{"id":235464,"date":"2012-03-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-03-02T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/the-merk-bistro-hosts-film-festival-kick-off\/"},"modified":"2012-03-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-03-02T08:00:00","slug":"the-merk-bistro-hosts-film-festival-kick-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/the-merk-bistro-hosts-film-festival-kick-off\/","title":{"rendered":"El Merk Bistro acoge el inicio del festival de cine"},"content":{"rendered":"

San Diego Latino Film Festival includes downtown venues in their celebrations<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The
(far right) Jesseca Crissey of The Merk Bistro at the media kick off party (Courtesy Media Arts Center San Diego)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Anthony King | Downtown News<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Merk Bistro, located at 820 Fifth Ave. in the Gaslamp Quarter, once again hosted the media kick off party for the 19th Annual San Diego Latino Film Festival (SDLFF). Festival Founder and Media Arts Center San Diego Executive Director Ethan van Thillo announced this year\u2019s film line up, which includes over 170 films, at the Feb. 23 kick off.<\/p>\n

The restaurant is part of The Keating Hotel, a boutique hotel that moved into the historic building after an extensive remodel by Pininfarina Extra. Pininfarina is best known for designing Italian luxury sports cars, including the Maserati Birdcage. The building was constructed by Fannie Keating in 1890 and previously housed the San Diego Public Library and the San Diego Trust & Savings Bank, among others.<\/p>\n

Jesseca Crissey, public relations spokesperson for The Keating Hotel and The Merk Bistro said she was glad to have the SDLFF back at The Merk. \u201cIt\u2019s fun to have them in the venue, with the live music and everyone getting together mingling,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought it would be nice to have this event here and bring in lots of different people who are not normally down in this setting [or] not always hanging out in downtown,\u201d Crissey said.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Merk Bistro hosted live music at the kick off. (Courtesy Media Arts Center San Diego)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is the second year the downtown restaurant hosted the kick off party for SDLFF. The festival films screen at the UltraStar Mission Valley Cinemas at the Hazard Center in Mission Valley, but festival organizers are including many neighborhoods in San Diego for the festival, including The Merk Bistro downtown.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey came back to us, and they said they had a blast. They love the venue space [and] the open high ceilings. You\u2019re able to bring lots of different demographics of people into different areas,\u201d Crissey said. \u201cIt\u2019s open and fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

The evening included food from the restaurant, which is overseen by Executive Chef Brian Rutherford. Rutherford previously worked as the executive sous chef for the US Grant Hotel. Rutherford teamed up with Chef Gordon Ramsay, of \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen\u201d fame, for the Bistro\u2019s menu.<\/p>\n

As part of the Bistro\u2019s new focus, Crissey said they were looking to host more diverse events, including live music and art shows. \u201cWhat\u2019s interesting,\u201d she said, \u201cis the city isn\u2019t always known for all its arts and culture and I think that [it] is definitely getting a new heartbeat\u2026 [and] expanding everywhere. For us, we\u2019re actually starting to do more art shows. We want to do monthly art events and music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to get a bunch of people together to celebrate something big for San Diego,\u201d Crissey said. \u201cWe\u2019re getting art down here, too [and] getting life into downtown San Diego.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
Guests mingled at the event on Feb. 23 (Courtesy Media Arts Center San Diego)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Festival, which runs March 8 \u2013 18, offers several different programs, including Latinos on TV, the United States Latino Showcase, the 7th Annual Cine Gay Showcase and a new feature, New Chilean Directors. Featuring four different full-length films, the New Chilean Directors is being presented in part by the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Relations.<\/p>\n

This is the second year SDLFF will offer the Jewish Latino Cinema program and a selection of Jewish films. Sponsored in part by the Leichtag Foundation, the program includes three features and two documentaries screening at various times during the festival.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile reflecting the Jewish experience, the films first and foremost tell stories that are inextricably Latin American,\u201d festival organizers said in a press release. \u201cLike the best of Latin American cinema, they form part of a rich tapestry with a vibrant historical perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Film Festival, which is organized by the Media Arts Center San Diego, returns to downtown for the closing night party on March 17. Festival organizers have chosen 4th & B, a music and nightlife venue at 345 B St. The party begins at 9 p.m. and will feature the band Orquestra Binacional de Mambo.<\/p>\n

General admission tickets for individual screenings are $10. Passes and group tickets are available as well. For ticket information and for the Festival\u2019s complete screening schedule, visit sdlatinofilm.com. UltraStar Mission Valley Cinemas is located at 7510 Hazard Center Dr.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

San Diego Latino Film Festival includes downtown venues in their celebrations By Anthony King | Downtown News The Merk Bistro, located at 820 Fifth Ave. in the Gaslamp Quarter, once again hosted the media kick off party for the 19th Annual San Diego Latino Film Festival (SDLFF). Festival Founder and Media Arts Center San Diego […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":234524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"The Merk Bistro hosts film festival kick off","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11600,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-235464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-sdnews","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}