Even as the Toronto festival slowly enters its descending phase -- today, tomorrow, and Saturday, that's it -- another new festival looms on the spring horizon.
That's when the AFI Dallas International Film Festival will debut. Though rumors have evidently been circulating for months, it was a TV station that first reported the news. More depth is provided by film critic Robert Wilonsky at Dallas Observer Unfair Park, and another local film critic, Chris Vognar, writes about the story in the Dallas News.
While the news has already inspired some back talk (bizarrely, a well-regarded fest director went on record -- twice -- to snipe at the organizers, who formerly ran the Deep Ellum Film Festival), more international films would be a good thing for my current hometown.
Dallas, Texas has a decent number of arthouse screens, but they favor the American independent and documentary features that are so much in favor nowadays -- and which are also typically highlighted in the excellent South by Southwest Film Festival, just down the road in Austin and securely ensconced in early March.
AFI Dallas will need to offer something different than South by Southwest in order to establish its own identity, and also needs to differentiate itself from the international flavors offered by San Francisco and Tribeca, also in the spring. Not impossible, but not an easy task. More details as as they come.
Great news! An international film fest close enough to go to. I'm for it...
Will the Artistic Director with not the greatest reputation in both Dallas and Santa Monica be able to pull this off?
It's not fair to question someone's reputation while hiding behind an "Anonymous" moniker. At least Bart Weiss of the Dallas Video Festival went on the record about his concerns, as quoted in the articles linked to above, questioning Michael Cain's "curatorial vision" and ability to get this done. Why exactly, though, is his reputation in question?
We are extremely pleased to see such a significant addition to Dallas' arts community. Never before has the Dallas film festival scene garnered so much national media attention. Through his positive words about the other Dallas film festivals and his repeated attendance to these festivals over the years, Michael Cain has proven himself to be an enormous supporter of the entire film community. We think this represents the city well.