Cinemocracy
The Film Festival at the Denver Democratic National Convention
One of the most exciting and innovative events tied in with Denver’s Democratic National Convention in August is without a doubt Cinemocracy, a film festival organized by the Denver 2008 Host Committee, the Denver Film Society and the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs. The project asked amateur filmmakers to create 5-minute videos based around the idea of what democracy means to them. The response was huge – and you can check out the widely varied submissions online at www.cinemocracy.org. You can also vote for your favorites there. Denver.org chatted with Gina Rubato of the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs about Cinemocracy.
Denver.org: How many submissions did you guys end up receiving for Cinemocracy?
Gina Rubato: So far we’ve gotten 76 videos in, and the deadline has been extended to August 1st, so we should get some more in. you can vote on the videos until August 15th.
Denver.org: Did you personally watch every single submission? What was that experience like?
GR: I did watch every single one! It was a lot of fun. Just watching them, you really get a sense of how passionate and interested people are in the concept of democracy, especially since this is such a monumental year for the country. There are so many different viewpoints, and each one is really unique and fascinating.
Denver.org: Were there any common threads that ran through the bulk of the submissions?
GR: Some of the videos couldn’t be more different from each other, but what they all show is just how much people really care about this election, about democracy and about this country. There’s a lot of passion in every submission. The other thing that was interesting is how high quality almost all of the videos are. When we began the project, we kind of imagined that we’d get a bunch of people on their webcams, espousing their views. But we barely got any of that kind of thing – these are real films, and everyone put a lot of effort and creativity into them.
Denver.org: What was most surprising about the submissions?
GR: You know, we received several films from elementary and middle schools, and those are some of the most compelling of all of them. These kids are kind of amazing filmmakers.
Denver.org: What are some of the events tied in with Cinemocracy that people can check out?
GR: The big one is the Cinemocracy Rocks! event at Red Rocks on August 25th. It’s presented by GOOD Magazine and also part of the Denver Film Society's Film on the Rocks series. We’ll be screening the top 10 vote-getting videos, and there’ll be live music and comedy. It’ll be a really good time. Tickets are going on sale August 4th. And then, after that, the top 10 films will be screened during the Starz Denver Film Festival (Nov. 13-23).
Get more info -- and vote on your favorite videos -- at www.Cinemocracy.org.
Find out more about Convention-related events here!