Washington filmmaker Rick Castañeda to celebrate ‘All Sorts’ premiere with red carpet at Magic Lantern
Washingtonian filmmaker Rick Castañeda’s “All Sorts” will make its Spokane red carpet premiere at 7 p.m. Friday at the Magic Lantern Theatre . Castañeda will be in attendance for the premiere night for a Q&A after the screening.
“All Sorts” follows lonely data clerk Diego (Eli Vargas) as he stumbles into the mythical world of championship folder filing. Along the way, he meets June (Greena Park), a brilliantly fast filer with the potential to win it all.
It’s “a quirky comedy about finding magic in everyday life,” Castañeda says in a behind-the-scenes featurette.
The story behind this film goes back 20 years, all the way to Casteñeda’s film school graduation and the temp jobs he took afterwards.
“I didn’t understand – you really just have no idea how the working world works,” he said. “I would be working on these forms, finish them and take them to my supervisor, and he would go, ‘This looks really good. But you know, you can take your time with it.’ And I was like, ‘Did I not do it correctly?’ And he says, ‘No, no, just … just take your time with it.’
“It really took me a while to realize that they just meant that I didn’t have to do my work so fast. Like everybody had a certain level of slowness that they worked at, and I was disrupting the office flow … so that’s when I started taking naps … and writing.”
Filmed outside Yakima with a diverse cast and crew, including many locals, Castañeda hopes “All Sorts” will mark a continuing trend of increased opportunities for local and independent filmmakers working outside Hollywood.
While writing the script on sabbatical at his parents’ home in Granger, Castañeda realized just how difficult it would be to get the film made in Los Angeles. The six-week rental fee for a floor of office space alone would’ve tripled the budget.
Luckily, Castañeda’s team was able to find space nearby at a much lower rate. Sure, it was by an airport. But considering the volume of flights coming out of Yakima, it was still better than filming anywhere in Los Angeles would’ve been.
“It was just an amazing film production center that we were able to utilize,” he said, explaining how the space became increasingly multipurpose throughout the shoot. One office was delegated for production design, one for the camera department. And, determined to be the first on set every day, the cinematographer actually moved a mattress into one of the offices.
“We have a really good team – it was kind of like having a film summer camp in some ways,” he said. “All my favorite movies and TV shows are about a team coming together to make something happen – and that’s probably why I like making movies.
“Writing is very lonely, you’re often on your own, by yourself with your own thoughts – and I do really like that part of that. But it’s nice to be able to come together to work with other people – it’s just so much more fun when people bring their own ideas, and it really worked out on this one.”
Following positive receptions at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival and Raindance Film Festival, among others, Castañeda, who grew up in Granger, is excited to bring his film back to his home state.
“Growing up in Eastern Washington, I didn’t have a lot of opportunity to attend red carpet premieres with actors and filmmakers until I moved to Los Angeles, and it really is the most amazing thing,” Castañeda said in a news release. “The lights, the pictures, hearing the filmmakers talk about what it was like to make the film … it’s all part of the Hollywood experience, and I’m excited to bring that back to the region where I grew up.”
Daily showings at the Magic Lantern Theatre will continue through Thursday. Tickets are on sale now. For more information, visit magiclanternonmain.com and allsortsmovie.com.