Cinequest Brings American Car Racing Home

SAN JOSE, CA -- Move over Tom Cruise, Nichole Kidman and Robert Duvall. The days of thunder have brought race car driving in its purest form to the screens of the Silicon Valley with a love story between a woman and a car.

Filmmakers at San Jose State University have put their minds behind their muscle with the release of a San Jose State-influenced, new short film “American Muscle” featured at the 2019 Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival.

San Jose's highly-acclaimed international film festival making the big screens each spring will highlight this year the film crew for Spartan Film Studios working on a scene from “American Muscle."

The 22-minute action drama is about an overlooked driver who exploits her brother’s reputation in the underground world of drag racing to finally get a shot at proving herself in the streets.
Nick Martinez, coordinator of studio operations at Spartan Film Studios and general manager of KSJS radio station, wrote and directed the short film.

If it doesn't make you want to go zero to 60 in three seconds or long for that teenage-dreaming Chevy Camero or Fastback Ford Mustang, you have no pulse.

Martinez put his pulse on the surge in demand for strong female characters, with a lead role as "a representation of me," he told Patch. "I wrote her with no gender in mind."

Think "Ridley" in "Alien."

You guessed it. Martinez could relate to the characters and their fantasies. He owned a few muscle cars in his youth, including an El Camino that used alcohol and methanol as fuel.

“I wanted to make the most authentic representation of what the world of drag racing is like in a narrative form,” Martinez said. “I wanted to show everyone this underground world in a way that had not been seen yet.”

It seems the audience at the LA Indie Film Festival, where the film debuted recently, resonated with the short. Martinez won Best Director at the festival.

Being an experienced film writer, director and producer, Martinez wanted to share the professional filmmaking experience with students at Spartan Film Studios. Forty-five current and former SJSU students had the opportunity to work on “American Muscle.”

The film was shot over five days in San Jose, Sacramento and Alameda. It’s scheduled to show four times during the Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival, which runs through March 17.

In addition to the “American Muscle” film, three SJSU faculty members from the Department of Film and Theatre are sharing their expertise and script writing knowledge at a panel discussion: “Taking a Script to Screen Successfully.”

Screenwriting lecturers Larry Schapiro and Barnaby Dallas put together the panel of industry insiders. Schapiro will participate in the panel, and Professor Scott Sublett will serve as the moderator. The panel discussion takes place on March 16 from 10:30 a.m. to noon at the California Theatre Rehearsal Hall.

More information on Cinequest may be obtained here Ticket and Show Times.