The Oak Cliff Film Festival has posted its full program, and the newest film festival on the block is shaping up to be a expanded vision of what The Texas Theatre is year round: a mix of art, genre, and cult films with a nod towards cinema history and an emphasis on stuff that doesn’t get to see the light of day locally very often.

For example, the festival will bring screenings of The Ghastly Love of Johnny X, a B-movie ..read more

Even though the AT&T Performing Arts Center opened its doors in the fall of 2009, the arts complex has always felt a little unfinished. That is because since before the center opened there has been talk about the need for some kind of cafe in Sammons Park, something to help energize what was intended to be a usable, round-the-clock public space. PAC officials have also expressed their desire to eventually move their box office to a stand alone structure out in the park. ..read more

That’s me in the photo above, interviewing Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto in his latest installation, Kink, which opens at the Nasher Sculpture Center this weekend. Neto’s known for is interactive creations — in London it was a pool, at New York’s Park Avenue Armory, a series of biomorphic tunnels – and I asked the artist, while we were sprawled out in his knitted bridge-vein, whether or not it was too stereotypical to make a connection between the beachy demeanor of his work and his home town of Rio de Janeiro. That prompted a prolonged conversation about the influence of nature on culture, the neo-concretists of the 1960s, and the predominance of Platonic rationalism in Western Civilization (Brazil, he says, somewhat controversially, is not “western.” Not “western” like Europe or North America, that is).

We’ll bring you that conversation next week. For now, the Nasher shares this time-lapse video of the installation. Enjoy.

Photo by Julius Pickenpack for the Nasher Sculpture Center.

Today at 5 p.m. Oak Cliff-based artist Erica Felicella will climb into a Plexiglass “shell” where she will stay for the next 48 hours. The act is part of a performance piece, which will involve Felicella “experiencing her emotions as they surface,” and recording them on paper. And you can come and experience your emotions too, alongside the “Visible Shell Observation Team.” Or you can watch Felicella throughout the weekend online through this live stream (emotion experiencing optional).

It is all ..read more

Since 1980, the Dallas Museum of Art has awarded more $540 thousand to young artists living and working in Texas, and some surrounding states. This year, ten artists have received grants from three funds, one didicated to young artists from 15 to 25 years old, another to artists under 30, and a third to fund travel for professional artists. The University of North Texas is well-represented among this year’s recipients, including Desiree Espada, who was a D Magazine photo intern ..read more

One of the perks of winning the USA Film Festival’s short film competition is that the winners qualify for the Academy Award nominations. That, and each of the winners pick up a $1,000 check. Here are the winners of this year’s edition:

Fiction

Child of the Desert by Iliana Sosa

Experimental

Grounded by Kevin Margo and Barrett Meeker

Animation

Wiggle Room by Joe Schenkenberg

Non-Fiction

Pot Country by Kate McLean and Mario Furloni

The USA Fest also gave a Student Award to Justin Tipping’s Nani, which also picked up the audience award and student film award at the Dallas International Film Festival. Child of the Desert won the Texas Award as well. And there were a few honorary mentions. Here’s the full release.

Image: Still from Child of the Desert

Well, you’ve known this, but here’s the official release that dropped in the inbox today, for your perusal.

ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE ANNOUNCES FIRST EVER

DALLAS/FT. WORTH AREA LOCATION WITH FRANCHISE PARTNER ICED TEA WITH LEMON LLC 

Austin, TX— Friday, May 4, 2012—Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas is pleased to announce plans to open their first Dallas/Fort Worth area location with new franchise partner Iced Tea With Lemon LLC.  The first location being opened by Iced Tea With Lemon LLC is Alamo Richardson in the ..read more

The other day we pointed you to Jerome Weeks’ deep-digging, which churned up a Richardson plan commission hearing that included some site materials branded with the logo of the beloved, Austin-based cinema chain, The Alamo Drafthouse. Is the movie house finally expanding to DFW?

Today, Pegasus News scuffs some shoe leather, gathering in all the details from said hearing, and yes, the Richardson planning commission gave that Alamo Drafthouse theater chain two thumbs up (actually, probably more than that — not sure how many commissioners sit on the board), which advances the proposal to the Richardson City Council on May 14. Given the enthusiasm of the commission hearing (“euphoria”), I expect it passes.

There have been rumors of an Alamo expansion into the DFW area since 2008. The chain has theaters in Houston, San Antonio, and Winchester, Virginia, as well as the original Austin location, which hosts the annual Fantastic Fest.

Perhaps the economy wasn’t quite right in 2008 for an expansion; perhaps the Alamo guys just wanted The Texas Theatre to do a little market testing for them. In fact, it will be interesting to see how the Alamo and Texas subsist in the same market. There will certainly be some overlap in the films they show, and The Texas Theatre models itself, in part, on the Alamo in Austin, famous for its fanboy cine antics and cult love.

That said, the two theaters will be on opposite sides of Dallas, and the Drafthouse’s Bill DiGaetano says he is “excited” about the theater’s proximity to the University of Texas at Dallas (not to mention its “740 seats with a full kitchen and 40 beers on tap”). But I reached out to Aviation Cinema’s Barak Esptein and asked him, will the Alamo cramp their style?

“No concerns at all,” Epstein said. “Were happy Alamo is entering the DFW area! That part of Richardson/North East Dallas desperately needs a first run movie theater.”

And then, what about booking films? The Texas Theatre has been forced on some occasions to hold their screenings of new films until larger players, like the New York-based  Angelika chain, get first dibs on opening weekend. Will Alamo create more competition?

“Not really,” Epstein says. “I think they are planning a mostly first run only operation, so we’d be out of their booking district for first run.  Not too worried about indie film booking for that part of Dallas. For repertory, we’d probably need to watch the calendars and maybe work together to make sure were both not trying to do the same rep screening in the same time frame. ”

So there you go. With Alamo, plus the Texas, Magnolia, Angelika, Inwood (sort of), and all the major chains, Dallas really is quite the robust movie market.

Jerome Weeks has been digging through Richardson’s planning commission agenda and comes up with this little detail: a site plan for a zoning request has the Alamo Drafthouse logo on a proposed movie theater. Is the Austin-based cinema making its way into North Texas?

Back in February, we mentioned that the Fort Worth Ave. Development Group was launching a public art initiative, seeking to engage the ongoing re-thinking of West Dallas by commissioning public works that both focus on re-usable materials and, perhaps, serve some kind of dual-utilitarian function for the neighborhood. Well submissions were submitted, and the first commission has been selected, Mobius Bench, by of Erik Glissman and Nicole Cullum Horn. About the project:

The Mobius Bench will be a dynamic structure that will provide ..read more

Adam Donaghey is a Dallas-based movie producer and a partner in the Texas Theatre. He shares his experience and impressions of this year’s Dallas International Film Festival.

At most Texas film festivals, hipsters prevail. The Dallas International Film Festival, on the other hand, takes what some would call a stereotypical Dallas approach. At the opening night celebration, dressing to the nines is not only recommended, it feels required. Rolling out the red carpet to attending filmmakers, notable Dallas actors, sponsors and ..read more

A friend of the program pointed me to this clip on CNN’s Backstory about a movie making narrative that is becoming increasingly familiar. Faisal Goes West is a Dallas-based production by filmmaker Bentley Brown that has raised its production budget via Kickstarter, the popular crowd-sourcing website that also mediated funding for a recent release, Blue Like Jazz. Faisal tells the story of a Sudanese immigrant who lands in the Dallas area and eventually finds a job on a chicken farm. It’s ..read more

On Friday night, admist the celebration of a handful of legendary careers — including some pre-recorded accolades for costume designer Bernie Pollack via Robert Redford and Harrison Ford — a group of young filmmakers received acclaim (and a financial boost) from the Dallas International Film Festival. Winning for best narrative feature was Kristina Nikolova, a Bulgarian filmmaker currently studying at New York University. FrontRow’s Bradford Pearson said of Nikolova’s Faith, Love and Whiskey, it “ makes you cherish youth, but also reel at ..read more

If Dallas Art Fair weekend is, for the out-of-towner, a other worldly escapade through a strange land where wealth, high-dollar amusements, Republicanism, connoisseurship, kindness, and patronage collide in “the only city in the world where the collectors outnumber the artists,” then the Dallas International Film Festival is the place, according to Indiewire, where people “really care about film:”

Seriously. Everyone volunteering for the festival is doing it out of a genuine love for film (even drivers who barely see any of the films because they are so busy). There is a genuine passion and excitement here for film that feels real, without the jaded been there done that vibe of other higher profile festivals.

DIFF may not have splashy premieres or big budgets like Sundance or SXSW, but you can arrive at a screening shortly before start time and actually get into the movie. There’s something pure about DIFF; it’s refreshingly free of hype. If you want to attend a festival that feels like it’s actually about the movies, Dallas is the place to go.

I must admit, I”m proud of you Dallas. I promise I’ll sober up soon, though I’m not sure if I want to.

(h/t Art&Seek)

Image: From Cinema Six, which showed at this year’s Dallas International Film Festival.

Ladies and gentleman, may I present to you the wet dream of Dallas arts boosters and protagonists:

ALL I EVER KNEW ABOUT DALLAS WAS DALLAS, the soap opera of the 1980s, when the city itself was actually quite depressed. These days that business-friendly town is as awash in money and power as the fictional J.R. Ewing ever was. It has a mess of Fortune 500 companies, more shopping malls than any other city in the country, the Texas Rangers, and George W. Bush. It also has a concentration of collectors who are mad for contemporary art.

Last week, on the occasion of the fourth Dallas Art Fair and the first Dallas Biennale, they opened their homes (and in one case their closets) to visitors from New York. It was no surprise to find houses grand and collections deep—this is the Big D, after all, the place where people say, “The higher the hair, the closer to God.” It was the nature of those collections that surpassed expectations. If people in Dallas toe the conservative line in most other ways, they go hog-wild for the provocative when it comes to art.

Continue reading on Art Forum.

Thanks to a new ruling by TABC, beginning with the Gipsy Kings concert on May 2, audience members will be able to bring their own beer and wine to outdoor events at the AT&T Performing Arts Center’s Annette Strauss Square. Here are the details:

NEWS RELEASE

April 13, 2012

NEW ALCOHOL POLICY AT ANNETTE STRAUSS SQUARE

BYOB Kicks Off With GIPSY KINGS Concert at the AT&T Performing Arts Center

(DALLAS) Audiences enjoying performances under the stars atAnnette Strauss Squarewill now ..read more

Last night the USA Film Festival honored Peter Lord, but get your dates straight. The actual festival kicks-off on April 25, and the full lineup landed in the inbox this morning. And, you know what? It’s actually one of the most interesting lineups in recent memory. (Isn’t this all so much fun?) There are tributes to Rob Reiner, who will introduce screenings of The Princess Bride (and who would want to miss that?), as well as his latest film, The ..read more

The final bits of the Dallas International Film Festival, which kicks off next Thursday, have fallen into place. The Thursday opening night film will be Josh Radnor’s follow-up to the grating Happythankyoumoreplease, Liberal Arts, staring Radner, Zac Efron, and Elizabeth Olsen, with producer Claude Dal Farra in attendance on opening night. The Dallas Star Award will be given to Academy Award nominee Laura Linney, who currently co-stars with Dallas Shining Star honoree Gabourey Sidibe in the Showtime comedy The Big ..read more

Well, “dip toes” is probably an understatement. Their Cowboys Stadium art project is more along the lines of a fully submerged baptism. But ever since that project, the Jones have been popping up more and more on the local art circuit, bidding on work at Two x Two, hobnobbing with collectors.  After all, that’s what all the cool kids do these days; just pick up the lastest F!DLuxe.

Now we have word that Gene and Jerry Jones will underwrite the Dallas Museum of ..read more

Back when Shepard Fairey was in town, and we interviewed him, there was some chatter in the comments about the value of bringing in an out-of-towner to create murals in West Dallas when there are artists living in Dallas and the surrounding environs who would be more than happy for the commission. Well, local artists, here’s your opportunity: the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs is looking for a muralist to let loose on the concrete retaining walls at ..read more

Over on Dallasnews.com, the new boss, same as the old boss, Robert Wilonsky, shares this mini documentary edited by Erik Clapp and pulled from footage of Bobbie Wygant interviewing the makers of the movie Robocop, which was shot in Dallas in 1986. That was twenty-five years ago, which is why to commemorate the silver anniversary of the silver cyborg hero, the Dallas International Film Festival is organizing a special screening of Robocop and a cast reunion for this year’s festival.

And ..read more

In January, the State of the Arts panel at the Dallas Museum of Art featuring what was subsequently dubbed the local arts “Brotherhood” ( Jeffrey Grove, the DMA’s Hoffman Family Senior Curator of Contemporary Art; Dr. Michael Corris, Chair of Studio Art at SMU; Peter Doroshenko, Executive Director of the Dallas Contemporary; and Jeremy Strick, Director of the Nasher Sculpture Center) sparked a spirited post-panel conversation about the state of local arts (a perennial beloved local talking point) on the Texas arts site Glasstire. Among the issues that arose in the discussion was that of the demographic makeup of the panel at the DMA. Corris admits in the comments of the Glasstire piece that he was self-conscious about the panel’s makeup:

“We were, er, four white, fairly mature, men . . . another panel, many other panels, need to follow: to address that, to open up the discussion, to have others take the stage, to respond and reflect . . . let me add an ongoing forum on Dallas/Ft Worth and the arts to that wish list!”

Well Corris’ wish is in part coming true tomorrow night with a follow-up discussion panel which will again take up the topic of art in the “metroplex”, er, Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan region, hosted by Centraltrak, called “Radical Regionalism.” Panelists will include:

Matthew Cusick, artist.

Wanda Dye, Assistant Professor – School of Architecture at UT – Arlington; Founder of RE gallery + studio.

Benito Huerta, Professor-Art & Art History, Director and Curator-The Gallery at UTA, artist, and co-founder, Executive Director, Co-Director, Vice President and now Emeritus Board Director of Art Lies, a Texas Art Journal.

Vicki Meek, Manager, South Dallas Cultural Center, artist, and educator.

Charissa Terranova, Phd, Assistant Professor of Aesthetic Studies at The University of Texas at Dallas and free-lance curator and critic.

Discussion Moderated by Leigh Arnold, PhD Student at UTD

It all goes down tomorrow night, March 29, at 6:30 p.m. For more information, visit the event’s Facebook page.

Plenty of filmmakers have used crowd sourcing networks, like Kickstarter, to fund their movie projects. Heck, even David Lynch has started using the site as a way of raising funds. But what about using crowd sourcing on the other end of the movie food chain, to fund special screenings of movies that don’t often get theatrical re-releases?

That’s what Adventures in Cinema is trying out with its proposed April 2 screening of Wim Wenders’ classic, Wings of Desire. Using the network Tugg, the cine-buffs need just 45 more people to agree to cough up $9 to attend a big screen presentation of the film, and it will be shown at Cinemark 14 in Denton on April 2. Go here to reserve your tickets. But there is a catch: you only have one day, twelve hours, 41 minutes, and 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 seconds to respond.

Art Conspiracy, the annual art auction, musical event, and general party calendar highlight, is readying for its eighth installment. (Has it already been that long? Geez.) By now, you should all be familiar with the drill. Art Con invites artists and non-artists alike to make work during a day-long art-in that is then sold in a massive auction, raising money for a different non profit each year (previous recipients have included Musical Angels, Today Marks the Beginning, Resolana, Preservation LINK, St. Anthony Community Center, and La Reunion). Throughout its history, Art Con has raised a cool $140,000.

To find out who can apply and how, go here. Applications are do by May 4.

The Maxwell Anderson 100 day plan continues to roll out new initiatives at the Dallas Museum of Art. The latest is the new DMA “Dashboard,” a neatly organized website that offers easy access to facts and figures about the museum. For example, did you know there are currently twenty scholars requesting images of work in the DMA collection? Or that 29 percent of the collection is insured (at a total value of $400 million). I like this page which shows ..read more