As the world starts ramping up for the Academy Awards, Dallas is setting its sights on the Dallas Film Society‘s Dallas International Film Festival. So, you’re pulling back wondering what has made this year’s film-mathon so remarkable. Here’s the poop and as soon as you read it, sign up.
Presented by AutoNation, the 2015 Festival (April 9-19) will host the premiere of “Playing Cool: with Chris Evans and Michelle Monaghan and the world-OMG-premiere of Echoes of War staring James Badge Dale, Ethan Embry and William Forsythe.
But b—efore revealing the “First 10 Films of the 2015 Dallas International Film Festival,” let’s get to the TMZ types. Receiving the Dallas Star Award at the DFS Honors on Friday, April 17, at the Highland Hotel in Dallas (aka The Palomar), will be John Landis.
If John-boy’s name doesn’t click in a nano-second, his films will — “The Blues Brothers,” “National Lampoon’s Animals House,” “3 Amigos!”, “Coming to America,” “Trading Places” and “Into the Night.” He even directed the legendary Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”
The Festival will also knowledge and celebrate the accomplishments of L. M. Kit Carson, who along with Bill Jones was so instrumental in creating Dallas’ involvement in the film industry. He was also a cutie who was once wed to the late Karen Black and is the father of Hunter Carson. His death in October 2014 was a loss.
The last time Kit was seen in these parts, he was talking about his latest venture of taping an entire film on his cellphone. His body may have been AARP, but his brilliance was still in the puppy stage.
But back to the lead in films that will be previewed. Here’s a sneaky peak of the first 10 revealed:
- 5 FLIGHTS UP (Director: Richard Loncraine) USA — Cast: Morgan Freeman, Diane Keaton and Cynthia Nixon. Synopsis: Over one crazy weekend, a long-time married couple discovers that finding a new apartment is not about winding down, but starting a new adventure.
- BEING EVEL (Director: Daniel Junge) USA — Synopsis: Millions know the man, but few know his story. In “Being Evel”, Academy Award® winning filmmaker Daniel Junge (SAVING FACE) and actor/producer Johnny Knoxville take a candid look at American daredevil and icon Robert “Evel” Knievel, while also reflecting on our voracious public appetite for heroes and spectacle.
- ECHOS OF WAR (Director: Kane Senes) — Cast: James Badge Dale, Ethan Embry, William Forsythe and Maika Monroe. Synopsis: A Civil War veteran returns home to the quiet countryside, only to find himself embroiled in a conflict between his family and the brutish cattle rancher harassing them.
- HOLLOW (Director: Ham Tran) Vietnam — Cast: Kieu Chinh, Jayvee Mai The Hiep and Ngoc Hiep Nguyen. Synopsis: A young girl falls into a river and drowns. When her body is found in a remote village along the river, her uncle arrives to claim her body, only to find that she is very much alive. But when she returns to her family, unexplainable occurrences lead them to believe she is possessed.
- JASMINE (Director: Dax Phelan) USA — Cast: Jason Tobin, Byron Mann and Sarah Lian. Synopsis: JASMINE is a gripping and chilling psychological thriller about a man still struggling to come to terms with his grief nearly a year after his wife’s unsolved murder.
- THE BLUES BROTHERS (Director: John Landis) — Cast: John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, James Brown, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and John Lee Hooker. Synopsis: Jake Blues, just out from prison, puts together his old band to save the Catholic home where he and brother Elwood were raised.
- THE LOOK OF SILENCE — (Director: Joshua Oppenheimer) Denmark, Finland, Indonesia, Norway and UK. Synopsis: In Joshua Oppenheimer’s companion piece to the Oscar® nominated THE ACT OF KILLING, a family of survivors of the 1965 Indonesian genocide discovers how their son was murdered and the identity of the men who killed him. The youngest brother is determined to break the spell of silence and fear under which the survivors live, and so confronts the men responsible for his brother’s murder – something unimaginable in a country where killers remain in
- PLAYING IT COOL (Director: Justin Reardon) USA. Cast: Chris Evans, Michelle Monaghan, Luke Wilson, Aubrey Plaza, Topher Grace and Anthony Mackie. Synopsis: It’s this generation’s SWINGERS meets (500) DAYS OF SUMMER. The story is fresh, quirky and weirdly relatable as this young, slightly pretentious man falls for an unlikely girl, and will stop at nothing to get her even after realizing she’s already in a relationship.
- WELCOME TO LEITH — (Director: Michael Beach Nichols and Christopher K.) USA. Synopsis: A white supremacist attempts to take over a small town in North Dakota.
- WESTERN — (Director: Bill Ross and Turner Ross) USA/Mexico. Synopsis: For generations, all that distinguished Eagle Pass, Texas from Piedras Negras, Mexico was the Rio Grande. But when darkness descends upon these harmonious border towns, a cowboy and lawman face a new reality that threatens their way of life.
The big question around here is whether to salt our popcorn or not and can we go without sunlight for the 10 days. The consensus is definitely to over-salt the popcorn and shelve the sunscreen.
Passes and sponsorships are available right now. The daily opportunities will come.