California Extreme is extremely proud to present the following lineup 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 8/24.
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!
For more information on this film, please visit
www.highscoremovie.comADDITIONAL 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 have made six snowboarding/pinball DVDs and are 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.
- The Extreme Team
