At 10 years old, Paul Kmiec knew exactly what he wanted to be when he grew up. But what’s even more interesting? He actually did it.
Kmiec is the relatively new (since December 2024) executive director of the Santa Cruz Film Festival, which, after a three-year hiatus, returns to Santa Cruz on Oct. 8–12.
Kmiec can remember wanting to be a filmmaker when he was about 6 or 7 years old. But there was a specific moment when he knew he was hooked.
“My dad wanted to be a filmmaker. So I grew up on a diet of films that you probably shouldn’t be watching when you were a little kid—art house, R-rated and avant-garde. And I still remember clearly a day when I was like 10 years old, and I thought, ‘Should I watch the Fox and the Hound? Or should I watch Road to Perdition?’” He chose the Road to Perdition and the die was cast.
Under Kmiec’s leadership the festival will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year, featuring 90-plus films from here in Santa Cruz and around the globe. All this world-class cinema will be shown over five days at six venues, with plenty of community events, expert panels, conversations, celebrities, mix ‘n’ mingle and parties to balance out all that sitting in the dark with popcorn.
Kmiec’s involvement with the Santa Cruz Film Festival has come full circle. Back in 2013, when Kmiec was 21 years old, his film Magi—which he wrote, directed and shot—won Best Short Film at the Festival. That experience not only added more fuel to his lifelong love of film and filmmaking, but it was also how he fell head over heels for Santa Cruz.
Originally from Boston, Kmiec went to film school at State University of New York Purchase College. A casual invitation from a friend to visit California over summer break would later prove to be a turning point in Kmiec’s life.
“I flew out. We got in a car and drove up from San Diego all the way to San Francisco, and I mean, I was like convulsing,” Kmiec says. Apart from Greece, where he had visited family, he had not traveled much. “So I’m seeing California, with these heroic mountains, the deserts, the vibrant greens… And then we get to San Francisco—which is like a city designed by the imagination of a child—and I thought, ‘this is where I want to be.’”
When the trip ended and Kmiec returned to New York, he says he could not get California out of his brain and his bones. All he could think about was how to get back. It turned out, his film Magi would be just the ticket he was looking for.
A junior at the time, he had just finished his thesis short film. “I didn’t really know California, so I look through a catalog of film festivals and I find a place called Santa Cruz. I do a Google image search and I’m thinking that looks really good. I like what I see,” he smiles broadly, eyes lighting up with the memory. He submitted his entry and had nearly forgotten about it, when the festival reached out, congratulating him and inviting him to come to Santa Cruz for the event.
He was offered free lodging at the Paradox Hotel, but he needed help with the airfare. After a creative pitch to the chair of his film department, the college agreed to pay for his flights and he was on his way.
“I went out to Santa Cruz for about five days and absolutely lost my mind,” Kmiec says. “It was like everything that I had seen in California the first time. But all the best parts of California were aggregated into Santa Cruz and I fell violently in love with her.”
It’s hard to tell if Kmiec is more passionate about films or Santa Cruz. But either way, he is taking all that zeal and ardor and pouring it into this year’s festival.
Following the festival’s five jam-packed days of world-class cinema, it will then expand into a year-round hub for cinematic arts education across Santa Cruz and the Central Coast, also under Kmiec’s leadership. Kmiec isn’t prepared to reveal all the details yet, but says we can expect more soon. Think education, workforce pipelines, artist support, civic engagement. It sounds as exciting and ambitious as the festival he is putting on.
I know if I ask Kmiec what film is on his “must-see” list, he will just say “all of them!” Because who can pick their favorite child? But during our conversation, Kmiec does make note of a short film called “Waiting for the End of the World” (Fri., Oct. 10, 2:15pm at The Colligan). He gets really passionate about it.
“It’s one of my favorite shorts,” he says. “It’s about a community that’s at the end of the world, and is one of the most poignant, heartbreaking films. The ending….” he pauses. “I’m gonna start crying. The ending of the film is insane, and he made this movie with all non-actors. And you would never know it. We’re going to have a Q&A with him. He’s coming all the way from Vermont to share how he made this film. It is a film that is truly the spirit of independent cinema, how it was made, the production practices behind it.”
What are Kmiec’s hopes for the festival’s comeback this year? “Right now, our priority is making sure that we make the best five-day festival we’ve ever had. It is our most ambitious festival….the strongest slate of films we’ve ever had, the best pedigree of films, the most versatile films.”
“You have five days,” he adds. “Come to one day, come to all five days. There’s an incredible personality of films you can go see. And the filmmakers have traveled here for you to come talk to them. So come to the Q&A, ask them questions, see them at the parties, come to our industry panel.”
Kmiec closes on a philosophical note. “Culture survives off of people staying up and talking emphatically about awesome things,” he stresses. And then, softening a bit, “Just don’t stay inside and watch Netflix. You can do that whenever. Go out there and engage with reality. Don’t squander reality.”
So there you go, Santa Cruz. It’s time to get reel!
The favorite films of Paul Kmiec, the head of the Santa Cruz Film Festival.
1.) Fanny and Alexander by Ingmar Bergman
Ultimate Favorite of all-time. Nothing has ever moved this down the totem pole ‘fave films’ for me in over 15 years. It’s like five hours long. It’s Shakespearean. It’s metaphysical. It’s horrifying. It’s magic with a capital ‘M’. But prepare for it to take up your entire day, and don’t watch the theatrical version; you must watch the 5-hour version intended for television.
2.) Once Upon a Time in the West by Sergio Leone
Operatic, an epic Spaghetti-Western at its finest. Leone made his swan song here.
3.) The Master by Paul Thomas Anderson
What’s more to say? PTA. PTA. PTA. I have watched this film more than any other, and studied it the most. I wrote my Master’s Dissertation at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece on this film. PTA’s most poetic, hypnotic exploration in filmmaking. He stepped into new territory with this film. Genius.
4.) You, the Living by Roy Andersson
5.) Buffalo 66 by Vincent Gallo
6.) Post Tenebras Lux by Carlos Reygadas
I don’t even know what to say. It makes you want to remove your head with your own hands by the end.
7.) The Taste of Tea by Katsuhito Ishii
8.) The Double-Life of Veronique by Krzysztof Kieślowski
9.) Magnolia by Paul Thomas Anderson
Anderson out-Rober Altmans Robert Altman with this sprawling Los Angeles ensemble piece. This was still-young, still “trying to say everything” about life Anderson. And still, one of his most miraculous films.
10.) The Tree of Life by Terrence Malick
11.) Nostalghia by Andrei Tarkovsky
There’s an uninterrupted 9-minute dolly-tracking shot of a man walking across a barren pool, trying to prevent a candle from going out as he journey’s across….and he’s undergoing cardiac arrest while doing so. For those who know, “Zoe! Zoe! Zoe!”
12.) Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai by Jim Jarmusch
