The theme to this year’s Cinequest film festival is “Unbridled,” which naturally evokes an emotional response. Unbridled joy. Unbridled passion. I doubt anyone’s ever considered “unbridled movie watching,” but Cinequest would be the place to do it.
Festival CEO Halfdan Hussey, who announced the lineup for the 35th annual edition of Cinequest on Monday morning at the Hayes Mansion in South San Jose, said “unbridled” provokes very different reactions for him and his co-founder, Kathleen Powell.
“The theme is a nightmare for her and a joy for me. People that work with me used to say it’s like working in the Wild West, until the sheriff rode into town. That’d be Kathleen.”
Cinequest co-founder Halfdan Hussey details the lineup of the 35th annual Cinequest film festival, "Unbridled," at the Hayes Mansion in San Jose on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. The festival runs March 10-22 in downtown San Jose and Mountain View. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)But in terms of Cinequest, Hussey says “unbridled” describes how he wants festivalgoers to really let go and immerse themselves in a cinematic world together. “A lot of times in life, we feel constraints … but when you come into a world of the arts, it opens up your mind,” he said. “When you get around other people, it gets you excited about life.”
There’s certainly some good stuff to get excited about at Cinequest this year, which runs March 10 through March 22 and will feature 268 features and shorts from 44 countries, with 123 of them U.S. or world premieres. That includes the opening night film, “Her Song,” a comedy produced by James Ivory and directed by John M. Keller, at the California Theatre. A special “AI and Film” presentation will precede the movie, as Cinequest showcases short films made using artificial intelligence tools for the second year.
“We embrace technology as a tool. We look at its pros and cons,” Hussey said of Cinequest’s approach to using AI in filmmaking.
Closing night on March 22 will feature two comedic choices, “Maddie’s Secret,” written and directed by John Early, and Steven Soderbergh’s black comedy, “The Christophers,” with Ian McKellen.
Don’t bother showing up at the California Theatre for those, however, as they’ll be screening at the Alamo Drafthouse in Mountain View. This year, Cinequest is splitting the festival in two, with March 10-15 in San Jose at the California and Hammer theaters and March 14-22 in Mountain View.
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Welcome to the Locker Room, downtown San Jose’s ‘one-stop concierge’ Lionel Richie puts on a show for Santa Clara University crowd Holocaust survivors share stories at San Jose City Hall ceremony ‘Hometown Heroes’ exhibit showcases San Jose athletes, artists Steve Wozniak honored at Tech for Global Good ceremonyIn another break with tradition, Cinequest is presenting two Maverick Spirit Awards on the same day, March 14, at the California Theatre. The first recipient is actor Steve Zahn, who will be there with director Rick Gomez and their movie “She Dances,” also starring Ethan Hawke. The second will be presented to actor Vivica A. Fox, who will receive the award after the World Premiere of her new movie, “Plan C.”
The full Cinequest lineup, along with tickets and passes, is expected to be available at www.cinequest.org on Jan. 30.
‘FOUND’ SAN JOSE TREASURES: For the past 34 years, the Preservation Action Council has held nearly all of its rummage sales in San Jose’s Naglee Park neighborhood. But that comes to an official end Saturday when the ribbon is cut on FOUND*SJ, a new “rummage and reuse hub” in the nascent Creekside district near SAP Center.
Patt Curia, the sales’ longtime coordinator was going through her stuff when she found a flyer for the first sale in 1992 at the South 14th Street home of the late John Mitchell, a PACSJ founding board member. Since then, most of the sales have been held at Curia’s home on South 13th Street, with donated treasures taking up most of her front porch year-round.
The new space, a 5,000 square-foot warehouse at 57 Barack Obama Blvd., was part of the Kearney Pattern-Foundry, which inspired its name. The interior is decorated with photos of the foundry in action by Philip Krayna, author of “Breaking the Mold,” and on loan from History San Jose. The rest of the space is filled with vintage and collectible, San Jose memorabilia, PACSJ merchandise (including those popular enamel pins) and more.
If you want to explore, FOUND*SJ will be open Saturday from noon to 6 p.m., and free parking is available at the Creekside lot on Cahill and San Fernando streets.
THIS MUST BE THE PLACE: Readers who know what’s where in downtown San Jose chirped in Thursday morning to let me know I had the wrong address for the Locker Room, the new visitor center and merchandise store in downtown San Jose, which is actually at 93 E. San Carlos Street. My mental GPS must have been down at the time, or maybe I would have been better off saying it’s where the FedEx Office used to be.
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