The 13th Annual Dallas International Film Festival debuted April 11th, 2019 at The Magnolia in West Village. The opening night film was the much anticipated Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, a chronicle of the crimes of serial murderer Ted Bundy, from the perspective of his longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer, who refused to believe the truth about him for years.
AdChat DFW was on the red carpet to interview directors and producers for two films, “First Act” and “Yirga.”
First Act, directed by Matheus Parizi, dives into the current political unrest in Brazil. There’s urgency in the streets and the youth feel compelled to go out to them, to get out of the space of the institutions, somewhat like in May of 68.
In First Act, Andre and Gabriel take a workshop on Coriolanus for their BA in Theatre. The technocratic attitude of their professor, whose only interest is to train them as actors, does not please Gabriel. For André, the anachronistic staging proposed doesn’t do justice to the political dimension of Shakespeare’s play and it’s connection to the popular uprisings against the coup happening in Brazil. They can’t see what good there is in been trained when culture policies are being dismantled. Andre brings
to classroom videograms of the streets, confronting the static and unchanging History been staged.
The two clash with their teacher and try to convince their colleagues to leave the classroom and join them in the history being made in the protests that take over the streets at this very moment.
Yirga, directed by B.B.Araya and produced by Tamar Price, is about a character named Yirga. Before she can leave town for a fresh start, Yirga must get one problem out of her head. And it involved braids or lack of them, actually, which is a metaphor for incompleteness.
Watch interviews…
We also had the opportunity to interview Johnathan Brownlee, Executive Director and CEO of DIFF, Scott Eustace, Chairman of Dallas Film (formerly Dallas Film Society), Ryan Tomlinson, with Capital One, sponsors of this year’s film festival and also Jason Castro, celebrity talent for the opening night’s gala. Jason recently wrote the catchy tune, “Forever Texas,” the theme song for Visit Dallas.
Check out the interviews…
