Festival City Week!
Greetings all,
I hope you have all had lots of sleep because this week, we have not one but two film festivals coming up. The USA Film Festival has one more screening on Friday (“Lady Sings the Blues”), making it three festivals this week. Speaking of the USA Film Fest, I saw a very good film this week, “Avenue of the Giants.”
When it comes out, you should go and see it.
When we closed down the VideoFest, I had in the back of my head the idea that I could program some films for other festivals and bring the VideoFest branding to them. I have done some programming, but until this week, I have yet to have a chance to put our name on it.
Opening Night of the Thin Line Fest will feature two feature documentaries—films that would have been in a 2024 VideoFest if we had one—and they are great. Before I tell you about them, there are also many other good documentaries here. The Thin Line Fest program is free, but you do have to get to Denton to see them.
Both of these films are timely, important, and really good films.
The first film, “No One Asked You,” which shows this Wednesday at 6:30 at the Campus Theater, follows comedian and disruptor Lizz Winstead, co-creator of "The Daily Show,” and her team Abortion Access Front as they crisscross the U.S. to support abortion clinic staff and bust stigma. Pop culture icons and next-gen comics fuel the six-year road film, activating small-town folks to rebuild vandalized clinics and expose wrongdoers, politicians, domestic terrorists, and media neglect.
The film is by Ruth Leitman, whose first film, “Wildwood,” we showed many, many years ago. Ruth, who teaches at Columbia College in Chicago, went to the same High School and synagogue I went to in Philly. As the abortion fight is front and center of this election, and this powerful film is a reminder of what is at stake as we see clinics being shut down and the people who are affected by it.
At 9:15, we are showing “Breaking the News” by the trio Heather Courtney Chelsea Hernandez and Princess A. Hairston in the same theatre. These are three filmmakers I really respect. Much of what I deeply care about is how the media affects culture and how we navigate reality. The truth is taking a real beating these days, and it is essential to know the values of where your news is coming from. The film looks at the dearth of women and people of color in the media. Emily Ramshaw wanted to do something radical about the white men dominating newsrooms, so, in 2020, she and a motivated group of women and LGBTQ+ journalists banded together to buck the status quo and launch the 19th, a digital news start-up based in Austin. If you can’t come to see the film, you can check out the 19th at 19thnews.org.
Other good films to see at Thin Line are, “Into the Spotlight.” “A Photographic Memory,” “Max Roach the Drum Also Waltzes” Nobody May Come,” and “Omoiyari: A Song Film By Kishi Bashi.”
I will teach a mobile filmmaking workshop at Thin Line on Saturday at 3 p.m. at the art center. By the way, the book has been sent to the editor!
Back in Dallas, the Dallas International Film Festival starts on Thursday Night. Many of the programs will be at the Violet Crown Theater, where many good films to be seen with an audience. We are a community partner with the festival, and we are specifically supporting three films. We have a few passes to give away, so email me if you want one.
The first film we are supported is Quin Mathews’ “City of Hate Dallas and the Assassination 60 Years Later.”
If this sounds familiar, is it a new version of the film we showed on Frame of Mind this year? I am sure there will be a lively discussion after the film.
The next film we are supporting is “Inheritance.” This powerful and depressing look at multigenerational life in Appalachian Ohio was shot over eleven years and centers around one boy who has to negotiate poverty and addiction. This is cinema verité at its best.
I haven't seen the third film, “Electra.” The description is: “A journalist and his female companion travel to interview a famous musician in Rome, where a generous invite to a country estate becomes something much more than anyone expected.”
There are many other great films to see here. Here are some I can recommend, “An Army of Women.” “Dark Sanctuary” (I think I am in this one), “Clemente,” “Shaking it Up, the Live and Times of Liz Carpenter,” “Texas Music Revolution,” “Water Wars,” and “I Saw the TV Glow.” There is much more.
In theaters this week, “Civil War” and “Sasquatch Sunset” are worth seeing. The Texas Theater has a special screening of the classic film “Battleship Potemkin” on Sunday at 7 pm. This is a restored print with a live score by Chris Jarrett. I have seen many silent films with a live score, but I have never seen one of this classic of cinema history. Anyone who cares about classic cinema should be there.
This is an excellent week to not stay at home and watch something streaming. Go out and experience a film with an audience.
Have a great week!
-Bart
Howdy,
I, too, am looking forward to DIFF this year. There are a lot of great horror films premiering as part of their “Midnight Specials” series. “I Saw The TV Glow” is a new A24 coming of age film from director Jane Schoenbrun. They understand internet culture and come from the world of YouTube creepypasta, which is like low-budget, found footage internet legends and myths. Everyone has been hyping this since it premiered at Sundance this year, and I can’t wait. Also, at the same time is the Neon film “Cuckoo” starring Hunter Schafer. Trailers are keeping the twist in this one close, but I read that the director and writer Tilman Singer based this one actual cuckoo birds, who lay their eggs in other birds’ nests.
They are also showing the new romantic drama “The Idea of You” starring Anne Hathaway as a mother who falls in love with the lead singer of her daughter’s favorite boy band. This is based on a Harry Styles fan fiction! and is coming direct to Prime Video later this year. It’s not the first fanfic to get turned into a movie (see “Fifty Shade of Grey” which is “Twilight” fanfic) or even the first Harry Styles-inspired film (see the “After” films, which there are five of.) This is going to be very popular on streaming, and there is already a waitlist at DIFF for this. People love romcoms!
Some others that look interesting from the lineup included “The Contestant” about a Japanese man that was filmed alone in his apartment for 15 months as part of a reality show, “In A Violent Nature” an alone-in-the-woods slasher movie told from the killer’s prospective, and “Solo” about a 15-year-old Canadian drag queen and his mother. You can check out the entire schedule and list of films over at the DIFF site. The fest starts on Thursday so be ready.
If you don’t want to mess around with the festival, we are showing “Remembering Gene Wilder” at The Modern this weekend. Wilder passed eight years ago, so while I initially thought it might be too early for this, it’s actually been a decent amount of time. Any of these tribute documentaries are always hits with the older folks, so I’m sure this will be popular. Out this week in wide release is the new Luca Guadagnino film “Challengers” starring Zendaya, in her first lead film role. There’s a love triangle at the heart of this and some thrilling tennis matches. There’s a good Twitter meme about how the female love-interests from each of the Spider-man series have gone on to star in tennis movies. Kirsten Dunst in “Wimbledon,” Emma Stone in “Battle of the Sexes” and now Zendaya in “Challengers” which will probably be the best reviewed one. Also out this week is the action comedy “Boy Kills World,” about a mute hero who enacts revenge on his enemies, narrating the whole time in a Street Fighter announcer video game voice. The trailer is giving Deadpool-comedy and John Wick-violence, and I don’t think it will be very good at all.
-Elijah