Cinespace

Patrick Kwiatkowski and CineSpace

By Andrea White

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

http://www.chron.com/local/gray-matters/article/Big-idea-Space-movies-6676745.php

Idea person: Patrick Kwiatkowski, CineSpace Star Ship Commander.

Idea: Screen short films about space.

How it started:  More than 20 years ago, Kwiatkowski was a radio deejay in Paris. “I have always been more comfortable presenting the party than participating in it,” he says.

With those entries, Microcinema created monthly shows that it distributed via VHS and mailed to “microcinemas” and other venues all over the world.  Kwiatkowski developed the goal of screening shorts in the craziest places he could. “We screened at a Mount Everest base-camp bar,” he says, “and even sent a show back to McMurdo.” He dreamed of screening a movie in space.

Microcinema went on to become an established distributor of independent shorts and features with a focus on art and culture. But Netflix, digital piracy and the great recession fundamentally changed the nature of the business, and the company shut its doors in late 2014.

How it grew:  Two years ago, NASA approached Trish Rigdon, the executive director of the Houston Cinema Arts Society, which presents innovative films, with an unexpected but welcome proposal: Would the society be interested a partnership to  promote NASA’s film archive?

Kwiatkowski, a member of the society’s board, attended a few of the brainstorming sessions. The he presented a business plan that was roughly modeled on what he’d done with Microcinema for almost 20 years. Daniel Jacobs, the former manager for International Partners, for International Space Station, was “Patrick on the NASA side,” says Rigdon.

The plan was accepted, and CineSpace was born.

CineSpace challenged filmmakers around the world to use actual NASA imagery and compete at a new short film competition. It premiered at the Houston Cinema Arts Festival in mid-November.

The first CineSpace competition drew 194 entries. Fulfilling Kwiatkowski’s long-standing dream, 16 of the entries were screened at the International Space Station before being presented in November at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston on the first ever CineSpace Day.

Astronaut Scott Kelly, high above the world in the International Space Station, offered a recorded welcome to the audience packing the Brown Auditorium. Astronaut Don Pettit presented the first place prize, $10,0000, to Houston artists Mary Magsamen and Stephen Hillerbrand for the short “Higher Ground” — the winner that was selected by NASA and Houston-born director Richard Linklater (Boyhood).

The short tells the story of an otherwise ordinary family, who after watching space footage on television, decide to build their own rocket ship in the backyard out of bits of their house and stuff from their garage. “It was cute and inspiring at the same time,” says Kwiatkowski.

Next steps: In his day job these days, Kwiatkowski consults on using cutting-edge video and motion art as a marketing tool, and he would like to help expand the distribution of the CineSpace shorts and find venues around the world — the more exotic the better — to screen the films.

Keeping CineSpace fresh and relevant will be another focus. “That is always a challenge with thematic festivals,” he says. But he loves figuring out ways to use moving images to present an idea and create an atmosphere. “In some ways I’m still trying to be a deejay,” Kwiatkowski says.

Bottom line: Houston Cinema Arts Society and NASA will continue to explore space through art at next year’s festival.

Bookmark Gray Matters. It comes wrapped in a parka.

image credit:  NASA

These are the Houstonians people couldn’t stop talking about this year.

By Daniela Di Napoli and Amber Elliott

Published 12:51 pm, Saturday, December 5, 2015

http://www.chron.com/life/article/Houston-s-most-fascinating-people-of-2015-6677913.php

Winning Submissions to Debut at 2015 Houston Cinema Arts Festival

Feb 26, 2015, 16:43 ET from Houston Cinema Arts Society

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nasa-and-houston-cinema-arts-society-create-cinespace-film-competition-300042467.html

HOUSTON, Feb. 26, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — NASA and Houston Cinema Arts Society (HCAS) will offer filmmakers around the world a chance to share their works inspired by — and using — actual NASA imagery through “CineSpace,” a new short film competition premiering at the Houston Cinema Arts Festival in November 2015.

Films featuring NASA-captured imagery and video collected throughout the agency’s 50-year history will be judged on creativity, innovation and attention to detail – the same hallmarks of spaceflight. Works submitted to CineSpace will compete for cash prizes and the opportunity to be shown to audiences both on and off Earth.

The competition is open to all filmmakers, both professional and aspiring. Submissions of all genres, up to 15 minutes running time, will be accepted. Entries must use at least 10 percent publically available NASA imagery.

The submission period opens June 1 and closes July 31. Finalists and winners will be announced at a CineSpace event during the 7^th Annual Houston Cinema Arts Festival (Nov. 12-19). Entries will be competing for a total of$26,000 in prizes, with cash awards going to the top three submissions and the two films chosen that best depict the themes of “Benefits to Humanity from the International Space Station” and “Spirit of Future Exploration of Space.”

“Houston Cinema Arts Society is thrilled to partner with NASA to add a new and unique competitive component to our festival,” HCAS board member Patrick Kwiatkowski said. “Tapping into NASA’s vast archive will afford filmmakers the opportunity to produce compelling and innovative works across all genres. Our audiences will see space like it has never been seen before.”

HCAS is a non-profit organization created in 2008 that organizes and hosts the annual Houston Cinema Arts Festival, the only festival in the United States dedicated to films about the arts. The expertly curated festival has hosted notable filmmakers and actors including Robert Redford, Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, Isabella Rossellini, Tilda Swinton, John Turturro, Shirley MacLaine, Thomas Haden Church, Will Forte, Julie Taymor andJames Ivory.

“CineSpace is a new and untested chance to inspire the next generation of explorers,” International Space Station Program manager Michael Suffredini said. “This unique opportunity allows others to help tell the story of humanity’s place in the cosmos as they see it, with the help of NASA’s vast library of moving and still imagery. Exploration and discovery, which are central to NASA’s mission, are as connected to human psyche as is art, so we are excited to see how artists can help to communicate that mission.”

NASA’s journeys into air and space continue to power inspiration that encourages future generations to explore, learn and build a better future. The next decade of exploration will be a time of rapid advancement and innovation as humanity stands poised to take the next giant leap to Mars and beyond.

For more information on CineSpace, competition guidelines and the submission process, visit:http://www.cinespace15.org

To browse NASA video and imagery, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/content/download-nasa-videos-for-cinespace

ABOUT HOUSTON CINEMA ARTS SOCIETY (HCAS)
Houston Cinema Arts Society is a non-profit organization created in 2008 with the support of former HoustonMayor Bill White and the leadership of Franci Neely. HCAS organizes and hosts the annual Houston Cinema Arts Festival, a groundbreaking and innovative arts festival featuring films and new media by and about artists in the visual, performing and literary arts. HCAS sponsors include Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Houston First Corporation, Texas Monthly, Levantine Films, Champion Energy Services, Nabors, Amegy Bank of Texas, as well as a grant from the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, and The Brown Foundation, Inc., TexasCommission on the Arts, and others. HCAF is also supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information, please visit hcaf15.org.