CineVegas film festival returns to Las Vegas in August

CineVegas makes its return to Las Vegas Aug. 13-15 after a six-year hiatus. The local film festival joins the 2015 Las Vegas Film Festival at Inspire Theater in downtown Las Vegas with three features and one short, all with directors and actors with connections to past CineVegas festivals.

The festival features “Call Me Lucky,” “Guiseppe Makes a Movie” and short film “The Paranormal Idiot,” all directed by CineVegas alumni. Actor Viggo Mortensen, who stars in CineVegas’ fourth film “Jauja,” is also a past CineVegas honoree.

The four films begin screening on Thursday, Aug. 13, and run until Saturday, Aug. 15.
The first CineVegas film festival was held in 1999, and actor Dennis Hopper served as chairman from 2004 until his death in 2010. In the past, the festival hosted advance screenings of films such as “Ocean’s Thirteen,” “You Kill Me” and “Whale Rider.”

“Call Me Lucky” from director Bobcat Goldthwait features Barry Crimmins as “a volatile but brilliant bar comic who became an honored peace activist and influential political satirist.”

“Giuseppe Makes A Movie” from director Adam Rifkin covers filmmaker and musician Giuseppe Andrews, a one-time teen actor in “Independence Day” and “Detroit Rock City,” who has made more than 30 experimental features with titles such as “Doily’s Summer of Freak Occurrences,” “Trailer Town” and “Utopia Blues.”

“Jauja” from director Lisandro Alonso covers the mythical land of “abundance and happiness” that explorers search for, and those who “got lost on the way.” Mortensen stars.

Finally, “The Paranormal Idiot” from Las Vegas director Tom Barndt is the filmmaker’s new 10-minute short.

Tickets start at $12.

Tickets: Las Vegas Film Festival