Daily Memo: Culture:

CineVegas hiatus another grim economic indicator

Just as arts scene was blossoming, recession moved in

Chris Morris

By Joe Brown (contact)

Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Archive of CineVegas 2009 stories

CineVegas Awards 2009

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CineVegas Red Carpet 2009

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CineVegas International Film Festival put on hiatus for 2010 (9-25-2009)
Our kind of culture (7-10-2009)
Vegas film fest comes of age (7-11-2008)

CineVegas

The first leaf fell last year. Word trickled out that the annual Vegoose indoor-outdoor rock festival was dead, and October in Las Vegas ended with an odd quiet. Then the Las Vegas Art Museum shut its doors. Bracing against the impending ill wind, the boards of the Las Vegas Philharmonic and Nevada Ballet scrambled to avoid blowing away completely. Thankfully, they both hung on.

The branches seemed almost bare when, last week, the CineVegas International Film Festival announced it will be sitting out what would have been its 12th year.

It was just the latest blow in a war of attrition on a local arts scene that was just beginning to feel its roots were secure. We just lost — even if only temporarily — another one of those things Las Vegas could proudly point to and say, “See? We are a real city!”

Some of this can be attributed to the normal cycles and churn that affect the arts and culture industry like any other. But it’s clear that the chilling villain is the economic downturn, which has brought a blight to the Las Vegas landscape. Visitors are down — you can feel it in the traffic and in the parking lots — and those who do come are gripping their ATM cards tighter, looking for free tickets and demanding discounts.

The fall climate has also affected the Strip: Last week, citing the “uncertain economic climate,” Caesars Palace announced that the annual Comedy Festival will go dark in 2010, in what would have been its fifth year.

Before that, we saw the brief desert blooming of Broadway musicals — “Spamalot,” “The Producers” and “Mamma Mia!” — drop off one by one. The venerable “Folies Bergere” packed its feathers and flew back to France. The eternal and seemingly indestructible Charo recently turned an ankle and put her open-ended gig at the Riviera on ice. Wayne Brady just canceled all of his October dates at the Venetian because of “vocal strains” (though he continues to host tapings of “Let’s Make A Deal” at the Tropicana).

Bundle up and brace yourself: The losses aren’t finished. More shows and arts groups are certain to fold up — or just never happen.

We all view this slow-motion train wreck from our own perspective, of course, and the money crunch has had me wondering if there will be a job left for me. Two years ago the Las Vegas Sun brought me here to chronicle and comment on the nascent local culture and entertainment scene — to pay some much-needed attention to the arts groups that have been quietly growing a few miles away from the topless revues, UFC brawls and celebrity tattoo parlors.

But then came the early frost, and the cultural turf off the Strip is contracting and turning brown. You can’t blame that on tourists — there are nearly 2 million residents in the metro area, and our arts groups still have to go begging for funding and audiences.

The sad CineVegas news comes just as it was developing a distinct personality and profile on the world film festival circuit. It has evolved into an approachable, accessible film festival for tourists and locals alike, with a unique one-stop-shopping location in the Palms that centralized all screenings while offering festivalgoers almost every amenity imaginable.

CineVegas Artistic Director Trevor Groth, who also selects films for the Sundance Film Festival, mixes the commercial and offbeat, balancing Hollywood premieres (which bring in customers) and indie finds (which earn street cred) with more than a sprinkling of Las Vegas-themed movies and new work by UNLV students and other aspiring filmmakers.

This year CineVegas compressed its schedule from 10 days to five, reducing costs and making the festival more digestible. But that apparently wasn’t enough of a cutback to withstand the coming economic weather. The plan, said CineVegas President Robin Greenspun, is to take a hiatus in 2010, wait for the economy to recover a little, do some fundraising, and return in 2011. “Rather than allow the economy to affect its level of quality,” Greenspun said in her announcement, “we have opted to put the event on hold.”

What nobody — including me — wants to say out loud is that a sabbatical may turn out to be permanent, that CineVegas may not be able to regain its momentum and hard-won prestige.

Losing CineVegas for good is a grim thought for moviegoers in a city that doesn’t have a theater dedicated to screening independent fare, foreign films and repertory classics. But the fact that CineVegas has lasted 11 years means there must be some appetite for such things.

Doesn’t it?

Let’s hope CineVegas can bounce back — it took a year off in 2001, and came back stronger.

The lesson lingers: If you love something in this town, actively support it; don’t take it for granted. It might not be here tomorrow.

Discussion: 15 comments so far…

By stevem

10/6/09 at 6:17 a.m.

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ohh boo freaking hoo.

cinevegas was nothing more than a way to get pretenders to buy $500 bottles of vodka so they could be in the same room as b-list stars.

cinevegas "snobbed" itself to death.

any attempt to pretend it was anything BUT that insults the intelligence of your readers.
By JPM42

10/6/09 at 6:52 a.m.

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CineVegas and the Las Vegas Sun have the same parent company. Nice disclosure.. J-School 101 folks
By neiman1

10/6/09 at 8:15 a.m.

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What a shock. People cut back on things that are not necessary when times are tough. This author should receive a prize for pointing this out to the rest of us.
By Green_Dragon_Regular

10/6/09 at 9:11 a.m.

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"...in a city that doesn't have a theater dedicated to screening independent fare, foreign films and repertory classics."

I think that line, coupled with the first two comments, above, and then mixed in with the article about Las Vegas' intellectual ranking pretty much sums up the situation.

Obviously, stevem, you never attended any of the actual screenings or panel discussions, but then, gasp! That may require some thinking.

JPM42, however is dead on about how Greenspun media, despite having some writing and reporting talent, shoots itself in the credibility feet it needs to stand on.
By reg373

10/6/09 at 9:29 a.m.

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The economy will bounce back. And those thinking about long-term recovery, know the enviroment will be a big winner in the conversion to biofuels & biopower -- found a cool site; Balkingpoints ; incredible satellite view of earth
By JayeTT

10/6/09 at 10:35 a.m.

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This is commentary, folks. J-School 101. If you click on the link to the NEWS article about CineVegas going on hiatus, it very clearly states that the Sun and CineVegas have the same parent company.
By Caroll

10/6/09 at 10:42 a.m.

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CineVegas was pathetic.
Year after year it was an embarrassment.
It was not about film making.
It was not about the art.

Let's be real and honest here.
It's an indication of the bad going away like it should.

We travel to several film festivals each year. We understand that alone does not make us experts.

But when we compare the festivals - CineVegas was at the bottom. Poor selection of films.
Bad location. All hype and zero substance.

By far CineVegas was the worse of the worst.

Talk to locals...no one seemed to like it or support it.

It was nothing but a walking porno at the Palms with a lot of Hollywood wanna-be's who attempt to dress the part and wear hair gel. And then there were all the chicks dressed like whores parading around and getting on their knees to show how much talent they have.

This is NOT cinema. CineVegas will not be missed.
By Critias

10/6/09 at 10:42 a.m.

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I'm not happy about another event not taking place, at the same time, who wants even more drunk and drugged pseudo-celebrities posing.
By vgs2oc

10/6/09 at 11:55 a.m.

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Most of you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. CineVegas worst of the worst? Then why did publications like Variety and The Hollywood Reporter select it as one of the top 50 festivals in the world? (PS: Neither of those publications are owned by the Greenspuns) Take a look at some of these articles by FILM TRADE MEDIA and then form your opinion instead of talking about stuff you have no knowledge of:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/distinc...

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118005...

And I doubt that the Director of Programming for Sundance, the most important film festival in the US if not the world, would be involved in CineVegas if really was the piece of S--T you're saying it is. No wonder Vegas was voted as the second dumbest city in the US this week - it's because of people like you!
By James_P_Reza

10/6/09 at noon

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The predictable and notorious self-loathing of Las Vegas residents always reveals itself on the comments.

"Hi! I just moved to Vegas! Why are there sexy girls everywhere? Why is liquor served 24/7? This must be stopped!" Snoooooooooze.

The faster the Vegas Haters get on a plane, the better off the real community will be. We actually like it here; imagine that.

Oh, and ... This Thursday, the first scratch-built art gallery in the Arts District opens. Brett Wesely Gallery is a beautiful, free-standing, modern building built by a local giving back to his community. Google it, folks, if you can.
By BobbyG

10/6/09 at 7:01 p.m.

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Meanwhile, the arts are fully alive every Monday night in the Lounge at the Palms. Santa Fe and The Fat City Horns puts on a stunning weekly free show to SRO crowds:

http://santafeandthefatcityhorns.blogspo...

Their 3rd CD will be released next month and is off-the-scale, reset-the-bar, jaw-droppingly excellent. These cats do it for the love of musical excellence, not for glitz or money. 15 of our finest casino show players, makin' it real on their off night.
By stevem

10/6/09 at 8:31 p.m.

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actually, moron...

i went to MANY of the screenings, and i still want the 90 minutes of my life i wasted on "nacho libre" back, but the screenings are nothing more than a lure to get people into the clubs and parties.

now that the clubs know they won't get their return on investment...the film festival gets the boot.

and i'm not saying anything is WRONG with that, but let's not kid ourselves as to the real reason it's not happening this year.

if...in theory...the same amount of people go to the same amount of movies each year...and the films themselves could support the festival...they'd still be having it this year.

the REALITY is that the films DON'T support the festival, but $500 bottles of vodka DO. THAT'S where the money is.
By Green_Dragon_Regular

10/7/09 at 10:19 a.m.

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@stevem-

Someone who voluntarily went to see "Nacho Libre" calling ME a moron?!

Wow. Somehow I was smart enough to out-select that one. How 'bout films like "Breakfast with Hunter" and "Dallas 362"? Just to name two decent films.

YOU seem really hung up on the club scene, which I could care less about. I didn't have to pay a dime to hang out and talk with many film industry folks. No $500 bottles of vodka on those tables.

Have you read the article about Las Vegas' ranking in smarts? You'll either find it interesting, accurate, or offensive. One thing you do NOT do is prove it wrong.
By vgs2oc

10/7/09 at 11:49 a.m.

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Bravo Green Dragon!
By skerlahdee

10/8/09 at 1:18 a.m.

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If events like this get cancelled and are not renewed, Fresno won't be on the bottom anymore.