| The 2021 Dallas International Film Festival is finally here! Known for being one of the most filmmaker-friendly film festivals in the world, the Dallas International Film Festival is back in-person for the first time since 2019. The three-day festival will take place October 8 – 10 at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Cedars (1005 Botham Jean Blvd., Dallas, TX 75215). “This version of the festival will be a little different, but DIFF 2021 is still focused on sharing great stories, creating conversations, and building community through empathy that can only be delivered by the theatrical experience. Although DIFF 2021 is shorter than in the past, the selected films make this one of DIFF’s strongest in history.” James Faust, DIFF Artistic Director This year’s program was curated from more than 1,500 submissions with a focus on films with Dallas ties and stories that lean into social justice and empowerment narratives. Many of the filmmakers are scheduled to attend. |
The full DIFF 2021 program can be found at dallasfilm.org.
| DIFF 2021 FILM PROGRAM |
| Opening Night Headliner Wes Anderson’s THE FRENCH DISPATCH (Searchlight Pictures) with an all-star cast including Timothée Chalamet, Owen Wilson, Léa Seydoux, Adrien Brody, Toheeb Jimoh, Willem Dafoe, Elisabeth Moss, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz, Benicio Del Toro, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand and more. Saturday Night Headliners PUPPY LOVE – Michael Maxxis (Director) and stars Hopper Penn and Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone are scheduled to attend for the film’s first in-person screening. PUPPY LOVE is a wild film about a brain-damaged dishwasher and homeless prostitute brought together through obscene circumstances. BELFAST (Focus Features) – TIFF People’s Choice Winner, directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring Caitriona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Ciarán Hinds and Judi Dench. Additional Programming SING A BIT OF HARMONY (FUNimation) will close the 2021 festival with its U.S. Premiere on Sunday, October 10. MARK, MARY & SOME OTHER PEOPLE – Producers Kelly Williams and Jonathan Duffy are scheduled to attend for this comedy about newlyweds who reluctantly decide to give ethical non-monogamy a try as their lives get increasingly complicated. NO FUTURE – Directed by Mark Smoot and Andrew Irvine (scheduled to attend, along with producer Lisa Normand), filmed in Fort Worth and starring Rosa Salazar and Catherine Keener. Andrew Irvine and Mark Smoot write and direct this drama about a recovering addict who returns home and starts a secret and volatile affair with his friend’s grieving mother. THE BLAZING WORLD – Carlson Young (Writer and Director) stars alongside Vinessa Shaw and Dermot Mulroney in this fantasy/comedy. Carlson Young and composer Isom Innis (Foster the People) are scheduled to attend. KUFI KREW – A documentary about founding the first Muslim fraternity in the U.S. filmed in Dallas and at UTD. Directors Wheeler Sparks and Dylan Hollingsworth are scheduled to attend. CAGED BIRDS – Filmed in Dallas by SMU Film School graduate Fredrick Leach (scheduled to attend). Jordan Lucas is an affluent high school student counting down the days until he can escape and attend the college of his dreams, Princeton. Jordan’s cousin, EJ, is humiliated by a white bully. Jordan, EJ and Kevonte plot revenge by pulling a robbery prank on the bully, when the prank goes bad. CAT DADDIES – A heartwarming, family documentary by Mye Hoang, an SMU graduate who is scheduled to attend. DEAR MR. BRODY – A documentary about Michael Brody Jr., a 21-year-old hippie millionaire who in 1970 promised to give away his $25M inheritance in an effort to usher in a new era of world peace. HIVE – Winner of Sundance Audience and Directing Award and Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema – A beautiful film about Fahrije, whose husband has been missing since the war in Kosovo and who must find a way to support her family against a society that does not support her. THE FIRST STEP – Van Jones attempts to pass a landmark criminal justice bill. JOCKEY – An aging jockey aims for a final championship, when a rookie rider arrives claiming to be his son. The full DIFF 2021 program can be found at dallasfilm.org. |
