CineFestival Rocks

San Antonio's CineFestival kicked off Thursday night with a screening of "CURANDERO", starring Carlos Callardo and Gizeht Galatea, both of whom were in town at the screening. I don't know when this film will be in theaters, but if you can catch it while on the festival circuit, you should.

I had met Carlos at Sundance in 1993 when EL MARIACHI was playing, but we hadn't run into each other since, and it was nice to reconnect. He's off to shoot the next in his BANDIDO franchise, later this year. Hopefully we'll see more of him in SA over the next decade.

Gizeht was gracious and beautiful, and it turns out that she had never been to San Antonio before. But she did have an SA connection - she was in LAND OF ANOTHER, which shot here this summer, although she wasn't in any of the SA locations, only the Mexico part of the shoot.

After the screening, we headed over to ZEN bar on Houston, and met up with everyone and a few more folks. Bryan Anthony Ramirez and his wife, Eduardo Arroyuelo, and Pablo Veliz stopped by, and stayed much later than me.

Many more films, and stars as well - go see the CineFestival. Programmer Rene Rhi has an impressive lineup of films through Saturday. Hats off to you Rene, great job and a great start to a San Antonio gem.

www.guadalupeculturalarts.org for more information.

Don't forget the Seguin Film Festival this weekend as well -