I sat in the comfy leather recliner at Violet Crown, waiting for the first screening of the day to start. I was surrounded on either side by older festival goers and we all struck up a conversation. The couple on my right were film festival fans who had splurged for the top-tier badge. The woman was looking forward to retiring within the next year; her husband was recently retired. The woman on my left and I chatted about how she had been to so many festivals that only a few minutes of talking to someone would determine for her if they had gone to film school or not. She said this after I described a movie that I had seen the previous day as being a you’ve-seen-one-you’ve-seen-them-all romcom.
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I stepped into the DIFF hospitality lounge on day two of the fest ready to set my lineup. I had already sent my list of preferred screenings to the address I was given in my welcome email, but for some reason, no one responded. Neither were any of my selections linked to my account. After a few minutes of exceptional help from a hospitality volunteer, I was ready to go with fifteen screenings booked over the course of the remaining six days of the fest.
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After cutting my teeth on two out-of-town film festivals, I’m now covering one in my own back yard. The 17th Dallas International Film Festival opened last night and will run through the fifth of May. Centered in Dallas’s West Village, in the heart of Uptown’s entertainment district, the lion’s share of screenings will be hosted at Violet Crown Cinema’s brand-spanking new Dallas location. A handful of screenings for DIFF 2023 will also be held at the historic Texas Theatre in Oak Cliff, aka my friendly neighborhood art house cinema.
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