California Extreme Film Festival
California Extreme
for our previously announced Film Festival. We are very fortunate to
have assembled an excellent mix of arcade-related films for the
viewing pleasure of our attendees!
We will be featuring 2 wonderful arcade-related documentaries: "The
King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" and "Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the
Arcade." Both of these films have garnered high praise by those who
have seen them as they make their respective ways through various film
festivals around the country and the world.
THE KING OF KONG: A FISTFUL OF QUARTERS
We will be featuring the film "The King of Kong: A Fistful of
Quarters". We are very excited to be able to show this film in advance
of its general nationwide opening on August 24, 2007.
A middle-school science teacher and a hot sauce mogul vie for the
Guinness World Record on the arcade classic, Donkey Kong.
In 1982, LIFE Magazine assembled the world's greatest gamers for a
photo shoot that would become the center spread of their 1982 Year-In-
Photos edition. Billy Mitchell, who would later be named the "Gamer of
the Century," was one of the invitees. Mitchell, the World Record
holder on Centipede, had been tracking the score on Donkey Kong, and
knew he could take that title as well. In front of the 20 best gamers
in the world, Billy scored 874,300 points, a record many thought would
never be broken.
In 2003, 35 year old family man Steve Wiebe, after losing his job at
Boeing, found solace in Donkey Kong. Steve stumbled upon Billy
Mitchell's record online, and set out to break it. He began perfecting
his game every night after his wife and kids went to bed, and not only
surpassed Billy's record, but ended up with a thought-to-be-impossible
1,000,000 points.
A tidal wave of media coverage followed, and Steve Wiebe quickly
became a celebrity in his hometown of Seattle, WA. He also
rediscovered his love for teaching, and regained the respect of all
who once doubted him. Meanwhile, back in Hollywood, FL, Billy Mitchell
hatched a plan to reclaim his fallen Donkey Kong record.
In the months that followed, Steve and Billy engaged in a cross-
country duel to see who could set the high score that would be
included in the 2007 Guinness World Records' book and become The King
of Kong. Along the way, both men learned valuable lessons about what
it means to be a father, a husband, and a true champion... discovering
that you don't always need to win to be a winner.
For more information on this film, please visit http://www.billyvssteve.com.
CHASING GHOSTS: BEYOND THE ARCADE
Our excitement continues unabated as we offer the official Sundance
Film Festival selection, "Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade."
In the early eighties, video games were synonymous with arcades, and
games were bringing in enough quarters to fill the Rose Bowl. This
endless possibility led Iowa entrepreneur Walter Day to declare
himself the sole authority on high scores. In 1982, Walter launched
his Twin Galaxies International Scoreboard and the rest, as they say,
is history.
Sixteen teenage superstars came from all over North America to join
Walter in a LIFE Magazine feature spread, which recognized them as
video game world champions. This led to nationally televised
competitions, a touring National Video Game Team, and the promise of
fame, fortune and groupies. Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade revisits
Walter and the LIFE players, now middle-aged men, as they reminisce on
the arcade scene, its demise, and the dreams that crashed with it. It
is a story of growing up, and a tribute to an era when a quarter and a
dream could take you anywhere.
Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade was an official selection of the
Sundance Film Festival 2007 Documentary Competition and an official
selection of the Los Angeles Film Festival 2007. This film will be
screened in HD at California Extreme.
For more information on this film, please visit www.chasingghoststhemovie.com.
Some reviews of Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade
"Visually arresting look at the dynamics of competition and
camaraderie...will entertain just about anyone who's ever tried their
hand at "Pac-Man," while paying affectionate tribute to a bygone era."
- Justin Chang, Variety
"Chasing Ghosts does for the old school video games what Trekkies did
for Star Trek." - Peter Sciretta, Slashfilm
"Mixing a wealth of reports devoting news time to the craze, a worthy
80s soundtrack and some fun computer rendering of the game's rules,
Chasing Ghosts is a true bit of cinematic time travel." -
eFilmCritic.com
HIGH SCORE
In addition, we will also be showing the South By Southwest Film
Festival Audience Award winning film, "High Score" which is another
highly praised documentary about a single man's (Bill Carlton) quest
for a high score on Missile Command. "High Score" follows Bill as he
attempts to take down the Atari classic Missile Command and its twenty
year-old record. To get the 80 million points he'll have to play the
game on one quarter for over two days straight. There is no pause
button. There will be no sleep. There can be only one victor in this
classic story of Man versus Missile Command.
As an added bonus, Bill will be on hand to answer audience questions
after the film. Who knows? Maybe Bill will make another Missile
Command high score attempt at the show, too!
ADDITIONAL FILMS
In addition to the aforementioned films, we are also proud to show
several short film subject pieces and trailers including:
- "Ball Saved", a pinball documentary by Ben Olson. "Ball Saved"
features a rare glimpse behind the scenes at Stern Pinball, an
interview with Roger Sharpe, world-class player, historian and pinball
transcendentalist and brings you into the world of competitive pinball
at the Pinbrawl. See www.loveslashhate.com/ballsaved.htm for more
information.
- "Pinball 101", an extended trailer by Keith and Randy Elwin. This
video shows techniques for better play and how to make the ball do
what you want. Learn how to "be the ball" - or just OWN it! See
www.pinballvideo.com for a short trailer and more information.
- "Best of Pinpin", a compilation by Minimum Wage Entertainment. The
Pinpin crew has made six snowboarding/pinball DVDs and is bringing the
best of their pinball work to California Extreme. See www.pinpin7.com
for more information.
- "Press Start", an extended trailer for a comedy by Dark Maze
Studios. "Press Start" tells the story of a suburban youth in a
videogame world who discovers his adventurous, if berserk, destiny
when he's recruited by an ill-tempered ninja and a tough-as-nails
space soldier to save the world from a tyrannical, but comically
insecure, sorcerer. For more information, see www.pressstartmovie.com.
- "TILT: The Battle to Save Pinball", highlights and discussion by
director Greg Maletic. This film tells the story of the extraordinary
Pinball 2000(tm) machines built by Williams in an effort to save not
just the company, but the product that had defined coin-operated
entertainment for eighty years. For more, see www.tilt-movie.com.
... And more, including promotional videos for pinball and video games.
[All additional films subject to change or cancellation due to last-
minute timing or availability issues.]
These films will definitely take you down memory lane as they are
chock full of some amazing archival footage of just how it was during
the heydays of the video arcade craze. And the stories of the people
featured are nothing short of fascinating to behold.
All film viewings will be included with the price of admission. The
schedule of viewings will be posted as it becomes available.
We hope you will join us to view these amazing films. And our biggest
thanks go out to the film makers themselves for allowing us the
distinguished honor to show all of their films at California Extreme
2007.
This information and more as it becomes available is on our discussion
forum at http://www.caextreme.org/forum/index.php?topic=24.0.
A few other notes of interest:
Super Auctions will be here during the show with an auction. They will
be located in the hall adjacent to California Extreme.
Marco Specialties will be returning this year. He will be set up
inside the show and will more than happy to assist you with your parts
needs.
For more information and the latest news, please check our website at
www.caextreme.org.
- The Extreme Team
Bowen Kerins
packed audience, so plan ahead if you're coming...
> For more information on this film, please visithttp://www.billyvssteve.com.
> at the Pinbrawl. Seewww.loveslashhate.com/ballsaved.htmfor more
> information.
>
> - "Pinball 101", an extended trailer by Keith and Randy Elwin. This
> video shows techniques for better play and how to make the ball do
> what you want. Learn how to "be the ball" - or just OWN it! Seewww.pinballvideo.comfor a short trailer and more information.
> forum athttp://www.caextreme.org/forum/index.php?topic=24.0.