In the glowing light of downtown Fort Worth, where the West begins and wildcatters were as likely to bust as become millionaires the 12th Annual Lone Star Film Festival hosted a cast of talented characters and their creative babies. This is my very local film festival, I work across the street and am a member of the Lone Star Film Society, for full disclosure.  During the Thursday – Sunday run I saw 65 shorts and 14 features and I will lead with this; LSFF is Texan at heart and loves the locals, so cowboys, Texas cities, oilmen and the open prairie were featured prominently with dry humor and earnest heart front and center.

I took in A LOT of shorts and there was an amazing batch with all the range and complexity of a well lived life so believe me narrowing down a few to focus on is a difficult task.  I’ll lead off with the first one I saw, Baby Won’t You Please Come Home, which I adored for many reasons but the way they portrayed the mother’s perception of reality and time was refreshing, not a description of symptoms but a first person representation of what that might look like through their own eyes/mind. It lead my list of heartbreakers which included the stirringly subtle Fevah, the devastating Knowing  and beautifully shot and acted The Moon Never Dies.

 

Perception and it’s challenges were also at the forefront of Crescent, Knock at the Door, Shed, Who Decides, Tempestad and R&R, with each handling the material adeptly.  No No Boys beautifully broke the surface of US internment of Americans of Japanese descent (also a local item because the bricks of Camp Bowie Boulevard were laid by internees here in Fort Worth) and LA Liquor spotlighted post-Rodney King relations in the early 90’s CA.

Keeping it light there were wide ranging comedies, anything from questioning faith, love gone very wrong, separated lovers, car wrecks and bungled plans.  Great turns by Tortoise, Invaders, Rustlers, Contact High, Sophia and Sac de Merde (yes, really.)  Love and faith are hard but if we look at ourselves with compassion (or scathing dry wit) and can laugh at the absurdity of it all, we eventually muddle through.

We got lots of local love on shorts, too.  Civic Duty, Streaker, Space Flower, Nobody Knows, Last Requests, You’re Served  and 76105: Dr. King Won’t Rise all featured local filmmakers and talent.  76105 was a very moving look at the Stop Six area of Fort Worth, starting with a group of men who banded together as teenagers and how their goals for themselves and their neighborhood evolved as they became adults.  Their efforts to be positive role models in their community, quality partners to their local schools and diffuse tensions that have long existed are a beautiful testament to being present and involved.

 

Saw a couple of great feature documentaries, BOOM! A Film About The Sonics was my rock and roll favorite, a love letter to the band that the director’s Dad introduced him to covered the pre-grunge music scene in Seattle/Tacoma.  Raucous, funny and a beautiful Cinderella comeback story of a band that kicked ass and then lived a regular life, only to have a multi-year revival when they were old enough to have grandkids. This Changes Everything was a follow up to the documentary Casting that focused on the repercussions of #MeToo. While it could have been a premature celebration it was a stark reminder that no single event creates a 180 degree change ,rather it is a constant mindful awareness of our own prejudices and adapting our behavior to counter its effect. Getting Naked: A Burlesque Story was a charming journey with a handful of New York burlesque performers in various stages of their careers over a couple of years; it was engaging and funny, a reminder to enjoy life and live it on your own terms. Don’t Be Nice followed the Bowery Poetry slam poetry team from selection to the finals, it was a powerful show of force as the team was honing their pieces for competition and being driven by their coaches to dig deeper and find their truth, even it if hurt. (Side note, the Bowery Poetry Studios had several beautiful pieces in competition this year, I look forward to the new ground they’ll break under Executive Director Nikhil Melnechuk.) And I can’t forget Rueben Blades Is Not My Name, because I have liked him for a long time and this made me love him, very personal and heartfelt portrait of a very private person.

 

Narrative features that I saw were all about Texas and Texan stuff. The Last Whistle followed the lives of the high school football team, coaches and families after a teammate dies suddenly in practice, Bernadette was a wistful period (can we call the 80’s a period?) piece about summer love before Instagram and sexting, when a kid on a bike could charm the hottie and potentially “get lucky” by making out in a sketchy place. Good Feels on Wheels was a visual love letter to Austin, built on a super-micro budget (Director said $8,000, Producer quoted all-in at about $11,000) and following a day in the life of a woman who’s traveled half way across the country to be blown off by a suitor, hooks up with a rideshare driver and then is left with his drug ferrying roommate. Not quite the hook-up getaway she’d hoped for, but it turns out quite well in a sweet and awkward fashion. The Iron Orchard was written under a pen name by a member of the VanZandt family follows the rise and fall of a wildcatter in west Texas. Beautifully shot near Big Spring and led by Lane Garrison who hails from Dallas, it is part lullaby and part cautionary tale of oil exploration in the early 20th century.  Members of the audience who grew up in the area vouched for the look and feel of the finished product during the Q&A session and it was well received. The Standoff at Sparrow Creek was a kick ass thriller, tightly written and deftly acted it was a fun ride with excellent structure.

 

So my one down point out of all of that… This year, instead of bumpers that were sizzle reels of entrants, the Lone Star FF had “Fort Worth Stories” which were lovely snippets of local creative types talking about movies they loved and how it influenced them. There was one comment that hit a sour note for me which was something to the effect that society can’t run if everyone is an artist. I challenge this notion entirely. Film festivals are proof that anyone can be an artist. More than that, I believe that we must open our definition of art and embrace that work done well that with a master’s touch can transcend being a task and become art. For us as a society art plays an important communication role, a way to express what we see in our culture and comment on it. Art is not exclusive, it is an avenue to sing about oppression, bang our frustrations out on a guitar, unearth the hurts that have kept our voices silent or maybe just knit a scarf for a loved one.  All art matters, period. And everyone should have an artistic outlet, period.

The 2018 Lone Star Film Festival filmmaker award winners:
– Best Student Film: Once & Again
– Best Short Film: Nobody Knows
– Best Documentary: BOOM! A Film About The Sonics
– Best Feature: Bernadette
– Best of Cine Mas: Rich Kids
– Best of Texas: Good Feels on Wheels
– Audience Award: Calvinball
– Best of Fest: The Iron Orchard

(Jen McCann is a daytime employee at a financial services firm and nighttime artist, as long as it’s not too late and there are snacks/coffee.  Having two one act plays produced by the time she was 18 she gave into that “not everyone can be an artist” line and spent 20-ish years writing things down and hiding them in notebooks for someday.  Don’t be Jen, let your art out.)