- In general, I’m a Victory Park skeptic (Fake Plastic Trees, laid-out like a fourth grader who can’t play Sim City good). But I’m also a sucker for swank, and hosting the media lounge there last year was a nice touch. That said, it also felt out of the way from everything else happening at the festival. Screenings were spread across town – including Northpark – which made it feel like the festival was taking over the city (sort of), but it really only felt like you had to drive a lot. Northpark and Victory are not part of this year’s fest, which seems like a good thing.

- I’m ecstatic this year’s festival hub is DART-connected Mockingbird Station with guests of the fest and a number of festival panels shacking-up across the street at the Hotel Palomar. But think about how many people are going to be crossing Mockingbird Lane during the festival to-and-from the Angelika and Palomar. Surely there’s an urban design project in there somewhere. Mockingbird Station is such an isolated development. How do we conquer the six lane divided street?

- The Nasher Sculpture Center will also host some panels, and The Magnolia will hold screenings. The Nasher panels were a nice touch last year, and the festival has expanded its reach into the arts district, including a “Family Day celebration” in partnership with the DMA and other events and screenings at The Crow Collection of Asian Art. In coming years, what about screenings in the Wyly? Or an outdoor screening series on Flora Street? Eh?

- Check out the opening night schedule: eight screens, five films, five genres, including a narrative film, a documentary, a Texas-made movie, a series of shorts, and a piece of classic Mexican cinema. The only downside to this approach is you have to choose one (for me, it’s between the doc on New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham, Bill Cunningham New York, and Nosotros Los Pobres, Pedro Infante’s 1948 film about the working class poor in Mexico City).

- There are six world premiers at this year’s festival.

- Artistic Director James Faust says that they choose films that “represent this city and its sensibility as well as celebrate some truly remarkable film artists.” Let the speculating about what exactly that means and what this year’s films say about this city officially begin.

- There are a handful of competitions, which always made AFI/Dallas IFF feel like more of a festival than the USA Film Fest. These are the categories: Narrative feature, Documentary feature, Texas-made, “Environmental Visions,” Animation, Shorts, Students (worldwide), and Local Student Shorts.

- I don’t remember an animation competition last year, but given the production house/advertising industry based in the area, it makes more than a lot of sense. It’s sponsored by Deep Ellum’s Reel FX Entertainment, who have worked on some little movies you’ve never heard of like Shrek, Ice Age, and Enchanted.

- The Mexico Spotlight is a nice addition to this year’s fest. Would like to see it bigger. Would also like to see a Bollywood spotlight at some point in the future too.

- Dallas to Wes Anderson. Come in Wes Anderson. Throw some support Dallas’ way. Please say you’re waiting for a 15th anniversary screening of Bottle Rocket, the seminal epic that spoke the nature of this city in celluloid, at next year’s fest.

- At 153 feature films and shorts, the fest is definitely smaller than last year’s fest. That said, there’s the loss of the AFI name, the economy, and the rest. I just hope the organizers keep their eye on the prize: The Toronto Film Festival of the South.