Or maybe two — Highlights from the Dallas International Film Festival
This week’s film fest offers 10 days of movie screenings, with literally hundreds of choices. Here are some you might want to see out, which have particular interest to the gay community — or just to proud Texans.
For tickets and more information, visit DallasFilm.org.
OPENING NIGHT SHORTS PROGRAM. The opening night slate includes a shorts collection which includes The New Tenants, the recent Oscar-winning live action short about a gay couple who move into a new apartment and get mistaken for someone else. Also up: Dig Deep, by former Dallas Morning News arts writer Manuel Mendoza
Screens April 8 at 7:45 at the Angelika Film Center Mockingbird Station.
CARRIED AWAY. Fort Worth-bred filmmaker Tom Huckabee assembled a cast of local notables — among them Liz Mikel, Denise Lee, Morgana Shaw and Juli Erickson — for this road movie where an expatriate Texan breaks his grandma out of a nursing home to spirit her back to Los Angeles with him and away from his dysfunctional family. Joel Ferrell served as production designer, choreographer and all around muse to Huckabee. Its Del Shores-esque tone marks it a truly Texas quirky Southern comedy with heart.
Screens: April 9 at 4 p.m. and April 14 at 10 p.m. at the Angelika Film Center Mockingbird Station.
THE DRY LAND. Gay fave America Ferrara (Miss Ugly Betty herself) is getting early kudos for her performance in this film, playing the wife of a veteran (Ryan O’Nan) suffering from PSTD. Set in El Paso, it looks like Coming Home for the modern warfare era.
Screens: April 9 at 7:30 p.m. and April 11 at 5 p.m. at Landmark’s Magnolia Theatre in the West Village.
BEAR NATION. See more here.
Screens: April 9 at 10:30 p.m. and April 11 at 12:30 p.m. at Landmark’s Magnolia Theatre in the West Village.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON SHORTS PROGRAM. Student at Dallas’ Arts Magnet High School put together short films, three of which deal with LGBT issues: Simon/E, about an abandoned intersex baby; Cryptic Lives, which deals with secrets including sexuality; and From Avery to Atom, a documentary about a F-to-M trans kid.
Screens April 10 at noon the Angelika Film Center Mockingbird Station.
WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY. A documentary touching on how a gay man — Howard Ashman — and others helped revive Disney’s approach to animation when The Little Mermaid ushered in Broadway sensibilities to the Disney canon, and continued that approach through the Pixar years.
Screens: April 10 at 2 p.m. and April 12 at 10 p.m. the Angelika Film Center Mockingbird Station.
A SURPRISE IN TEXAS: THE 13th VAN CLIBURN INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION. This premiere documentary takes viewers backstage at last year’s Van Cliburn, the celebrated piano competition named for the gay Fort Worth virtuoso, with a unlikely winner.
Screens: April 11 at 7:30 p.m., April 12 at 10:30 p.m. and April 15 at 5:30 p.m. at Landmark’s Magnolia Theatre in the West Village.
SHORTS PROGRAM 2. This shorts compilation includes Gayby, where a woman enlists a gay man to impregnate her the old fashioned way— with unexpected consequences.
Screens: April 14 at 7 p.m. and April 15 at 4:15 p.m. at the Angelika Film Center Mockingbird Station.
