February 4, 2023
- Advertisement -

#DIFF

DIFF
Dallas International Film Festival’s Coronavirus Statement | Event Will Reschedule
Dallas International Film Festival Posted On March 27, 2020


For the health and safety of our community, staff, volunteers, sponsors, patrons and filmmakers, Dallas Film is following the guidelines of the Center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and the Dallas County Health Department and will postpone the Dallas International Film Festival powered by Capital One, originally scheduled for April 16 – 23.

Dallas Film, which operates the Dallas International Film Festival powered by Capital One, is in the process of developing plans an intends to reschedule the event later this year.

Thank you for your support and understanding during this unprecedented time.  We look forward to showcasing talented filmmakers and celebrating a safe and enjoyable movie-going experience with you as soon as possible.

Please visit DallasIFF.org, follow our social channels or subscribe to our email for the latest updates.


Continue Reading
0
529 Views


DIFF
DIFF is Calling All Screenwriters! Now That You Are Home You Have NO Excuse! Win $1000
Dallas International Film Festival Posted On March 27, 2020


No excuses, we all know you’re at home eating ice-cream and binge watching multiple shows.

Now is the time to fire up your laptop and finish that “almost completed” screenplay that you’ve been telling everyone about for three years.

Here is your chance to roll the dice and get it out into the world.

Worse case scenario…It gets read by a professional at a major agency in NYC or LA and you can finally tell your friends you REALLY have written a screenplay.

Best case scenario…You win $1000 a vacation for two and passes to the next Dallas International Film Festival.

Bonus…your film might get produced!

So…no more excuses ENTER NOW!


Continue Reading
0
551 Views


AdChat DFW  / DIFF
Dallas Film Reveals Finalist Judges for DIFF’s Screenplay Competition
Dallas International Film Festival Posted On February 24, 2020


Johnathan Brownlee, Teresa Cheng, Ken Estin, Lisa Furfine and Jana Memel

Dallas Film and the Dallas International Film Festival (DIFF), powered by Capital One, announced today the all-star judge lineup for its “Broaden Your Horizons” screenplay competition. 

Three-time Oscar winner Jana Memel, three-time Emmy winner Ken Estin, animation visionary Teresa Cheng, strategic partnerships expert Lisa Furfine and Dallas Film’s Johnathan Brownlee will leverage their combined industry experiences to select the winning screenplays and provide professional consolation to each top writer.

Johnathan Brownlee is an award-winning director, producer, writer and actor, best known for Three Days In August, The Standoff at Sparrow Creek and Decoding Annie Parker. He is a highly respected producer who has worked in more than 20 countries with Academy Award-winning, Golden Globe-winning and Emmy-winning talent. Brownlee’s feature films, documentaries, television programs and digital content collectively have been viewed in more than 100 countries in 14 languages. After more than two decades overseeing directors and writers, along with every other aspect of film and television production, Brownlee founded Torfoot Films to personally direct and write films. He is signed on to direct/write several upcoming feature-length films, including The Eyes of Jefferson, Montserrat, Hallmark’s An Island Light, The Devil’s Country and Twisted Retribution. Brownlee currently serves as chief executive officer and president of the non-profit Dallas Film, which produces the internationally recognized Dallas International Film Festival, powered by Capital One.  He recently created the Veterans Institute for Film & Media (VIFM), a training program for military veterans.  Brownlee earned a Master of Fine Arts at Brandeis University. He received his bachelor’s from Hofstra University and studied film at New York University.

 

Johnathan Brownlee

Teresa Cheng is an animation producer, best known for Shrek Forever After, Madagascar, Batman & Robin and True Lies. She has more than 30 years of experience in animation and visual effects. Currently, Cheng is Chair of Animation and Digital Arts for the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles since 2017. She also worked as a creative strategy consultant at Walt Disney Imagineering in Glendale, Calif., and was General Manager for Lucasfilm in Singapore for two years. Prior to that, Cheng spent 17 years at DreamWorks Animation in Glendale, Calif., and in Shanghai, China, working her way up to Senior Production Executive. She started her Hollywood career in visual effects production at Warner Brothers Studios, Rhythm & Hues and Digital Domain. Cheng earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle.

Teresa Cheng

Ken Estin is an Emmy winning screenwriter and producer, best known for Taxi, Cheers, The Tracey Ullman Show and Beverly Hills Cop. He created seven network pilots and ran several award-winning series, which eared him 11 Emmy nominations, nine Writers Guild Award nominations and two Writers Guild Awards. Currently, Estin is Executive Producer for The Estin Company in Los Angeles, and a professor for the school of writing for film, television and digital media at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco since 2014. He started his 40-year career working two years as a showrunner for Taxi, and then a showrunner for Cheers. Estin earned a bachelor’s for English language and literature from the University of California in Davis, Calif.

Ken Estin

Lisa Furfine is a mover and shaker in the industry securing corporate partnerships and promotional activations for The New Celebrity Apprentice. As chief executive officer of the Furfine Network, headquartered in Malibu, she has built a vast network of connections in the sports and entertainment industries. Previously, she was associate publisher of SportsTravel magazine in Los Angeles for 17 years and show manager for the annual TEAMS Conference & Expo. Her background also includes strategic business development work for the Bermuda Tourist Authority, San Francisco Travel Association and Maritz Global Events, as well as advertising work for clients, including Carnival Corporation, Walt Disney Pictures, Anheuser-Busch, Inc., and the San Diego Padres. Furfine earned a duel master’s degree for media communications and management, as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing, from Webster University in St. Louis.

 

Lisa Furfine

Jana Memel is a multiple Oscar winning producer, writer and director, best known for the shorts, Ray’s Male Heterosexual Dance Hall and Lieberman in Love, as well as the feature, So I married an Axe Murder. She has 30 years of experience shepherding more than 90 features, cable movies, shorts, documentaries and other videos. Films she produced have won the Writers Guild and Director Guild Awards, several Emmys, three Oscars and 8 other Academy Award nominations. She has written or co-written features for numerous studios, production companies and cable networks. Currently, Memel is Executive Director of the Schools of Entertainment at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, and the founder of The HollywoodWay in Los Angeles. Earlier in her career, she was a literary agent working at the Gersh Agency, and at ICM. Memel graduated from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law in Los Angeles. She earned a bachelor’s of sociology and history from Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif.

Jana Memel

The Dallas International Film Festival, powered by Capital One, runs April 16, 2020, to April 23, 2020, at West Village in Uptown Dallas. Writers may submit scripts for feature films, television pilots and short films to the DIFF “Broaden Your Horizons” screenwriting competition, sponsored by Carnival Corporation, now through midnight on March 31. Winners will be announced during the DIFF Filmmakers Brunch, Sunday, April 19. They will receive DIFF Star Passes, professional consultations, up to $1,000 prize money and a writer’s enrichment retreat on Carnival Cruise Line. 

For more information on the Dallas International Film Festival, powered by Capital One, visit dallasfilm.org, dallasiff.org or contact info@dallasfilm.org. Information can also be found on: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Details on the screenplay competition are also available at eventhorizonfilms.com

About Dallas Film  
Dallas Film (www.dallasfilm.org), established as Dallas Film Society in 2006, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that exists to celebrate the past, present and future of film in our community. The organization provides leadership in screen education and the recognition and celebration of excellence in the art of film, television, and digital media. Through year round screenings, festivals and a variety of educational programs including The Veterans Institute of Film & Media and the Mercury One High School Film Labs, Dallas Film raises awareness of the world’s most approachable and inclusive art form. #WeAreDallasFilm


Continue Reading
0
707 Views


DIFF
Carnival Corporation Sponsors Dallas International Film Festival
Dallas International Film Festival Posted On January 23, 2020


Carnival Corporation (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), the world’s largest leisure travel company, today announced support for the Dallas arts community through a new sponsorship with Dallas Film and the Dallas International Film Festival (DIFF), the largest film festival in North Texas.

Carnival Corporation’s sponsorship of the 14th annual event, powered by Capital One, includes support for a newly added DIFF “Broaden Your Horizons” screenwriting competition. It offers aspiring writers the opportunity to submit scripts for feature films, television pilots and short films, which will be reviewed by readers at top Hollywood talent agencies and management companies. The winner will also receive a cruise vacation, among other prizes.

In addition, the network of experienced film professionals tied to the festival can offer input to help improve story submissions, increase industry exposure and provide insider guidance on how to navigate the professional film business.

“We welcome the support of a major global brand such as Carnival Corporation to support our mission to help develop the next generation of filmmakers,” said Johnathan Brownlee, chief executive officer at Dallas Film. “Having Carnival Corporation as one of our sponsors is a great fit, as going on a cruise goes hand in hand with instilling the creativity and open-mindedness that can come from new cultural experiences and exciting destinations. Those are valuable benefits for people from all walks of life, and especially important for writers looking to develop authentic characters and unique settings.”

“Art, music, film and stage shows are all part of the magic that makes cruising such an extraordinary vacation and the fastest growing segment of the vacation sector,” said Roger Frizzell, chief communications officer for Carnival Corporation, whose nine cruise line brands include Carnival Cruise Line, Cunard, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and Seabourn. “We support and encourage the growth of the arts as part of our commitment to the markets we serve – and that includes the Dallas-Fort Worth community, with its convenient access to our ships sailing out of the Port of Galveston.”

DIFF runs April 16, 2020, to April 23, 2020, at West Village in Uptown Dallas and is accepting screenplay entries now through midnight on March 31. The Dallas International Film Festival  is one of the few competitions to allow re-entry after a quarterfinalist elimination to anyone who has purchased professional feedback, while also making the process of multiple submissions more affordable.

Winners will be announced during the DIFF Filmmakers Brunch, Sunday, April 19. They will receive DIFF Star Passes, professional consultations, up to $1,000 prize money and a writer’s enrichment cruise.

For more information on the Dallas International Film Festival, powered by Capital One, visit dallasfilm.org, dallasiff.org or contact info@dallasfilm.org. Information can also be found on: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Details on the screenplay competition are available at eventhorizonfilms.com

About Carnival Corporation & plc
Carnival Corporation & plc is the world’s largest leisure travel company and among the most profitable and financially strong in the cruise and vacation industries, with a portfolio of nine of the world’s leading cruise lines. With operations in North America, Australia, Europe and Asia, its portfolio features Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn, P&O Cruises (Australia), Costa Cruises, AIDA Cruises, P&O Cruises (UK) and Cunard.

Together, the corporation’s cruise lines operate 105 ships with 254,000 lower berths visiting over 700 ports around the world, with 16 new ships scheduled to be delivered through 2025. Carnival Corporation & plc also operates Holland America Princess Alaska Tours, the leading tour company in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. Traded on both the New York and London Stock Exchanges, Carnival Corporation & plc is the only group in the world to be included in both the S&P 500 and the FTSE 100 indices.

With a long history of innovation and providing guests with extraordinary vacation experiences, Carnival Corporation has received thousands of industry awards – including recognition by the Consumer Technology Association™ as a CES® 2019 Innovation Awards Honoree for OceanMedallion™. A revolutionary wearable device that contains a proprietary blend of communication technologies, OceanMedallion enables the world’s first interactive guest experience platform transforming vacation travel on a large scale into a highly personalized level of customized service. The prestigious CES Innovation Awards honor outstanding design and engineering in consumer technology products.

Additional information can be found on www.carnival.com, www.princess.com, www.hollandamerica.com, www.seabourn.com, www.pocruises.com.au, www.costacruise.com, www.aida.de, www.pocruises.com and www.cunard.com.

About Dallas Film
Dallas Film (www.dallasfilm.org), established as Dallas Film Society in 2006, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that exists to celebrate the past, present and future of film in our community. The organization provides leadership in screen education and the recognition and celebration of excellence in the art of film, television, and digital media. Through year round screenings, festivals and a variety of educational programs including The Veterans Institute of Film & Media and the Mercury One High School Film Labs, Dallas Film raises awareness of the world’s most approachable and inclusive art form. #WeAreDallasFilm


Continue Reading
0
625 Views


Dallas Film
Want to be a Screenwriter? Dallas International Film Festival Launches Screenplay Competition | Presented by Event Horizon Films
Dallas International Film Festival Posted On January 13, 2020


WHO:
Dallas Film announced today the new “Broaden Your Horizons” screenplay competition for its 14th annual Dallas International Film Festival (DIFF), powered by Capital One.

WHAT:
The DIFF screenplay competition, presented by Event Horizon Films, offers writers the opportunity to submit scripts for feature films, television pilots and short films, which will be reviewed by readers at top Hollywood talent agencies and management companies.

The competition is one of few to allow re-entry after a quarter finalist elimination to anyone who has purchased professional feedback, while also making the process of multiple submissions more affordable.

WHY:
Dallas Film is committed to providing leadership in screen education and the recognition and celebration of excellence in the art of film, television, screenwriting and digital media in the Dallas community. The screenplay competition was launched to provide Hollywood access to Dallas screenwriters interested in improving craft and exposure.

WHEN:
Dallas International Film Festival, powered by Capital One, is accepting screenplay entries now through midnight on March 31, 2020.

DIFF runs April 16-23, 2020. Finalists will be announced during the Filmmakers Brunch, Sunday, April 19, 2020.

WHERE:
Submit screenplay entries online at www.dallasdiff.org

Dallas International Film Festival, powered by Capital One, is held at West Village in Uptown Dallas.

PRIZES:
Winners will receive up to $1,000 prize money, a 7-day writer’s enrichment
cruise, professional consultations, and a DIFF Star Pass.

For more information on the Dallas International Film Festival, powered by Capital One, visit dallasfilm.org, dallasiff.org or contact info@dallasfilm.org. Information can also be found on: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Details on the screenplay competition are available at eventhorizonfilms.com.


Continue Reading
0
602 Views


DIFF
Attention Filmmakers! Early Submissions are Now Open for DIFF 2020 | APRIL 16TH- 23RD
Dallas International Film Festival Posted On October 21, 2019


SUBMIT

The 14th annual Dallas International Film Festival hosted by Dallas Film will screen the best narrative features, documentaries and short films from all over the world, April 16th-April 23rd 2020.

A 501(c) 3 non-profit organization, the Dallas Film Society provides leadership in screen education and the recognition and celebration of excellence in the art of film, television and digital media.

Dynamic and Diverse

The 14th annual Dallas International Film Festival powered by Capital One, hosted by Dallas Film, doesn’t just show films; it showcases and celebrates all types of content. The interaction between story tellers audiences and the Dallas community is what we strive to develop from opening to closing and everything in between.

DIFF2020 is a global adventure that boasts premiere screenings, nightly red carpets, daring documentaries, eye-opening short films, exciting television content, anew focus on environmental film-making, music documentaries, nightly parties, live music performances, filmmaker panels, award presentations, and an enhanced filmmaker hospitality program that includes city tours and more.

The festival completed a successful 2019 run with over 130 filmmakers attending our Texas-sized film party that 124 films screened from 24 countries and an attendance of over 15,000.

We invite you to add your voice to the conversation. At DIFF, filmmakers are invited to the festival to participate in a variety of programs, Q&A sessions and a series of panel discussions. Dallas area high schools and universities host master classes where filmmakers have the opportunity to discuss their work and careers with a new generation of content creators.

DIFF honorees and attendees over the years include:
Hannah Pearl Utt, David Gordon Green, Faye Dunaway, Robert Benton, Max Landis, John Landis, Blythe Danner, Kathryn Bigelow, Wally Pfister, Steve James, Laura Linney, Bernie Pollack, William Friedkin, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Sherry Lansing, Gabourey Sidibe, Ann-Margret, Scott Z. Burns, Amber Heard, Guillermo Arriaga, Frank Darabont, John Lee Hancock, Pete Docter, Amanda Seyfried, Peter Bogdanovich, Adrien Brody, Henry Selik, America Ferrera, Barry Bostwick, Mariette Hartley, John Hawkes, David Lynch, Lauren Bacall, Charlize Theron, Robert DeNiro, Helen Hunt, Lou Taylor Pucci, Robert Towne, Rian Johnson, Rinko Kikuchi, Jeremy Renner, David Gordon Green, Lou Gossett Jr., Robin Wright, Carlos Cuaron, James Tobak, Justin Kirk, Patton Oswalt, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Glen Keane, Elvis Mitchell, Phil Lord, Chris Miller, Tim McCanlies, Monte Hellman, Ed Lachman, Lea Thompson, Zoey Deutch, Katharine Houghton, Ry Russo Young,

CURRENT 2020 DIFF PROGRAMMING STRANDS:
Narrative Feature Competition
Documentary Feature Competition
Short Film Competition
Texas Competition
Animated Short Competition
Premiere Screenings
World Cinema
LatinX Cinema Showcase
Deep Ellum Sounds (Music Films)
Family Films
Faith Based Films
Midnight Specials
Environmental Films
Special Presentations

At DIFF, the interaction between filmmakers, audience, and community is a highlight of our programming. Filmmakers of selected films are invited to the Festival to participate in a variety of programs. Question and answer sessions after screenings are well attended and lively. A series of panel discussions are held throughout the eleven days of the Festival. Area high schools and universities serve as the venues for master classes where filmmakers have the opportunity to discuss their films and careers with a new generation of professionals.

Awards & Prizes
Grand Jury Prizes are awarded to competition films in the following categories: Narrative Feature, Documentary Feature, Shorts, and Animated Shorts. A Grand Jury Prize will also be awarded to the best Student Film within the Shorts Competition.

The Grand Jury Prize winner of the Texas Competition category will enjoy a camera rental package worth $30,000 for their next production, courtesy of Panavision.

Audience awards for Best Narrative Feature, Best Documentary Feature and Best Short will also be presented.

Rules & Terms
Premiere status is taken into consideration for every submission in each category strand with priority given to Dallas/Ft Worth Premieres, Southwest Premieres, US Premieres, North American Premieres, and World Premieres.

In order for feature films to be considered for competition, a Dallas/Fort Worth Premiere is required.

Films must not have had major theatrical release or US broadcast airing prior to the festival.


Continue Reading
0
498 Views


DIFF
Dallas Film Announces Winners of 13th Annual Dallas International Film Festival
Patty H Posted On April 17, 2019


Morgana Shaw, actress in “Shoot the Moon Right Between the Eyes”; Suzanne Weinert, producer of “J.R. “Bob” Dobbs and the Church of the Subgenius”; Alyssa Spiller Sajovick, producer of “J.R. “Bob” Dobbs and the Church of the Subgenius”; Ryan Tomlinson, Capital One; Alex Chi, producer of “Ms. Purple”; Tim Tsai, director and producer of “Seadrift”; Andrew Lee, co-producer of “Seadrift”

Dallas Film is pleased to announce the winners of the 13th annual Dallas International Film Festival. The festival is still in full swing and will go until April 18. As of today, passes are available for 50 percent off.

“We are proud to present the award recipients of this year’s Dallas International Film Festival,” said Johnathan Brownlee, CEO & president of Dallas Film and executive director of Dallas International Film Festival. “Film is a labor of love, a medium for sharing our ideas, passions, interests and stories. We thank everyone who submitted their work to Dallas IFF. Putting your film out for the world to see is like opening a piece of your mind and heart for the world to experience. We applaud you for contributing to the film industry because films have the power to change our lives outside the theater in tangible ways.”

Award Recipients of the 2019 Dallas International Film Festival:

Dallas County Historical Society (DCHS) Historical Film
$1000 Cash Prize
Seadrift, Tim Tsai

Short Film Competition

Grand Jury Award – Animated Short
$500 Cash Prize
Reneepoptosis, Renee Zhan

Grand Jury Award – Documentary Short
Sony Camera Prize
Mack Wrestles, Taylor Hess & Erin Sanger
Special Jury Award – Narrative Short

Okaasan (mom), Kana Hatakeyama
Grand Jury Award – Narrative Short
Sony Camera Prize
Rapaz, Felipe Gálvez

Texas Film Competition

Special Jury Award, Emerging Filmmaker
Shoot the Moon Right Between the Eyes, Graham Carter

Grand Jury Award
$35,000 Panavision Camera Package Grant
J.R. “Bob” Dobbs and the Church of the SubGenius

Documentary Feature Competition

Special Jury Award
Caballerango, Juan Pablo González

Grand Jury Award
Sony Camera Prize
Always in Season, Jacqueline Olive

Narrative Feature Competition

Special Jury Award, Best Screenplay
Sister Aimee, Samantha Buck & Marie Schlingmann

Grand Jury Award
Limited Theatrical Release by Studio Movie Grill
Ms. Purple, Justin Chon

“We are extremely grateful to all of the individuals who participated as jury members and spent hours deliberating the recipients of the awards for the 2019 Dallas International Film Festival,” said James Faust, artistic director for Dallas Film. “With more than 150 films screened, we know that it was not an easy task of choosing the winners for each category. We are appreciative of your time and dedication to serving the filmmakers who participated in this year’s festival.”

Jurors and Bios:
Dallas County Historical Society Jury
The Dallas Historical Society is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of Dallas and Texas history. Offering education programming, lectures, historic city tours, museum exhibitions and other special events, this organization strives to be the preeminent resource for exploring and instilling appreciation for the diverse history of Dallas and Texas. We endeavor to encourage historical inquiry and maintain the importance and relevance of history today. Our collection of archival material – including historic photographs, diaries, journals, papers, periodicals, maps, and books – is available to researchers. Formed in 1922, the Dallas Historical Society is the oldest organization in Dallas County committed to preserving the history of the region and presenting it to the public in innovative and informative ways.

Short Film Jury
Tom Oyer
Tom Oyer is associate director, Member Relations and Awards at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, where he oversees all aspects of the Documentary and Short Film categories, including rules, eligibility submission and voting. Oyer is in his eleventh year at the Academy.

Laura Moss
Laura is a director and production designer from New York City. Her work has screened at MoMA, Tribeca, SXSW, Sundance, Telluride, Berlin and Cannes. She was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film, an IFP Emerging Storyteller and has earned jury awards for her films at Tribeca, SXSW, Melbourne International Film Festival and Hollyshorts. Laura is an alumna of NYU’s graduate film program. Her first feature will be produced by Fangoria Films in 2019.

Nick McCarthy
Nick McCarthy is the Director of Programming & Operations at NewFest, New York’s LGBTQ Film & Media Arts Organization. Nick curates and manages the annual New York LGBTQ Film Festival – which celebrated its 30th anniversary in October 2018 – in addition to NewFest’s year-round programming, including the community-driven monthly series NewFest at The Center Presents and the retrospective series Coming out Again at Quad Cinema. Prior to NewFest, Nick served as the Film Curator at The Tank, and worked in academic publishing and international media. Nick has written about film and media for publications including Slant Magazine, Time Out New York, NBC News, and the Boston Phoenix.

Texas Film Jury

David Blue Garcia
David is an Emmy award-winning Director / DP working in commercials, documentaries and narrative films and based in Austin, Texas. He has lensed 6 independent feature films as a cinematographer including his feature length directorial debut, TEJANO. At its world premiere, TEJANO won the Audience Award at the 2018 Dallas International Film Festival.

Milan Chakraborty
Milan Chakraborty is a 15-year veteran of the film industry after a career as an auditor/Certified Public Accountant. He started his career at Warner Bros. (“WB”) and New Line Cinema (“NLC”), where he performed detailed reviews of 10 feature film productions with budgets ranging from $5 – $200 million. Productions include:

WB: BATMAN BEGINS – London; DUKES OF HAZZARD – Baton Rouge!; V FOR VENDETTA – Berlin and NLC: HISTORY OF VIOLENCE – Toronto. In 2008, Milan left the big studios to focus on independent films, and has since produced 13 features including the 2014 film WHERE HOPE GROWS, which won the HEARTLAND AUDIENCE AWARD in 2014 and world premiered at DIFF, 2013 Sundance competition film THE LIFEGUARD starring Kristen Bell directed by Liz Garcia and MY FRIEND DAHMER directed by Marc Meyers, released in November 2017 and “certified fresh” by ROTTEN TOMATOES. He was recently an Executive Producer for the Sam Levinson directed film, ASSASSINATION NATION, which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and sold to NEON and AGBO. Milan has world premiered 2 films at DIFF, WHERE HOPE GROWS and ROCK SLYDE, his first film, in 2009 – both written/directed by CHRIS DOWLING of Richardson.

Jim Brunzell
Jim Brunzell III was born in the 70’s, played sports in the 80’s, went to school in the 90’s, and started working on film festivals in the 2000’s. He is the Artistic Director for the All Genders, Lifestyles, and Identities Film Festival (aGLIFF) in Austin, TX and the 32nd annual festival will take place August 22-25, 2019. He was named a “Top 10 Local Queer Hero” by the Austin Chronicle in 2016 saying, “It says a lot when an ally makes the list, but as Artistic Director of aGLIFF, Brunzell has done a bang-up job curating the film festival and screenings for the entire LGBTQ spectrum.” He is also the Festival Director for the music/film/art festival Sound Unseen in the Minneapolis, MN, which was just named “One of the 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World for 2016” by Moviemaker Magazine and will be celebrating its 20th annual festival, November 13-17, 2019. He has served on numerous film festival juries and is also a big sports nerd.

Documentary Feature Jury

Meredith Shea
Meredith Shea is an Associate Director of Member Relations and Awards at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles. She oversees the Animated Feature and Foreign Language film Oscar categories, along with the Directors, Film Editors and Writers branches. She has participated on panels at Marché du Film at the Cannes Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, Flanders CONNeXT at Film Fest Gent and served on juries for the Cleveland International Film Festival and Milwaukee Film Festival. Miss Shea began her career in the arts at Everett Collection, the Manhattan film archive and photo agency. She is a graduate of St. John’s University in New York City.

Jon Olshefski
Jonathan Olshefski is an artist and documentary filmmaker. In 2017 he was named as one of 25 New Faces in Independent Film by Filmmaker Magazine and mentioned in the New York Times as one of “The 9 New Directors You Need to Watch.” His debut feature documentary, QUEST, premiered in competition at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and went on to be selected for over 75 festivals internationally where it won multiple awards including prizes at: Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, Mumbai Film Festival, Dallas International Film Festival, Cleveland International Film Festival, Camden International Film Festival, Baltimore International Black Film Festival, and the Milwaukee Film Festival. Olshefski strives to tell intimate and nuanced stories that honor his subjects’ complexity by employing a production process that emphasizes collaboration, dialogue, and relationship to amplify their voices and reflect their points of view in an artful way. He has an MFA in Film and Media Arts from Temple University and is an Associate Professor at Rowan University where he teaches in the department of Radio, TV, and Film. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife and two sons.

Bart Weiss
Bart Weiss is an award-winning filmmaker, educator and director/founder of the Dallas VideoFest, which produces, DocuFest, Alternative Fictions, the Ernie Kovacs award, the 24 hour video race and the North Texas Universities Film Festival. He is the artistic director of 3 stars Jewish Cinema. He produces the TV show “Frame of Mind” on KERA TV. He is an associate professor at the University of Texas at Arlington where he teaches film and video. He was President and Chair of AIVF and was a video columnist for The Dallas Morning News, and United Features Syndicate. He currently writes for Student Filmmaker Magazine and TheaterJones.com. Bart received an MFA in Film Directing from Columbia University.

Narrative Feature Jury

Christine Davila
Before her role as Creative Executive at Stage 13 where she found and developed short form digital episodic series, she spent over ten years screening hundreds of independent films, focusing on Spanish language and U.S. Latino as a freelance programming associate for film festivals like Sundance, Los Angeles Film Festival, San Antonio’s CineFestival, Morelia Film Festival and the Curacao International Film Festival Rotterdam. Her goal is to promote awareness to diverse and compelling stories that cross genres and borders. She also wants to define the conversation of what “Latino” means.

Josephine Decker
Part of Time Warner’s 150 incubator, Sundance’s New Frontier Lab and one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film, Josephine Decker has been said to be ushering in a “new grammar of narrative” by The New Yorker, Her newest feature Madeline’s Madeline World Premiered at Sundance 2018 where it was called a “mind-scrambling masterpiece” by Indiewire and a “radical, breathtaking beauty” by The Village Voice. The film was recently nominated for Best Picture and lead Helena Howard for Breakthrough Actor at IFP’s Gotham Awards and received two Independent Spirit Award nominations as well. Josephine premiered her first two narrative features at the Berlinale Forum 2014 to similarly rave reviews. Josephine is currently in post-production on her fourth narrative feature starring Elisabeth Moss about the writer Shirley Jackson and just directed an episode of HBO’s Room 104. Her documentary, film and music video work has shown at the Museum of the City of New York, on Netflix, PBS and MTV and at hundreds of film festivals around the world.

Casey Baron
Born and raised in the small island of Dominica located in the West Indies, Casey Baron moved to Austin after graduating from Florida State University with a degree in English – Editing, Writing, and Media. While attending FSU, Casey worked for The Torchlight Program. During his time there, he was the Team Leader and Personal Assistant to film industry veteran Paul Cohen, the program’s Executive Director. Beyond that creative venture, Casey has also been an editor on a handful of literary magazines, including FSU’s The Kudzu Review and Miami 6

Dade College’s AXIS Creative Arts Magazine. Casey has been a part of the Austin Film Festival family for three years running; starting off as an intern before climbing the ladder to become the festival’s Shorts Programmer for its 25th anniversary. He’s excited to jump into his new role as the Senior Film Program Director, and continuing the organizational and personal mission of championing storytellers. When he’s not racing to find interesting stories, Casey spends his spare time watching basketball and soccer, listening to music, and playing with his dog Niobe.

To purchase passes, please visit 

About Dallas Film
Dallas Film (www.DallasIFF.org), established as Dallas Film Society in 2006, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that exists to celebrate the past, present and future of film in our community. The organization provides leadership in screen education and the recognition and celebration of excellence in the art of film, television, and digital media. Through a variety of screenings, educational programs, and festivals, Dallas Film raises awareness of the world’s most approachable and inclusive art form.


Continue Reading
0
897 Views


DIFF  / Editor's Spotlight
DIFF Red Carpet Opening Night | AdChat Interviews Directors of “First Act” & “Yirga”
AdChat DFW Posted On April 15, 2019


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…


Continue Reading
0
614 Views


DIFF
Dallas Film Announces Full Lineup for 13th Annual Dallas International Film Festival|Opening Night Film is Exposé on Ted Bundy’s Girlfriend
The Point Group Posted On March 21, 2019


Dallas Film announces the full lineup for the 13th annual Dallas International Film Festival (DIFF) powered by Capital One. The films include five World Premieres, one U.S. Premiere, 37 Texas Premieres and 15 Dallas Premieres. The festival, which is the largest film festival in North Texas, will be held April 11 to April 18, with screenings at Magnolia Theater, West Village in Uptown Dallas; Studio Movie Grill, Royal Lane; and Dallas Museum of Art. For the first time at DIFF, all seats are reserved and tickets are available only through the Atom Tickets app or www.AtomTickets.com. Tickets will be available to pass holders beginning March 25 and to the public on March 27. For more information or to purchase passes, please visit go to www.dallasfilm.org or visit

“We are excited to offer DIFF supporters an exceptional lineup featuring more than 130 films from more than 35 countries,” said Johnathan Brownlee, CEO & president of Dallas Film and executive director of Dallas International Film Festival. “Each year we strive to improve the customer experience and we are pleased to announce that we will offer a music stage and live performances 7 of the 8 days of the festival. In addition, we are partnering with Atom tickets as the first film festival to offer reserved seating, which includes a section of premium seats for Star Pass holders.”

In addition to showcasing a diverse range of films, the festival boasts Q&A sessions with filmmakers, nightly red carpets, films produced by area students and veterans, award presentations, live music performances each night and engaging activities. Festivalgoers will have the opportunity to meet filmmakers and actors from both major and independent films.

“At DIFF, we understand that film is the most relatable art form and connects individuals through shared experiences,” said James Faust, artistic director of Dallas Film. “Hundreds of hours went into hand selecting the films that will be screened at DIFF, and our goal is to offer a variety of fascinating, heartwarming, educational and insightful films that will be thought-provoking and relatable to DIFF festivalgoers. We have many engaging and entertaining events planned throughout the festival and are eager to provide a memorable festival experience for all who attend.”

The official selections include the following:
OPENING NIGHT FEATURE FILM
Movie Title: Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile
Director: Joe Berlinger
Writer: Michael Werwie
Stars: Lily Collins, Zac Efron
Country: USA
Running Time: 109 Minutes
Synopsis: A chronicle of the crimes of Ted Bundy from the perspective of Liz, his longtime girlfriend, who refused to believe the truth about him for years.

PREMIERE FILMS

Movie Title: American Factory
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Steven Bognar & Julia Reichert
Country: USA
Running Time: 114 Minutes
Synopsis: In post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in the husk of an abandoned General Motors plant, hiring two thousand blue-collar Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America.

Movie Title: The Biggest Little Farm
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: John Chester
Country: USA
Running Time: 91 Minutes
Synopsis: A testament to the immense complexity of nature, The Biggest Little Farm follows two dreamers and a dog on an odyssey to bring harmony to both their lives and the land. When the barking of their beloved dog Todd leads to an eviction notice from their tiny LA apartment, John and Molly Chester make a choice that takes them out of the city and onto 200 acres in the foothills of Ventura County, naively endeavoring to build one of the most diverse farms of its kind in complete coexistence with nature. The land they’ve chosen, however, is utterly depleted of nutrients and suffering from a brutal drought. The film chronicles eight years of daunting work and outsize idealism as they attempt to create the utopia they seek, planting 10,000 orchard trees and over 200 different crops, and bringing in animals of every kind– including an unforgettable pig named Emma and her best friend, Greasy the rooster. When the farm’s ecosystem finally begins to reawaken, so does the Chesters’ hope – but as their plan to create perfect harmony takes a series of wild turns, they realize that to survive they will have to reach a far greater understanding of the intricacies and wisdom of nature, and of life itself.

Movie Title: Brian Banks
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Tom Shadyac
Country: USA
Running Time: 100 Minutes
Synopsis: The inspirational true story of Brian Banks (Aldis Hodge), an All-American high school football star committed to USC who finds his life upended when he is wrongly convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. Despite lack of evidence, Banks is railroaded through a broken justice system and sentenced to a decade of prison and probation. Years later, with the support of Justin Brooks (Greg Kinnear) and the California Innocence Project, Banks fights to reclaim his life and fulfill his dreams of playing in the NFL.

Movie Title: The Death of Dick Long
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Daniel Scheinert
Country: USA
Running Time: 110 Minutes
Synopsis: Dick died last night, and Zeke and Earl don’t want anybody finding out how. That’s too bad though, cause news travels fast in small-town Alabama.

Movie Title: Freaks
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Adam B Stein and Zach Lipovski
Country: Canada
Running Time: 104 Minutes
Synopsis: Kept locked inside the house by her father, 7-year-old Chloe lives in fear and fascination of the outside world, where Abnormals create a constant threat – or so she believes. When a mysterious stranger offers her a glimpse of what’s really happening outside, Chloe soon finds that while the truth isn’t so simple, the danger is very real.

Movie Title: Frances Ferguson
Premiere Status: Dallas Premiere
Director: Bob Byington
Country: USA
Running Time: 75 Minutes
Synopsis: Frances Ferguson, the eponymously named character at the center of Bob Byington’s new film, is discontent. Like a lot of us, she does a bit of “acting out” and pays the price —an arrest, a trial, incarceration. And then a new identity, one that’s not terribly comfortable. Nick Offerman narrates this deviant comedy, based on actual events.

Movie Title: Her Smell
Premiere Status: Dallas Premiere
Director: Alex Ross Perry Country: USA
Running Time: 134 Minutes
Synopsis: Becky Something (Elisabeth Moss) is a ’90s punk rock superstar who once filled arenas with her grungy all-female trio Something She. Now she plays smaller venues while grappling with motherhood,
exhausted band mates, nervous record company executives, and a new generation of rising talent eager to usurp her stardom. When Becky’s chaos and excesses derail a recording session and national tour, she finds herself shunned, isolated and alone. Forced to get sober, temper her demons, and reckon with the past, she retreats from the spotlight and tries to recapture the creative inspiration that led her band to success.

Movie Title: Non-Fiction
Premiere Status: Dallas Premiere
Director: Olivier Assayas
Country: France
Running Time: 106 Minutes
Synopsis: Juliette Binoche and Guillame Canet reunite with acclaimed director Olivier Assayas for this wry, slyly seductive tale of sex, lies, and literature. Set amidst the bohemian intelligentsia of the Parisian publishing world, Non-Fiction traces the romantic and emotional fallout that results when a controversial writer begins blurring the line between fact and fiction, using his real-life love affairs — including a passionate fling with an actress who happens to be married to his editor — as fodder for his explosive new novel. Balancing dry wit with keen observations on the tensions between art, commerce, and technology, Non-Fiction is a buoyant, breezy delight from a master director at his most effortlessly brilliant.

Movie Title: Ode to Joy
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Jason Winer
Country: USA
Running Time: 97 Minutes
Synopsis: Charlie suffers from cataplexy, a serious disease that causes acute narcolepsy in particularly emotional situations-in his case whenever he experiences joy. He develops a variety of techniques to deny himself pleasure and avoid heartwarming moments, but they’re put to the ultimate test when he falls in love.

Movie Title: Ophelia
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Claire McCarthy
Country: UK/USA
Running Time: 114 Minutes
Synopsis: A re-imagining of Hamlet, told from Ophelia’s perspective.

Movie Title: Running with Beto
Premiere Status: Dallas Premiere
Director: David Modigliani Country: USA
Running Time: 94 Minutes
Synopsis: This behind-the-scenes HBO documentary film follows Beto O’Rourke’s rise from virtual unknown to national political sensation through his bold attempt to unseat Ted Cruz in the US Senate. Embedded with Beto for the final twelve months of his campaign, the film follows his journey in real time through intimate access to O’Rourke, his family, and a team of political newcomers who champion a new way of getting to know a candidate — one Texas county at a time. The film reveals the challenges and triumphs of an unconventional campaign as Beto navigates an onslaught of negative advertising, inevitable strain on his family, and the pressure of delivering for legions of supporters. This film is creatively and financially independent from Beto O’Rourke and his campaign. It will debut later this spring on HBO.

Movie Title: Them That Follow
Premiere Status: Dallas Premiere
Directors: Britt Poulton, Dan Madison Savage Country: USA
Running Time: 98 Minutes
Synopsis: In the rugged wilderness of Appalachia, the members of an isolated community of Pentecostal snake handlers led by Pastor Lemuel (Walton Goggins) risk their lives to attest themselves before God. Lemuel’s daughter Mara (Alice Englert) prepares for her upcoming wedding to the young believer her father has singled out for her under the watchful eye of Hope (2019 Oscar Winner, Olivia Colman), while scrambling to hide a secret that has the potential to drive her father’s church to ruin.

Movie Title: The Tomorrow Man
Premiere Status: Dallas Premiere
Director: Noble Jones
Country: USA
Running Time: 94 Minutes
Synopsis: Ed Hemsler spends his life preparing for a disaster that may never come. Ronnie Meisner spends her life shopping for things she may never use. In a small town somewhere in America, these two people will try to find love while trying not to get lost in each other’s stuff.
Movie Title: Wild Rose
Premiere Status: Dallas Premiere
Director: Tom Harper
Country: USA
Running Time: 100 Minutes
Synopsis: A musician from Glasgow dreams of becoming a Nashville star.

WORLD CINEMA

Movie Title: The Fall of the American Empire
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Denys Arcand
Country: Canada
Running Time: 127 Minutes

Synopsis: Pierre-Paul Daoust, 36, an intellectual with a PhD in philosophy is forced to work as a deliveryman to afford a decent living. One day, while delivering a parcel, he gets caught in a hold up gone terribly wrong: two dead and millions in money bags laying on the ground. Pierre-Paul is confronted with a dilemma leave empty handed, or take the money and run? This new Denys Arcand film takes a witty yet touching look at, as only Arcand knows how, the predominance of money in a society where all other values seem to have crumbled.

Movie Title: A Fortunate Man
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Bille August
Country: Denmark
Running Time: 162 Minutes
Synopsis: In the late 19th century, Peter Sidenius is an ambitious young man from a devout Christian family in Western Denmark, who travels to the Danish capital of Copenhagen to study engineering, rebelling against his clergyman father. He comes into contact with the intellectual circles of a wealthy, Jewish family and seduces the elder daughter, Jakobe. Per, as he now calls himself, conceives a large-scale engineering project including the construction of a series of canals in his native Jutland, and lobbies for its construction. But just as Per seems to be about to make his dreams come true, his pride stands in the way.

Movie Title: Girls of the Sun
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Eva Husson
Country: France
Running Time: 115 Minutes
Synopsis: A Kurdish female battalion prepares to take back their town from extremists.

Movie Title: The Last Color
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Vikas Khanna
Country: India
Running Time: 90 Minutes
Synopsis: Nine-year-old tightrope walker and flower seller, Chhoti, savors her dream to save Rs. 300 ($ 4), so she can attend school. Choti befriends Noor, a white-clad widow who suffers a life of total abstinence and is disallowed from taking part in any festivities, especially Holi, the Indian festival of colors. Noor encourages her to face life with education, and dignity. Noor shares her fondest childhood memory of playing Holi. Chhoti promises Noor that, this Holi, she will finally splash Noor with her favorite pink color. But on Holi’s eve, Noor passes away, and during a sweep, Chhoti is imprisoned by the corrupt police, led by the violent and bullying Raja. Will Chhoti be able to keep her promise?

Movie Title: Manta Ray
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Phuttiphong Aroonpheng
Country: Thailand
Running Time: 105 Minutes
Synopsis: Near a coastal village of Thailand, by the sea where thousands of Rohingya refugees have drowned, a local fisherman finds an injured man lying unconscious in the forest. He rescues the stranger, who does not speak a word, offers him his friendship and names him Thongchai. But when the fisherman suddenly disappears at sea, Thongchai slowly begins to take over his friend’s life – his house, his job and his ex-wife…

Movie Title: Midnight Family
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Luke Lorentzen
Country: Mexico
Running Time: 90 Minutes
Synopsis: In Mexico City’s wealthiest neighborhoods, the Ochoa family runs a private ambulance, competing with other for-profit EMTs for patients in need of urgent help.

Movie Title: Shadow
Premiere Status: Dallas Premiere
Director: Zhang Yimou Country: China
Running Time: 116 Minutes
Synopsis: With SHADOW, director Zhang Yimou (HERO, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS) once again pushes the boundaries of wuxia action to create a film like no other, masterfully painting a canvas of inky blacks and greys punctuated with bursts of color from the blood of the defeated. In a kingdom ruled by a young and unpredictable king, the military commander has a secret weapon: a “shadow”, a look-alike who can fool both his enemies and the King himself. Now he must use this weapon in an intricate plan that will lead his people to victory in a war that the King does not want.

Movie Title: Screwdriver
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Shrihari Sathe
Country: Palestine/Qatar/USA
Running Time: 108 Minutes
Synopsis: After fifteen years of imprisonment, Ziad struggles to adjust to modern Palestinian life as the hero everyone hails him to be. Unable to distinguish reality from hallucination he unravels and forces himself to go back to where it all began.

Movie Title: Sorry Angel
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Christophe Honoré
Country: France
Running Time: 132 Minutes
Synopsis: Jacques is an older writer from Paris. Arthur is a young student in Rennes. They instantly fall in love. But they’ll have to face rejection and sickness to keep it that way.

LATINO SHOWCASE

Movie Title: El Corazón de Bolívar (Bolivar’s Heart)
Premiere Status: World Premiere
Director: Leonel Gonzalez
Country: Mexico
Running Time: 96 Minutes
Synopsis: Isabel and Antonio Condorcanqui are brother and sister who have been separated by the Chilean Dictatorship given the relationship they have with José Gabriel Condorcanqui or Tupac Amaru II, a revolutionary who supported the peasants against Spain. Military forces are in search of them afraid they continue the same ideals. Antonio is a present-day revolutionary who tries to follow Simon Bolivar’s doctrine of setting the pressed towns free. Isabel has been a victim of human trafficking at the hands of the Deep State. David Levin, an outstanding lawyer and Gloria Dolii Garcia, his assistant, defend Isabel so that so that she is not deported to her country of origin, Peru.

Movie Title: Re Loca (Super Crazy)
Premiere Status: U.S. Premiere
Director: Martino Zaidelis
Country: Argentina
Running Time: 95 Minutes
Synopsis: What would happen if you could suddenly say everything you really think? After years of living a monotonous life, full of ridiculous pressures and demands, a casual but magical encounter will allow Pilar (Natalia Oreiro) to go “Completely Crazy”and say and do everything that goes through her mind. Coworkers, friends, husbands and family; all shall suffer the wrath of this sudden transformation. Of course, losing your filter can also bring about some consequences…

Movie Title: Botero
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Don Millar
Country: Colombia
Running Time: 82 Minutes
Synopsis: BOTERO is the definitive profile of the world’s most popular living artist, 86 year-old Fernando Botero. It is a poetic chronicle of an inspiring life and a behind-the-scenes look at the power of a unique artistic vision.

Movie Title: Divino Amor (Divine Love)
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Gabriel Mascaro
Country: Brazil
Running Time: 101 Minutes
Synopsis: Brasil, 2027. A deeply religious woman uses her position in a notary’s office to try to prevent couples from divorcing. Whilst waiting for a divine sign in recognition of her efforts, she’s confronted with a crisis that ultimately brings her closer to God.

CZECH THAT FILMS
Showcasing the very best of contemporary Czech Cinema.

Movie Title: Golden Sting (Zlaty podraz)
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Radim Spacek
Country: Czech Republic
Running Time: 106 Minutes
Synopsis: Young Czechoslovak men learn to play basketball from American Mormons at a YMCA camp in 1938. When World War II erupts a year later, their coach is arrested and executed. A young lawyer named Franta steps in to manage the team. After the liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945, he visits the prison yard where their coach died, picking up a handful of soil and placing it in a box with national colors. The team carries this talisman to the European Championship in Geneva where the Czechs miraculously win in 1946. However, everything changes again with the communist coup in February 1948. Friendships are broken, several basketball players are persecuted, and Franta is arrested. The team will go to Paris to defend their title, but can they succeed?

Movie Title: Jan Palach
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Robert Sedlácek
Country: Czech Republic
Running Time: 124 Minutes
Synopsis: Jan Palach, an uncompromising young man, made the ultimate sacrifice in the hope of rousing the nation from its growing lethargy and of protesting the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. This biopic describes the last months of Palach’s life, describing his path from an affectionate son, devoted friend and sensitive philosophy student to “Torch number 1.”

Movie Title: Suitor (Napadnik)
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Jan Hřebejk
Country: Czech Republic
Running Time: 113 Minutes
Synopsis: Set in the late 1950s, the communist regime controls Czechoslovakia, and a gap has opened between the pre-war and post-war generations. City girl Daniela meets country boy Mirek while staying at the garden store run by her aunt and uncle. Love begins to bloom, but Daniela’s father is furious. He has other plans for his daughter, intent on making the perfect match with an educated catch. This romantic comedy is the final
installment of director Hřebejk’s Garden Store trilogy, following three families: an air radio operator, a hair salon owner, and a garden store proprietor against the backdrop of one of the most dramatic periods of the last century.

NON-FICTION COMPETITION

Movie Title: Before You Know It
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Hannah Pearl Utt
Country: USA
Running Time: 98 Minutes
Synopsis: A pair of sisters find out that the mother they thought was dead is alive and starring on a soap opera.

Movie Title: The Day I Lost My Shadow
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Soudade Kaadan
Country: Syria
Running Time: 94 Minutes
Synopsis: In Syria in 2012 a mother ventures into a war zone to find a gas cylinder so she can prepare a meal for her son. She discovers that in the besieged area the people there have lost their shadows.

Movie Title: International Falls
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Amber McGinnis
Country: USA
Running Time: 93 Minutes
Synopsis: Dee is stuck in a boring job and a broken marriage in International Falls, a snowbound border town at the end of the road. Harboring a secret dream of a stand up career, Dee encounters Tim: a burned out touring comedian who feels trapped by the very life Dee desires. As these two lost souls form an unlikely friendship, they’ll be forced to face the harsh but funny truths of their lives.

Movie Title: Ms. Purple
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Rashad Ernesto Greene
Country: USA
Running Time: 87 Minutes
Synopsis: MS. PURPLE is a drama about two Asian American siblings, Kasie & Carey, who grew up and are stuck in Koreatown, Los Angeles. Their mother abandoned them when they were young and they were raised by their father who is now on his deathbed. They both have deep scars left from their upbringing that they are constantly trying to overcome as they struggle to navigate their own lives. Ultimately this story is about a mending of a relationship between a brother and sister and the regrouping of a family in the final days of their father’s life.

Movie Title: Premature
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Justin Chon
Country: USA
Running Time: 89 Minutes
Synopsis: The summer before she leaves for college, Ayanna meets handsome and mysterious outsider Isaiah; her entire world is turned upside down as she navigates the demanding terrain of young love, against a changing Harlem landscape.

Movie Title: Sister Aimee
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Samantha Buck
Country: USA
Running Time: 87 Minutes
Synopsis: In 1926 America’s most famous evangelist is a woman. And she’s looking for a way out. Fed up with her own success, she gets swept up in her lover’s daydreams about Mexico and finds herself on a wild road trip towards the border. Based on true events. Mostly made up.

DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

Movie Title: Always in Season
Premiere Status: Dallas Premiere
Director: Jacqueline Olive
Country: USA
Running Time: 89 Minutes
Synopsis: When 17-year-old Lennon Lacy is found hanging from a swing set in rural North Carolina in 2014, his mother’s search for justice and reconciliation begins while the trauma of more than a century of lynching African Americans bleeds into the present.

Movie Title: Caballerango
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Juan Pablo Gonzales
Country: Mexico
Running Time: 60 Minutes
Synopsis: In the Mexican village of Milpillas, a family remembers the last day they saw their youngest child, Nando, a lifelong horse wrangler. Exploring a rural community’s daily rituals, Caballerango evokes the presence of those who have parted.

Movie Title: The Disappearance of My Mother
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Beniamino Barrese
Country: Italy
Running Time: 100 Minutes
Synopsis: An iconic fashion model strives to escape the world of images and disappear for good, but her son’s determination to make a final film about her sparks an unexpected collaboration and confrontation with the camera’s gaze.

Movie Title: Hurdle
Premiere Status: World Premiere
Director: Michael Rowley Country: USA
Running Time: 87 Minutes
Synopsis: As the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian territories approached its 50th year, Hurdle reveals an important and intimate story emerging from the hearts and actions of Palestinian youth. The new generation responds to a world of walls, checkpoints and arrests in an unexpected and inspiring way. Hurdle’s protagonists, Sami and Mohammad, begin teaching the creative practices of parkour and photography, respectively, to the youth of their communities as a means to overcome the personal and political obstacles that often feel inescapable. Though these young men are separated by a wall, they are united in leading the next generation toward freedom and self-determination through non-violent, creative practices.

Movie Title: Jump Shot
Premiere Status: Dallas Premiere
Director: Jacob Hamilton Country: USA
Running Time: 73 Minutes
Synopsis: JUMP SHOT uncovers the inspiring true story of Kenny Sailors, the developer of the modern day jump shot in basketball. Introducing his never before seen ‘leaping one-hander’ to the masses on a national level, Kenny quickly grew to be a fan favorite while leading his Wyoming Cowboys to the Collegiate National Championship in Madison Square Garden in 1943. But after playing on several losing teams in an unstable, emerging league now known as the NBA, Kenny disappeared into the Alaskan wilderness only to be forgotten by the sport he helped pioneer. Now, nearly sixty years later, the multitude of people he has touched along the way have forced Kenny’s humble reemergence.

Movie Title: Leave the Bus Through the Broken Window
Premiere Status: Dallas Premiere
Director: Andrew Hevia
Country: Hong Kong/USA
Running Time: 68 Minutes
Synopsis: A hapless American expat in Hong Kong sets out to make a documentary about an international art fair but finds himself out of his depth. He turns the camera on himself and the film becomes a deeply personal and unexpectedly comedic story about authenticity, heartbreak and that time he got lost in a shopping mall.

Movie Title: Treasure Island (L’Ile au trésor)
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Guillaume Brac
Country: France
Running Time: 97 Minutes
Synopsis: It’s summer on a leisure base in the tough Paris suburbs. A land of adventures, flirting and transgression for some, a place to hide out or take a break for others. With its beach and its hidden nooks and crannies, it’s like a childhood kingdom waiting to be explored, resonating with the turmoil of today’s society.

TEXAS COMPETITION

Movie Title: Adonis Complex
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Chad Werner
Country: USA
Running Time: 75 Minutes
Synopsis: Four friends rent a lake house from a fitness obsessed owner named Tad. As the drama of the friends’ relationship unfolds, Tad’s seemingly affable gestures take an eerie and sinister twist, turning their dream vacation into a nightmare. Mystery entangles this tale that unfolds like the Greek myth from which it derives its name.

Movie Title: Building the American Dream
Premiere Status: Dallas Premiere
Director: Chelsea Hernandez
Country: USA
Running Time: 75 Minutes
Synopsis: In Texas, construction workers face the deadliest conditions in the country. Building the American Dream follows three immigrant families who are rising up to seek justice and equality in an industry rife with exploitation.

Movie Title: Jaddoland
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Nadia Shihab
Country: USA/Iraq
Running Time: 90 Minutes
Synopsis: A visit to her mother’s home art studio in Texas prompts the filmmaker to explore the meaning of home and the search for belonging across three generations of her Iraqi family.

Movie Title: J.R. “Bob” Dobbs and the Church of the SubGenius
Premiere Status: Dallas Premiere
Director: Sandy K. Boone
Country: USA
Running Time: 85 Minutes
Synopsis: What started out as an inside joke amongst two self proclaimed weirdos in Ft. Worth, Texas soon becomes much more than they bargained for when they decide to turn their conservative southern ideology on its head and invent a new religion all their own.

Movie Title: Seadrift
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Tim Tsai Country: USA
Running Time: 68 Minutes
Synopsis: In 1979, a Vietnamese refugee shoots and kills a white crab fisherman at the public town docks in Seadrift, TX. What began as a dispute over fishing territory erupts into violence and ignites a maelstrom of boat burnings, KKK intimidation, and other hostilities against Vietnamese refugees along the Gulf Coast. Set during the early days of Vietnamese arrival in the U.S. “Seadrift” examines the shooting and its dramatic aftermath, and reveals the unexpected consequences that continue to reverberate today.

Movie Title: Shoot the Moon Right Between the Eyes
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Graham L. Carter
Country: USA
Running Time: 72 Minutes
Synopsis: Jerry and Carl have conned their way from one small Texas town to another and the plan for their final con goes haywire when one of them falls in love with Maureen. And there’s a bumbling P.I. out for vengeance and hot on their trail. A musical comedy based on “Two Gallants” by James Joyce and the songs of John Prine.

Movie Title: This World Won’t Break
Premiere Status: World Premiere
Director: Josh David Jordan Country: USA
Running Time: 148 Minutes
Synopsis: A Texas troubadour’s quiet life is upset by the realization that he isn’t where he had hoped to be at this point in his career. He questions the decisions of putting off a family life in hopes to one day “make it” by isolating himself on the open road and playing small honkey-tonks. Too late to stop following the dream and too early in his career to be a legend, Wes Milligan’s struggle for a better life begins to spiral out of control. In these darkest moments, he writes THE song.

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

Movie Title: Goldfinger (1964)
Director: Guy Hamilton
Country: UK
Running Time: 110 Minutes
Synopsis: Bond is back and his next mission takes him to Fort Knox, where Auric Goldfinger and his henchman are planning to raid Fort Knox and obliterate the world economy. To save the world once again, Bond will need to become friends with Goldfinger, dodge killer hats and avoid Goldfinger’s personal pilot, the sexy Pussy Galore. She might not have feelings for Bond, but will 007 help her change her mind?

Movie Title: The Pursuit
Premiere Status: World Premiere
Director: John Papola
Country: USA
Running Time: 76 Minutes
Synopsis: Professional musician turned intrepid economist Arthur Brooks travels around the globe in search of an answer to the question: How can we lift up the world, starting with those at the margins of society? His journey takes him through the chaotic streets of Mumbai, a town in Kentucky left behind by the global economy, a homeless shelter in New York, a street protest in Barcelona, and a Himalayan Buddhist monastery. Along the way, he discovers the secrets not only to material progress for the least fortunate, but also true and lasting happiness for all.

MIDNIGHT SPECIALS

Movie Title: Diamantino
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Gabriel Abrantes, Daniel Schmidt
Country: Portugal
Running Time: 92 Minutes
Synopsis: Diamantino, the world’s premiere soccer star (played by Carloto Cotta), loses his special touch and ends his career in disgrace. Searching for a new purpose, the international icon sets out on a delirious odyssey where he confronts neo-fascism, the refugee crisis, genetic modification, abuse at the hands of his evil twin sisters, and a deranged hunt for the source of genius..

Movie Title: Deadtectives
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Tony West
Country: USA/Mexico
Running Time: 92 Minutes
Synopsis: DeadTectives follows a team of hapless paranormal investigators on a reality TV series who go on a quest to Mexico’s most haunted house in the pursuit of better ratings. However, when the true dark secrets of the mansion begin to reveal themselves, the hapless presenters quickly discover that this house is no hoax. With zero ghost-hunting skills (or really any other applicable skills) the team has to figure out how to bust the ghosts and escape the house with their lives.

Movie Title: In Fabric
Premiere Status: Dallas Premiere
Director: Peter Strickland
Country: UK
Running Time: 119 Minutes
Synopsis: A lonely woman visits a bewitching London department store in search of a dress that will transform her life. She’s fitted with a perfectly flattering, artery-red gown—which will come to unleash a malevolent curse and unstoppable evil.

NARRATIVE SHORTS

Movie Title: Ada
Director: Elenore Pienta
Country: USA
Running Time: 10:44 Minutes
Synopsis: Eleanore Pienta plays an eccentric woman trying to get from point A to point B and, in the process, finding New York City an obstacle course of casual hostility and bizarre behaviors.

Movie Title: Amor, Avenidas Novas
Director: Duarte Coimbra
Country: Portugal
Running Time: 20 Minutes
Synopsis: Lisbon, 2017. Manel is twenty years old, lives on Avenida Almirante Reis and idealizes love inspired by the relationship of his parents. Out of compassion, he hands over his double mattress to Nicolau and his girlfriend, who returned to Lisbon. Manel is alone with the mattress that he exchanged with his friends and on his way back home when he invades a film set, with a team entirely composed by girls. One of them, Rita, a beautiful production intern who helps with the mattress. They talk. This encounter has a profound effect on Manel who goes home to reconsider his life sinking into a magical feeling of passion.

Movie Title: As Told To G/D Thyself
Director: Kamasi Washington, Terence Nance, Bradford Young, Jenn Nkiru, Marc Thomas
Country: USA
Running Time: 22:09 Minutes
Synopsis: The story of the sacred youth and the stakes of a cosmic journey. Where the embodiment and the pain, pleasure and sublimation there-in are non-negotiable. Inspired by influential jazz musician, Kamasi Washington’s, latest album; Heaven & Earth.
Movie Title: Aziza
Director: Soudade Kaadan
Country: Syria

Running Time: 13 Minutes
Synopsis: A dynamic take on the life of Syrian refugees told through black comedy.

Movie Title: By The Dark of Night
Director: Farah White
Country: USA
Running Time: 9:50 Minutes
Synopsis: A woman keeps a promise made long ago to help bury a body.

Movie Title: Cheer Up Baby
Director: Adinah Dancyger
Country: USA
Running Time:13:06 Minutes
Synopsis: A young woman who has been sexually assaulted by a stranger on the subway is rendered with psychological menace and sensory dislocation in this elliptical tale.

Movie Title: Chicle (gum)
Director: Lizette Barrera
Country: USA
Running Time: 13:50 Minutes
Synopsis: An ill-tempered teenager attempts to find peaceful solitude on the day of her grandfather’s passing until an estranged friend pays her a visit.

Movie Title: Company
Director: Doron Hagay
Country: USA
Running Time: 13:10 Minutes
Synopsis: A woman invites an old acquaintance to live with her after a devastating loss.

Movie Title: Deep Tissue
Director: Meredith Alloway
Country: USA
Running Time: 8:42 Minutes
Synopsis: Two strangers meet under mysterious means and discover they share a mutual fetish.

Movie Title: East of the River
Director: Hannah Peterson
Country: USA
Running Time: 13:20 Minutes
Synopsis: Teonna is unexpectedly suspended from school and is faced with a day on the streets of Washington, DC. Teonna encounters Malik, who is also out of school, and Sara, who left school because she saw more
economic opportunity on the streets. The three set out for an adventure that takes them east of the Anacostia river. Created in collaboration with local high schoolers, East of the River is an unflinching portrait of the education and lived experience of teenagers finding their way through an overburdened public school system.

Movie Title: End (Fin)
Director: Yimit Ramírez
Country: Cuba
Running Time: 20:11 Minutes
Synopsis: Juan is dead. Surprisingly, he is given an opportunity: to relive a moment of his past life, but it will not be an ordinary moment.

Movie Title: First Act (Primeiro ato)
Director: Matheus Parizi
Country: Brazil
Running Time: 19 Minutes
Synopsis: “Stop the world, I want to get off”. Two theatre students try to convince their colleagues to leave their classroom and join them in the protests against the dismantling of culture policies, that take over Brazil.

Movie Title: A Good Son
Director: Suzanne Weinert
Country: USA
Running Time: 11:39 Minutes
Synopsis: When Tommy, 75, asks his son Mike to put a Hefty bag over his head and suffocate him to death, neither of them believes the other will really go through with it. Until MIke’s son Chris, 17, comes up with a plan that will give both his father and grandfather the solution they’ve been looking for.

Movie Title: Gopherit
Director: Bryan Poyser
Country: USA
Running Time: 13 Minutes
Synopsis: A freelancer working for a job-matching website gets hired to help a dominatrix with her invoices but finds out there’s more to the job than he thought.

Movie Title: Judas Collar
Director: Alison James
Country: Austrailia
Running Time: 15 Minutes
Synopsis: In outback Australia, a wild camel is captured and fitted with a tracking device known as a Judas Collar.

Movie Title: Manila is Full of Men Named Boy
Director: Andrew Stephen Lee
Country: Philipines
Running Time: 21:05 Minutes
Synopsis: On July 7, 2009, Michael Jackson’s funeral captures the attention of an entire nation when it broadcasts throughout The Philippines. That same day, Boy Manatad buys a “son” who can drink and smoke to impress his hyper-masculine father, Rodrigo. However, when Rodrigo and his friends take to the child as one their own, Boy is forced to come to terms with his own insecurities…and Michael Jackson.

Movie Title: The Minors
Director: Robert Machoian
Country: USA
Running Time: 10 Minutes
Synopsis: A slice of life film about a Grandpa and his Grandsons, the future and the past.

Movie Title: My Home Is A Dog That Lives Inside Me
Director: Adam Briggs
Country: Australia, Japan
Running Time: 13 Minutes
Synopsis: An old folk singer returns to a small seaside village, visits past people, plays to moments, and holds a small untidy concert.

Movie Title: okaasan (mom)
Director: Kana Hatakeyama
Country: USA/Japan
Running Time: 17:53 Minutes
Synopsis: In rural Japan, a mother and daughter attempt to reconnect after dealing with the loss of a loved one the previous year.

Movie Title: The One You Never Forget
Director: Morgan Fox
Country: USA
Running Time: 8 Minutes
Synopsis: 14 year old Carey nervously prepares for his first dance as his parents reminisce about their own. When Carey’s mother (Tasha Smith, EMPIRE) tasks Carey’s father (Malik Whitfield, THE TEMPTATIONS) with getting a picture of Carey and his date, a moment of tension arises as Carey becomes elusive and tries to thwart his father’s objective.

Movie Title: Outdooring
Director: Maxwell Addae
Country: USA
Running Time: 18 Minutes
Synopsis: A young man, Kobby Ankrah, attends his new nephew’s Ghanaian baby-naming ceremony with a plan to steal the money collected from their family to run away and keep a deep secret hidden.

Movie Title: The Procedure Part 2
Director: Calvin Lee Reeder
Country: USA
Running Time: 3 Minutes
Synopsis: A man is forced to endure another strange experiment.

Movie Title: Rapaz (Raptor Rapace)
Director: Felipe Gálvez
Country: Chile
Running Time: 13:02 Minutes
Synopsis: Ariel (38), se involucra en la detención de un adolescente acusado de robar un celular. Una masa de personas rodea al joven, algunos lo culpan, lo golpean, otros lo defienden. La policía no llega. Ariel debe decidir de qué lado está.

Movie Title: Ready For Love
Director: Dylan Pasture, Lauren McCune
Country: USA
Running Time: 14:53 Minutes
Synopsis: Amber Lynn Weatherbee knows that the right man is out there. Maybe he’s on The Bachelor? Ready for Love covers a decade of a woman’s life, as told only through her own video submissions to be a contestant on the bachelor.

Movie Title: Rearrangement
Director: Emilios Avraam
Country: Cyprus
Running Time: 8:55 Minutes
Synopsis: When Leonidas pursues a home renovation contract, he quickly comes to find that his potential new client is very insistent that everything must be done according to her demands.

Movie Title: Rock Paper Scissors
Director: Brian Lawes
Country: USA
Running Time: 6:40 Minutes
Synopsis: A boy and girl must exchange numbers at an intersection before the light turns green.

Movie Title: Slingshot
Director: Robin Haig
Country: Scotland Running Time: 15:27 Minutes
Synopsis: Slingshot is the spirited tale of overlooked Kath who works in the ticket booth of a Scottish castle. She longs to join her village’s battle re-enactment but is thwarted by her annoying younger boss Gordon. When gifted a mysterious hagstone Kath finally summons her courage to answer the battle cry.

Movie Title: The Subject (Le Sujet)
Director: Patrick Bouchard
Country: Canada
Running Time: 10 Minutes
Synopsis: An animator dissects his own body, extracting memories, emotions and fears that will nurture his work. As he cuts into his skin with a scalpel, various symbolic objects recalling his past emerge. Reaching the heart after cracking his ribs, he succeeds in identifying the burden he’s been dying to cast off.

Movie Title: The Tiger (Tiikeri)
Director: Mikko Myllylahti
Country: Finland
Running Time: 10:21 Minutes
Synopsis: On a winter evening Dad returns home drunk. Tiger is in his room and Mom is sleeping on the couch. A quarrel breaks out. Dad has a shotgun. Tiger and Mom escape the house. Haunting silence falls. Tiger must return inside to see what has happened – and to take the first steps towards independence.

Movie Title: Toto
Director: Danny Lee
Country: USA
Running Time: 17 Minutes
Synopsis: The career of an embittered former horror star who longs for his glory days comes gruesomely full circle.

Movie Title: Yirga
Director: B.B. Araya
Country: USA
Running Time: 7:40 Minutes
Synopsis: The night before Yirga’s big move, she’s plagued by one problem. With her peace of mind at stake, she must take matters into her own hands.

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS

Movie Title: A Film Crew Censors Itself
Director: Bentley Brown
Country: Saudi Arabia
Running Time: 4 Minutes
Synopsis: Despite the legalization of cinema in Saudi Arabia last year, film crews are still subject to “moral laws” governing “mixed-gender” work environments. Nestled away on a private beach film set, a film crew must censor its behind-the-scenes footage.

Movie Title: Ghosts of Sugar Land
Director: Bassam Tariq
Country: USA
Running Time: 21 Minutes
Synopsis: In Sugar Land, Texas, a group of young Muslim American men ponder the disappearance of their friend “Mark,” who is suspected of joining ISIS.

Movie Title: Gli Ani
Director: Sara Fgaier
Country: Italy
Running Time: 20:30 Minutes
Synopsis: A woman gives voice to Annie Ernaux The years’s text, a few collected fragments on the shores of a timeless Sardinia.

Movie Title: Lasting Marks
Director: Charlie Lyne
Country: USA
Running Time: 14:33 Minutes
Synopsis: At once heartbreaking and heartwarming, this documentary short tells the story of sixteen men prosecuted for sadomasochism in Thatcher’s Britain. Visually composed of newspaper clippings and trial transcripts, a friendly voice shares a perspective that was suppressed at the time – that of a participant in the infamous orgy.

Movie Title: Mack Wrestles
Director: Taylor Hess, Erin Sanger
Country: USA
Running Time: 25 Minutes
Synopsis: Mack Wrestles takes the audience behind the scenes as Mack Beggs, a gifted athlete from Euless, Texas, struggles against the outside forces that stigmatize transgender athletes.

Movie Title: Pelourinho: They Don’t Really Care About Us
Director: Akosua Adoma Owusu
Country: Ghana
Running Time: 9 Minutes
Synopsis: Inspired by a letter in 1927 from Pan Africanist W.E.B. Du Bois to the American embassy in Brazil, this colorful film explores how it was impossible for African Americans to travel to Brazil through a series of vignettes and reminds us of the inequality still faced by that country’s black inhabitants. 23 DALLAS FILM ANNOUNCES FULL LINEUP FOR 13TH ANNUAL DALLAS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Movie Title: The Queen’s New Clothes
Director: Ashley Bush
Country: USA
Running Time: 23:42 Minutes
Synopsis: Winn Morton – a visionary, 90-year-old costume designer who honed his craft on Broadway and with Ringling Brothers Circus- brings over-the-top fantasy and sparkle to a conservative debutante pageant in small town Texas.

Movie Title: Scenes from a Dry City
Director: Simon Wood and Francois Verster
Country: South Africa
Running Time: 12:44 Minutes
Synopsis: An impending water crisis grips Cape Town, South Africa.

Movie Title: To Be in Moab
Director: Stuart Ruston, Eamon Downey
Country: USA
Running Time: 20 Minutes
Synopsis: Moab, Utah is known for its breathtaking scenery, mountain climbing, hiking trails and roaring rivers. But for members of The Phoenix, a sober active community, the isolated landscape represents much more… Traveling from across the United States, 200 members gather for an annual rejuvenating weekend of exercise, recovery and gratitude as they share their stories of what led them to be in Moab.

Movie Title: Vesuvius at Home
Director: Christin Turner
Country: USA/ITALY
Running Time: 14:01 Minutes
Synopsis: A fantastical journey from the filmmaker’s childhood re-enactment of a false Pompeii, through a decades long obsession, to discover in the Sibyl’s Cave Pompeii’s symbiosis with cinema, memory, and Giambattista Vico’s spiral of time.

Movie Title: Walled Unwalled
Director: Lawrence Abu Hamdan
Country: Germany
Running Time: 21 Minutes
Synopsis: In the year 2000 there was a total of fifteen fortified border walls and fences between sovereign nations. Today, physical barriers at sixty-three borders divide nations across four continents. As these walls were being constructed, millions and millions of invisible cosmic particles called muons descended into the earths atmosphere and penetrated meters deep, through layers of concrete, soil and rock. Scientists realized that these deep penetrating particles could be harvested, and a technology could be developed to use their peculiar
physical capacities to pass through surfaces previously impervious o x-rays. Muons allowed us to see for the first time the contraband hidden in lead lined shipping containers and secret chambers buried inside the stone walls of the pyramids. Now no wall on earth is impermeable. Today, we’re all wall, and no wall at all.

SHORTS BEFORE FEATURES

Movie Title: First Person
Director: Michael Lang
Country: USA
Running Time: 3:53 Minutes
Synopsis: Don narrates a day in the life of Don. Don loves himself some Don, but doesn’t care much for anyone else.

Movie Title: Lexington and Vine
Director: Scott Haze
Country: USA
Running Time: 14 Minutes
Synopsis: This documentary follows Mark Foster and the indie pop band “Foster The People” on tour with their third studio album.

ANIMATED SHORTS

Movie Title: Applied Pressure
Director: Kelly Sears
Country: USA
Running Time: 7 Minutes
Synopsis: Ease the pain from past physical and mental distress. The body remembers. Aches may linger. Lay prone, breathe deeply, release tension, let go of the pain.

Movie Title: Caterpillarplasty
Director: David Barlow-Krelina
Country: Canada
Running Time: 5 Minutes
Synopsis: Fusing elements of Kafka and Kubrick, Caterpillarplasty is a prescient, grotesque sci-fi satire that lifts plastic surgery to another level.

Movie Title: The Fall (La Chute)
Director: Boris Labbé
Country: France/Spain
Running Time: 14:22 Minutes

Synopsis: As celestial beings descend to Earth vitiating its population, the world’s order unbalances. Initiated by these terms, a tragic fall leads to the parturition of crucial opposites: Hell and Heaven’s circles.

Movie Title: Fuse
Director: Shadi Adib
Country: Iran
Running Time: 7:18 Minutes
Synopsis: A mousetrap snaps shut, a market place awakens. A group of men heatedly discuss how to kill the animal in the little box.

Movie Title: Heart Chakra
Director: Angela Stempel
Country: USA
Running Time: 7:23 Minutes
Synopsis: Mae’s life is routinely disrupted by the advice from her online crystal healer and her devotion to horoscopes. Armed with healing crystals and numerology, Mae is ready to follow the predictions on an unexpected path to find her soulmate.

Movie Title: OBON
Director: Andre Hörmann & Anna Samo
Country: Germany/USA/Japan
Running Time: 15 Minutes
Synopsis: Akiko Takakura is one of the last survivors of the atomic bomb explosion of Hiroshima. During Obon she receives the spirits of her parents and is haunted by memories. Akiko’s childhood consists of constant rejections and beatings. Finally Akiko experiences fatherly love in the midst of Hiroshima’s ruins.

Movie Title: The Phantom 52
Director: Geoff Marslett
Country: USA
Running Time: 7:25 Minutes
Synopsis: Loneliness: a trucker who calls out on his CB radio waiting for a reply that never comes. A ghost that haunts the deserted highways. A whale that sings at a frequency no other whale can even hear.

Movie Title: RENEEPOPTOSIS
Director: Renee Zhan
Country: USA
Running Time: 9:55 Minutes
Synopsis: Three Renees go on a quest to find God, who is also Renee. As they traverse the mountains and valleys of Renee, they discover all the great joys, sadnesses, and mysteries of Renee.

Movie Title: Solar Walk
Director: Réka Bucsi
Country: Denmark
Running Time: 21 Minutes
Synopsis: Solar Walk shows a journey through space and the process of creation within an animated cosmic chaos.

Movie Title: There’s Something in the Water
Director: Rory WT
Country: USA/UK
Running Time: 08:01 Minutes
Synopsis: Caddo Lake is the only natural lake in Texas, but its delicate eco-system is threatened by a seemingly unstoppable invasive species of floating fern: Giant Salvinia. There’s Something in the Water is an 8-minute animated documentary featuring interviews with people who live and work on the lake, demonstrating the damage that has been caused, and how everyone can work together to try and fix it.

FAMILY FRIENDLY

Movie Title: 40th Anniversary Screening of The Muppet Movie (1979)
Director: James Frawley Country: UK, USA
Running Time: 95 Minutes
Synopsis: While living the quiet life in a swamp, Kermit the Frog is approached by a Hollywood agent to audition for the chance of a lifetime. So Kermit takes this chance for his big break as he makes the journey to Hollywood. Along the way, Kermit comes across several quirky new friends including comedic Fozzie Bear, beautiful but feisty Miss Piggy and the Great Gonzo. But Kermit must also watch out for ruthless Doc Hopper, who plans to use him as his spokesman for his Frog Legs food chain.

EDUCATION

Movie Title: NTX College Shorts

Movie Title: NTX High School Shorts

DEEP ELLUM SOUNDS

Movie Title: After So Many Days
Premiere Status: World Premiere
Director: Jim Hanft, Samantha Yonack
Country: USA
Running Time: 87 Minutes
Synopsis: A raw personal account of Jim and Sam, a singer-songwriter duo, uprooting their lives in an attempt to play one show every day for a year, putting their music, health, career, and first year of marriage to the test.

Movie Title: Get Back Up
Premiere Status: World Premiere
Director: Norry Niven
Country: USA
Running Time: 97 Minutes
Synopsis: A riveting, emotionally charged rock doc like none before it. This decade long journal follows the band and phoenix-like implosion and spiritual immersion of their front-man, who was born with a genius like gift to create hit music.

Movie Title: Live from the Astroturf
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: Steven Gaddis Country: USA
Running Time: 58 Minutes
Synopsis: Alice Cooper reunites with the surviving members of the original lineup of the band to perform a blistering set on a small stage of pink astroturf at independent music store Good Records in Dallas, TX, 40 years after the band parted ways. Store owner Chris Penn pulls off the near insurmountable task of organizing the event and keeping Alice’s appearance a secret until the original shock-rocker hits the stage.

Movie Title: Negro Terror
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
Director: John Rash
Country: USA
Running Time: 53 Minutes
Synopsis: ‘Negro Terror’ is a cinematic and musical portrait of a punk band’s rise from playing house parties to establishing their influential role within the vibrant and eclectic underground music community of Memphis, TN. Negro Terror as a band champion the history, music, and various politics of their beloved hometown and are far more than just another hardcore punk band with a provocative name. Their passion and music demonstrate that despite idiosyncratic personalities and sometimes opposing viewpoints three individuals can succeed as as an artistic and political collective focused on a common cause.

Movie Title: Nothing Stays The Same: The Story of The Story of the Saxon Pub
Premiere Status: Dallas Premiere
Director: Jeff Sandmann
Country: USA
Running Time: 71 Minutes
Synopsis: With iconic Austin venues closing each year due to rising rents and property taxes, the writing is on the wall for the Saxon Pub, a mainstay for live music since 1990. Soon being forced to a new space — akin to
closure for most clubs — its owner Joe Ables, its regulars and staff and its beloved musicians such as local luminaries Bob Schneider, Patrice Pike, Guy Forsyth, Joe Ely, Hector Ward, Carolyn Wonderland, The Resentments, Johnny Nicholas, W.C. Clark, Robynn Shayne and others, turn to face the music until they learn their fate might not be sealed after all. Call it divine intervention or a stroke of good luck, the Saxon could live to see another day if it plays its cards right….

For members of the media who are interested in covering this story or arranging an interview, please email Lauren Witt at lwitt@thepointgroup.com or call (214) 3787970 ext. 306.

About Dallas Film
Dallas Film (www.dallasfilm.org), established as Dallas Film Society in 2006, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that exists to celebrate the past, present and future of film in our community. The organization provides leadership in screen education and the recognition and celebration of excellence in the art of film, television, and digital media. Through a variety of screenings, educational programs, and festivals, Dallas Film raises awareness of the world’s most approachable and inclusive art form.
-End-


Continue Reading
0
508 Views


DIFF
Dallas Film Invites DIFF Pass Holders, Members and the Public to “How To Fest” Event @ Studio Movie Grill
Dallas International Film Festival Posted On March 18, 2019


To prepare festivalgoers for the 13th annual Dallas International Film Festival (DIFF) powered by Capital One, Dallas Film will host “How To Fest” at Studio Movie Grill Royal Ln. (11170 N Central Expy, Dallas, TX 75243) on March 20. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the event starts at 7:00 p.m. Festival pass holders, Dallas Film members and the public are invited to attend this free, fun, informative event. Studio Movie Grill is honored to partner with DIFF as a premium sponsor and to host DIFF events and movie screenings at its newly renovated Royal Lane location.

“How To Fest is an event to bring together festivalgoers and those interested in learning more about DIFF for a festival preview in which we answer questions and give helpful tips on navigating the festival,” said Johnathan Brownlee, CEO & President of Dallas Film and Executive Director of Dallas International Film Festival. “The festival team will walk through details of how passes, lines and reserved seating will work. We highly recommend this event for first timers and veterans alike, as we have some exciting changes in store for this year’s festival – namely the availability of reserved seating through Atom Tickets.”

How To Fest” will also feature previews of the films that will be screened, giveaways and swag. Food and beverages will be available for purchase.

“The Studio Movie Grill team is delighted to show appreciation for DIFF movie lovers and movies,” said Brian Schultz, Founder/CEO Studio Movie Grill. “We believe film is the most expressive form of storytelling, and that sharing a meal with family and friends is a timeless tradition. The opportunity to combine these with the DIFF experience is the inspiration behind the partnership between Studio Movie Grill and Dallas Film. Our mission is to open hearts and minds one story at a time and we value our partnership with DIFF and promise to deliver a memorable entertainment experience to every guest, every time.”

2019 Pass Information:

Star Pass—$500
($250 Discount for Industry Professionals)
Benefits: Premium Seating and Access to Opening Night Gala, Centerpiece Screenings, Regular Screenings, Parties, Panel Discussions and Festival Lounge. Early Access to Reserve Premium Seats.

Festival Pass—$250 (Includes Festival Lounge Access)
Benefits: Regular Screenings, Parties, Panel Discussions and Festival Lounge. Early Access to reserve General Seats for all Screenings. (Note: Does not include Opening Night Gala or Centerpiece Screenings)

Film Pass—$100 (just movies)
(Film Pass Student & Senior Discount—$75)
Benefits: Access to all Regular Screenings and Panel Discussions.

To purchase passes, please visit https://dallasfilm.charityproud.org/EventRegistration/Index/1710 or go to www.dallasfilm.org

About Dallas Film  
Dallas Film (www.dallasfilm.org), established as Dallas Film Society in 2006, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that exists to celebrate the past, present and future of film in our community. The organization provides leadership in screen education and the recognition and celebration of excellence in the art of film, television, and digital media. Through a variety of screenings, educational programs, and festivals, Dallas Film raises awareness of the world’s most approachable and inclusive art form.

About Studio Movie Grill
Established in 1998, Studio Movie Grill (“SMG”) modernized the traditional movie-going experience by combining first-run movies with full-service, in-theater dining. SMG has swiftly grown to 31 locations, 325 screens in 9 states with further expansion planned. SMG was named to Inc. Magazine’s List of “Fastest Growing Private Companies” three years in a row and placed 12th in Box Office Magazine’s Giants of the Industry in 2018 with key films grossing as high as #4 in North America. Honoring its commitment to Opening Hearts and Minds, One Story at a Time®, SMG’s legacy programs include Special Needs Screenings, Chefs for Children program and the annual Opening Hearts & Minds Award, which strive to help families and acknowledge local heroes. In July 2018, SMG created a unique loyalty program, SMG AccessTM which, as loyal guests earn rewards, allows them to join SMG in offering movies and meals for under served community members. For additional information, visit studiomoviegrill.com.


Continue Reading
0
449 Views