightclubs in town. My new favorite is the gorgeous “Risque” at Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino.

I was disappointed I was not able to attend more screenings. I missed seeing Alex Proyas’s “Garage Days,” Thomas Trail’s “Klepto,” Damon Santostefano’s “Last Man Running,” Ken Loach’s “Sweet Sixteen,” Kim Bartley and Donnacha O’Briain’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” Peter Mullan’s “The Magdalene Sisters,” Chen Kaige’s “Together,” Chris Fisher’s “Nightstalker,” and Niki Caro’s “Whale Rider.”

While the evening events and extravagant parties are always a memorable part of CineVegas, the 2003 Film Festival came to a fanciful, highly publicized close due to the non-appearance/appearance of gonzo journalist Dr. Hunter S. Thompson.

On closing day, CineVegas honored actor and artist Dennis Hopper with its Marquee Award at a luncheon at Postrio Restaurant at The Venetian. It was reported that Hopper had such a great time at CineVegas that he has agreed to join the Board of Directors. CineVegas showcased a newly remastered 35mm print of Hopper’s 1971 film, THE LAST MOVIE. The luncheon was followed by an Art Panel discussion with Hopper, Grace Slick, Dave Hickey – Professor of Art theory and criticism at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and infamous journalist (and self-described as the “most elderly dope fiend in America”) Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. It’s been some 32 years since Thompson wrote the groundbreaking cult classic “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.”

It was not a triumphant return.

A rumor spread while I was on line: Thompson wasn’t coming. He was refusing to leave his suite at the Palms to come to The Venetian. The young independent filmmakers, bearing new copies of Thompson’s books, hoped he was drunk with prostitutes instead of suffering from an “attack of arthritis.” “Who gets arthritis in the desert?” queried “Lord of the Dead” filmmaker Greg Parker.

The large crowd patiently waited a full half hour for the Art Panel, moderated by The New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell, to begin. I shouted over a few rows to CineVegas’s Chairman Mark Tratos: “Kick Thompson’s ass and get him over here.” Tratos laughed off Thompson’s no-show: “You can’t do that with artists.”

It was announced that Thompson would not be coming and Wayne Ewing, director of the closing night attraction, “Breakfast with Hunter,” would be representing Thompson. Former Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick, who in her own words was “63 years old and deteriorating,” enthralled the audience with tales of her rock star drug use. While Mitchell frequently attempted to coral the panelists to discuss their “iconography,” all Slick wanted to talk about was drugs and the horror of seeing old people have sex. Even the thought appalled Slick. She does not want to have sex anymore! Since Slick looked over at sixty-seven year old Hopper, he countered with the fact that his wife was 35 years old and his new baby was just twelve weeks old.

We don’t know Hopper’s thoughts on old people having sex but he did reminisce about his well-known dalliance with LSD and other drugs. Hopper had some interesting theories about the CIA developing LSD in the 60′s as a way to control young people.
Professor Hickey memorialized his own legacy: “All I wanted to do was get fucked up and then drive real fast.”

Hopper deflected talk about his own “iconography” and finally said: “Where the hell is Hunter?” to the delight of the crowd.

It’s not as if the assembled crowd would have been shocked if Thompson turned up in crumbled clothes, unwashed, drunk, and carried by Benicio Del Toro. Since Thompson wouldn’t turn up for the Art Panel, I didn’t turn up for the evening’s screening of “Breakfast with Hunter.” (That’ll show him!) Thompson did arrive at the gala closing night party at SKIN, the outdoor nightclub at the Palms. Supported by Del Toro and arriving by golf cart, Thompson was completely inaccessible to his fans. I managed to get a blurry photo of Thompson in a cabana having his head swathed with ice by new bride Anita Bejmuk, who is 36 years younger, and was formerly Thompson’s personal assistant. He was said to have had a sore foot that made walking unbearable.

I’d like to thank Andrea Weinberger, COO and President of CineVegas, Kelli Maruca of The Greenspun Media Group, and especially Judy, Kim, and Susan Dixon of Dominion3 Public Relations Company for approving my press credentials to attend the CineVegas International Film Festival.

The Entertainment Development Corporation (EDC) of Las Vegas, producers of CineVegas, is a private, membership-based non-profit organization, which works to promote film and television production through education and events like VEGAS.com‘s CineVegas International Film Festival. For information on next year’s CineVegas International Film Festival, go to www.cinevegas.com.

The organizers of the 4th Annual CineVegas International Film Festival took the traditional concept of a film festival and infused it with the exclusiveness and glamour of a high-rollers weekend in Las Vegas. Yes, there were over fifty feature films shown (along with shorts, classic gambling movies, documentaries, and a showcase for UNLV student filmmakers), but they provided a great deal more for a savvy audience. They understood that people come to Las Vegas for special events, but would also want to be part of a very hip VIP scene.

The 4th CineVegas delivers the goods with receptions, big parties, after hours parties, screenwriting seminars and one explosive world premiere – Jonas Ã…kerlund’s SPUN.

The main force behind CineVegas 2002 is Entertainment Development Corp.’s (beautiful and controversial) founder and C.E.O. L. Mimosa Jones. EDC’s (www.edclv.com) organizers wisely brought Trevor Groth, a 10-year programmer at the Sundance Film Festival, to serve as the event’s director of programming. The Palms, Las Vegas’s newest off-Strip casino resort, was the perfect venue. The Palms has Brenden Theatres (three were used exclusively for CineVegas) and a host of sophisticated restaurants and nightclubs, as well as the standard casino amenities. With the exception of a few parties at Strip casino-hotels (with free shuttle bus service provided by CineVegas), all events and screenings were held at the Palms.

CineVegas opened on Friday with a reception at the Palms Casino Resort’s ghostbar, a club situated 450 feet above the Las Vegas skyline. Ghostbar has an impressive open-air deck with a glass floor and stark CLOCKWORK ORANGE-like decor. The reception was followed by the premiere of John Sayles’ 13th film, SUNSHINE STATE. This 141-minute film was pure agony for me, but the audience, as well as many critics I talked to, loved it. Why did Groth choose such a slow-moving, long film to open the Festival? He told me he liked it and wanted a “soft opening.”

Angela Bassett plays a woman returning to Plantation Island, Florida, where real estate developers are trying to transform the modest rural community into an upscale resort. Nothing happens, and several characters pontificate. Most of the main characters have monologues.

Also on the Opening Night schedule was a concert by David Cross at the House of Blues at the Mandalay Bay Hotel-Casino, followed by an after hours party that began at 12:30 AM.

Saturday’s program started off with a fabulous Filmmaker’s Luncheon at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago at the Forum Shops at Caesar’s Palace. A small group was invited to meet, among many filmmakers, Michael Almedreda (HAPPY HERE AND NOW), Jonas Ã…kerlund (SPUN), and Mars Callahan (POOLHALL JUNKIES). In my opinion, Groth redeemed himself triumphantly by scheduling screenings of the highly enjoyable POOLHALL JUNKIES followed by the dazzling and provocative SPUN.

SPUN – about crystal meth addiction – is a blistering, unapologetic look at a 3-day drug binge. Remember the first time you saw PULP FICTION? Remember TRAINSPOTTING? Remember (the only good thing about) MAGNOLIA – Tom Cruise’s Frank T J Mackey’s “Respect the Cock” tirade? These are now “quaint” compared to the grandiose excess of SPUN. Jason Schwartzman plays a college drop-out meth addict who leaves a stripper sprawled out and tied naked to his bed for four days while he helps meth manufacturer Cook (Mickey Rourke) and Cook’s crazy stripper girlfriend (Brittany Murphy) run errands. His speed dealer, Spider Mike (John Leguizamo), masturbates and gets arrested only wearing a sock. Mike’s girlfriend (Mena Suvari) finally ends her bout with constipation on screen. Alexis Arquette abandons his drag queen day job to play a meth using police officer. There’s lots more. This film is the death knell for the allure of trying hard drugs.

The Opening Night Gala party (followed by an After Hours Party) was held at the fabulous Rain nightclub at The Palms. Many of the stars of SPUN were easily approachable and walked around (though Rain has VIP boxes, cabana areas, and water booths, these private areas were not in use). I only glanced at a mobbed Mickey Rourke holding court at a bar and passed supermodel-turned-actress Shalom Harlow waiting outside on a very long line.

Sunday’s festivities included an afternoon reception at Garduno’s restaurant at the Palms, followed by several evening screenings, including HAPPY HERE AND NOW (USA), GIGANTIC (USA), ALL ABOUT LILY CHOW-CHOU (Japan), and the audience favorite, BUBBA HO-TEP. Bruce Campbell, star of BUBBA, director-writer Don Coscarelli, and short-story author Joe R. Lansdale introduced the film, stayed for Q&A, and then went on with the rest of us to Venus at The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino.

BUBBA is the story of what might have happened to Elvis Presley – if he switched identities with an Elvis impersonator, got old, and was living in a nursing home. An evil soul-sucking Egyptian mummy returns to feed off sick, old people. Only Elvis and a very old JFK (he survived the assassination and, through plastic surgery, is now a black man) can fight the mummy. Well, enough said about BUBBA. Venus, a gorgeous new tiki bar, served roasted pig and 80′s disco music.

Monday’s program began with Border’s presents: Coffee with. . .Series hosted by New York Times Film Critic Elvis Mitchell. Elvis ably sparred with novelist Jerry Stahl, infamous as the character Ben Stiller played in PERMANENT MIDNIGHT (based on Stahl’s book). Stahl, who is now writing screenplays as well as novels, was self-effacing and refreshingly blunt. He enchanted the large audience with his take on the Hollywood filmmaking process. Stahl denied knowing anything about story structure and plot. He said he gets jobs because of his “edgy” reputation and then promptly gets fired. He was so engaging, I’ve started a letter-writing campaign to have an entire afternoon devoted to Stahl at the 5th Annual CineVegas International Film Festival. Apparently, Stahl’s fame came so late in life (if late 30′s is indeed late) that he doesn’t give a damn about holding onto it.

The films shown included CHICKEN RICE WAR (Singapore), NO NEWS FROM GOD (Spain) and SEX AND LUCIA (Spain). Monday night’s big gala event was IT’S VEGAS, BABY held at Light at Bellagio Hotel & Casino. This high ticket event had seventeen of Las Vegas’s headliners performing including Siegfried & Roy, Wayne Newton, Lance Burton, the cast of Cirque du Soleil, and Las Vegas’s most recent attraction, Charo.

Tuesday’s events started with ‘Border’s presents: Coffee with. . .’ Series. The team behind WILD, WILD WEST, TREMORS and GHOST DAD, S.S. Wilson, Brent Maddock and Nancy Roberts, were the guests. Again, Elvis did a terrific job luring answers out of these three.

Later, I attended a packed screening of SUPER SUCKER, written and directed by Jeff Daniels. It’s the story of a vacuum salesman who stumbles upon an “attachment” that renders earthquake-like orgasms. An entire Michigan town explodes in orgiastic frenzy – as did the CineVegas audience. It made me cringe! Luckily, SUPER SUCKER was preceded by a wonderful, very funny and charming four minute short, THE COMEBACK, starring Samuel L. Jackson and directed by Trent Cooper. Jackson vows to settle the score and makes a dramatic return to a sport he abandoned long ago – Pee Wee Football. The evening party was held at Studio 54 at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino.

Wednesday began at 10 AM with ‘Border’s presents: Coffee with. . .’ Series with Elvis talking to guest Stephan Mazor, current professor of screenwriting at AFI. Mazor’s credits include HEARTBREAKERS, LIAR LIAR, and THE LITTLE RASCALS. CineVegas adventurers were given the opportunity of taking a trip to Nevada’s infamous Area 51 with a luncheon at The Little Ale’ Inn on Extraterrestrial Highway in Rachel. This event sold out quickly. (Years ago I made the pilgrimage to Area 51 and The Little Ale’ Inn. The Inn sells a lot of UFO memorabilia junk and has the cheapest hamburgers in Nevada). Films shown were STRANGE HEARTS (with star Robert Forster in attendance), TADPOLE (with John Ritter walking around and signing stuff at the CineVegas reception room and in attendance at the screening), and MENTAL (written and directed by Thomas Russell). The evening party was held at China Grill at Mandalay Bay Hotel-Casino.

On Thursday evening Chameleon Studios at Irvin Productions held a POOLHALL JUNKIES premiere party. The cast, Mars Callahan, Chazz Palminteri, Rick Schroeder and Anson Mount, were in attendance. Unfortunately, the great Christopher Walken (Callahan does a devastating homage to Walken) could not make the Festival. Callahan, who co-wrote, directed, and stars in JUNKIES, spent ten years as a professional pool player. He knows the terrain and admirably does what needed to be done for Rick Schroeder – Callahan made him tough and sexy. Callahan has a lot of on-screen charisma his director didn’t mine. Whenever an actor directs himself he loses the ability to objectify the character. I predict another director will exploit Callahan’s sex appeal. The After Hours Party was held at Coyote Ugly at the New York-New York Hotel & Casino. Coyote Ugly is not one of my favorite places – it’s too loud and there’s no place to sit. However, the bartenders are brash, young, thin, and very good looking.

Friday began with the Critic’s Award Brunch held at Smith & Wollensky Steakhouse. The Critic’s Award jury was made up of Harry Knowles of Ain’t-It-Cool-News; Emanuel Levy, a two-time president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association; and Anne Thompson, West Coast editor of Premiere magazine. The jury chose “G” (directed by Christopher Scott Cherot and starring Blair Underwood) for it’s top award. A special directing prize went to FACE (directed by Bertha Bay-Sa Pan) and an Honorable Mention to DRAFTDODGING (directed by Wendall Adams). Friday’s evening party was held at one of my favorite restaurants, the Palm’s Little Buddha.

Saturday’s program included screenings of RUN RONNIE, RUN! (directed by Troy Miller), FACE (with star Bai Ling in attendance), and a charming French film, GET A WAY (directed by Noah Nuer). Special events included CineVegas Charity Black Jack Tournament with 108 players and 13 celebrities. To join this event cost $500 and was open to a select group of professional players, filmmakers and festival attendees. The winner – Dustin Hoffman’s wife Lisa! – won the $5,000 cash prize. The Audience Award was given to WEST OF HERE (directed by Peter CB Masterson and starring Josh Hamilton and Mary Stuart Masterson) and in the documentary category, BREATH CONTROL: HISTORY OF THE HUMAN BEAT BOX (directed by Joey Garfield and Jacob Craycroft). The Marquee Award achievement presentation was given to Dustin Hoffman and held at the exclusive Four Seasons Hotel at Mandalay Bay.

A closing reception was held at Rande Gerber’s Whiskey Sky at Green Valley Ranch Resort with a spectacular display of fireworks featuring a two-story high “orb.” And to really close CineVegas in a style honoring Las Vegas decadence, the Closing Party, held at Rain, was hosted by Gene Simmons’ Tongue Magazine.

The 4th Annual CineVegas International Film Festival was not cheap: The Premiere package (everything included except ‘It’s Vegas, Baby’, The Black Jack Tournament, and the trip to Area 51) cost $550; the Die Hard Film Fanatic Package cost $450; other packages went for $300. Individual events were reasonably priced and the public was invited to purchase tickets to each screening.
Considering the organizers of CineVegas showered the attendees with big parties and interaction with filmmakers and stars, the cost was – by Las Vegas standards – an enviable bargain. For anyone loving film festivals and interested in being in Las Vegas as a privileged insider, The 5th Annual CineVegas International Film Festival should not be missed.

All photographs by Chuck Walker. (1) John Tunney lll and L. Mimosa Jones; (2) ghostbar; (3) Mickey Rourke.