In an impressive mixture of local and international independent films, Los Gatos filmmakers Curt Dowdy and Lance Stell are bringing their artistic visions to fruition at the festival.

After 20 years as a middle-level executive in the high-tech field, Curt Dowdy was ready for change. The movie bug—which had steadily grown with community college film classes—had finally caught him. "I had a nice career, I had security, but there was this burning inside me for years," he says. "I wanted to try my hand at filmmaking."

The avid rock climber found his opportunity in a 2001 mountaineering trek in the Himalayas. With his own funding, Dowdy participated in and filmed the excursion, turning it into High Ambitions, a documentary that explores the psyches of those attuned to extreme sports. The film is still in postproduction, as Dowdy quickly became involved in two other films after his return. Fortunately for him, those two films were Cinequest picks.

Dowdy was a cinematographer and associate producer for Confessions of a Burning Man, a documentary spanning two years of the wild and freewheeling Burning Man Festival held annually in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. Dowdy assures that this film, unlike most Burning Man coverage, is not an exploitation of the party elements but a celebration of artistic creation and freedom.

Dowdy was also an associate producer for Real Time, which questions possible rehabilitation for teen convicts through the arts. Directed by Sunnyvale-based film professor Lee Miller, the documentary aims to create a dialogue concerning at-risk youth. The film focuses on the convicts as they participate in Miller's prison-based film class. In addition to their insights, the film incorporates elements of the students' films created in the class.

Dowdy says the admittance of these two films to Cinequest "feels fantastic" for him. "It feels like everything is coming together." He hopes production companies will pick up both films after their Cinequest debut. Until then, he will be in "frenzy" mode, using his marketing and business background to the advantage of getting the movies out there and distributed.

By realizing his film aspirations, Dowdy believes he has had the opportunity to experience things he never would have before. "To see and share the world with others—that is what filmmaking is all about," he says.

Although Dowdy says living in Silicon Valley can present challenges to those in the film business, he enjoys being a resident of Los Gatos and is happy just as long as he is still able to participate in the moviemaking world.

"Film is the modern-day way of sitting around the campfire and telling stories." He adds, "It is more work than anyone can imagine, but it is the most powerful medium."

Featured in the Short Series 7: Student Shorts Competition, De Anza Community College student and Los Gatos resident Lance Stell presents Dean: Reel to Reel, an eight-minute, 52-second reverie reflecting on James Dean's ill-fated romance with Hollywood starlet Pier Angeli. The film builds its premise on the missing, unknown material recorded by Dean on his four-track tape player.

Stell, who is also a film editor for two Cupertino movie companies, wrote, directed and starred in the film. As a three-time James Dean look-alike contest winner, Stell was the perfect fit for the role. It was no simple task, however.

"It is a lot harder to play an actual person than a fictionalized role," Stell says, adding that he also made sincere efforts toward authenticity and accuracy in the storyline. Stell and his crew appear to have conquered this challenge, however—the film won best picture, best screenplay and best actor at the 2002 West Valley College Film Festival. In addition, it was selected for screening at the 2002 Los Gatos Film Festival and chosen to accompany all viewings of Dean movies at the James Dean Museum festival in Fairmount, Ind., last September.

Although Stell would like the film to draw diehard Dean fans, he anticipates reaching a wider audience with the piece. "If possible, I hope to find audience members that are unfamiliar with James Dean and familiarize them in the subject matter," he says. "I also hope that the fans of film and James Dean can see the effort and determination that went into making it."

"Dean: Reel to Reel" will be shown at the Camera 7 cinema on March 4 at 9 p.m. "Confessions of a Burning Man" will be shown at the San José Repertory Theatre on March 7 at 11:30 p.m. and at the Camera 3 cinema on March 8 at midnight. A free, Burning Man­inspired event of fire dancing and drumming, with an appearance by festival founder Larry Harvey, will be held on March 7 at 9:30 p.m. in the San José Repertory Theatre Plaza. The filmmakers and Harvey will also be on hand for a free discussion at the Pruneyard Barnes & Noble bookstore on March 8 at 11:45 p.m. For tickets call 408.295.FEST or visit www.cinequest.org.