More From DIFF and the End of April
Hi all,
The USA and Thin Line festivals have now concluded. Both were very successful, featuring great films and good audiences. I am delighted that John Wildman injected some new life into the USA Fest. I hope that next year the dates will cascade rather than overlap. Meanwhile, the Dallas International Film Festival (DIFF) will continue until Thursday night. It has also showcased great films and attracted large audiences. Indeed, these weeks have demonstrated that Dallas is an excellent area for film production (there were many local films at all of these festivals) and a fantastic place to watch films. For as long as I have been here, the Dallas area has been a thriving hub for cinema in all its forms, and I include Fort Worth in that as well. Sometimes we take for granted what we have here as a community.
There are some great films this week at DIFF. Here are some of them.
“Toxic”, “Matter of Time”, “Portrait of a Postman”, ”Chain Reactions” and the film that “Chain Reactions is about, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, “To Use a Mountain” and the last film of the fest “Gallagher”, where you will learn way more about the guy who smashed watermelons. All of these are worth getting up out of your place of residence and going to a theater. If we want the Dallas-Fort Worth area to remain a great cinema town, we have to support the programs we have here to keep them healthy. Public funding is drying up, and we need to make up for that by buying tickets. This is a great film town because you show up.
Speaking of showing up, I have written about “Resolution: A Cinephonic Rhapsody for the Soul,” the film of the Polyphonic Spree’s last album for a while. There is now a chance to see if for free, on Thursday, May 8 at 6pm and 8pm, at the HP Digitarium. Here is a link to registrar for the screening. The three primary filmmakers who brought this vision to life will be there to talk about it.
We are looking forward to the new Cronenberg film “The Shrouds”, which is playing in movie theaters this week. I have not had a chance to see “Sinners”, but everyone I trust said they loved it.
Finding funding for independent films has been a struggle since I worked in this field. One of the bright spots has been the Austin Film Society Grant. The application process is the best I have witnessed, and if you have never applied for a grant, this is the best place to start. They are starting their new round and have some online workshops that will be helpful. There is a special North Texas Pioneer Grant, and more info here. Here is info on the workshops
2025 AFS Grant for Feature Films Narrative Webinar | May 8 at 6 PM
2025 AFS Grant for Feature Films Documentary Webinar | May 14 at 6 PM
And if you want more info, send an email to filmmakersupport@austinfilm.org
-Bart
Not everyone has a pet, but we all have our pet peeves. Topping my list is drivers who don’t use their turn signals. But since these are brief discourses on the wide world of media, let’s quickly get to that realm.
1. TV reporters who parrot, “That’s exactly right,” or “That’s right,” to know-it-all-anchors who recite pre-scripted statements prepared for them rather than ask questions. There’s no bigger offender than the “NBC Nightly News,” where anchor Lester Holt repeatedly seeks “That’s exactly right” affirmations. Notable exception: the heavily revamped “CBS Evening News,” whose two anchors pose actual questions (often more than one of them) to reporters in the field.
2. Asking politicians whether they’re going to run for a higher office, no matter how distant the election. They never get an answer. Case in point: On a recent edition of “Meet the Press,” host Kristen Welker asked Democratic Sen. Corey Booker if he planned to run for President in 2028. “I’m focused on today,” Booker began prototypically and predictably. To which a triumphant Welker eventually said, “I don’t hear you ruling it out.” Please stop.
3. Touting “BREAKING NEWS” when it isn’t. More often than not, the news is several hours or even a half-day old. The biggest offender continues to be Wolf Blitzer, now in his 110th year with CNN. Hearing him intone this at the outset of whatever he’s anchoring somehow has never prompted a “Saturday Night Live” sketch.
4. In-game “interviews” with athletes at the ends of quarters or halftimes of college and NBA games. It was bad enough with coaches, who seldom said anything of import. San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich made a point of mocking these wasted efforts with one- or two-word answers — which I must admit was entertaining in its own way. Players now are contributing even less. Hey, they’re in the middle of a game. Leave ‘em alone.
5. The commercial loads on cable newscasts. It’s getting too near the point where content and paid ads are almost evenly distributed in any given half-hour. Prescription drug ads dominate. And yeah, they make me sick.
-Ed
Howdy,
I’ve mentioned before how streaming apps are adding “live channels” to their services to replicate classic analogue television. On Max, they have a lineup of traditional HBO channels like HBO Comedy and HBO Family, along with the terrible CNN Max which only shows outdated newscasts (apparently its a alternative version of the CNN International stream). They also offer the option to add live NBA channels via their sports news brand Bleach Report.
Over on Disney+ they are making the most use of their IP with live channels or “streams” like ABC News, various ESPN channels and then content specific options like a 24 hour “The Simpsons” stream or a National Geographic documentary channel.
The biggest issue with these options is that when you open these streaming apps, you’re still presented with a grid of tiles. On some services, a trailer will start autoplaying, but it’s up to the user to click play on a show or film. On traditional television, the minute you power it on, live TV starts to play.
The big innovation with TikTok that made it powerful for short-form video is that the app immediately starts playing videos (with sound) the minute a user opens the app. That autoplay is so sticky and makes it easy to just start watching. I think that these apps would really benefit by just playing something the with a TV guide style menu underneath. The YouTube TV app, which is meant to replicate cable, will start to play the last streamed channel immediately upon opening the app. HBO, Disney and others should take note.
Over at The Modern in Fort Worth, they have a special screening of the 2021 doc “Make Me Famous” on Thursday night at 6:30pm.
This documentary is a madcap romp through the New York art world of the 1980s via the colorful career of painter Edward Brezinski, who is hell-bent on making it. What begins as an investigation into Brezinski’s mysterious disappearance and legacy becomes a sharp, witty portrait of New York City’s downtown scene, creating an irresistible snapshot of an unknown artist that captures the spirit of an iconic era.
This weekend the Magnolia film will be another doc “One to One: John & Yoko” only showing on Saturday and Sunday.
-Elijah