HCAF 2013 Announces ‘Spotlight On Houston’ Programming
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HCAF 2013 ANNOUNCES ‘SPOTLIGHT ON HOUSTON’ PROGRAMMING
POST-FESTIVAL PROGRAMMING FOCUSES ON BAYOU CITY ARTS AND FILMMAKERS
HOUSTON – The fifth annual Houston Cinema Arts Festival (HCAF) focused on films by and about artists is coming up on Nov. 6-10, 2013. “Spotlight On Houston,” a two-day program devoted to Bayou City arts and local filmmakers, will follow on Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 11-12. The program will consist of four Houston-centric film screenings at Sundance Cinemas, along with a special free screening at Minute Maid Park on Nov. 11 in commemoration of Veterans Day.
The Spotlight On Houston programming at Sundance Cinemas kicks off Nov. 11 with a free screening at 6:45 PM of Houston Ballet, which makes its world premiere a day earlier at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, on the closing evening of HCAF 2013. Following Houston Ballet on Nov. 11 will be a 7:00 PM screening of The Volunteer, Houston director Vicky Wight’s feature film debut. On Nov. 12, Sundance will host the world premiere of Southwest Alternate Media Project (SWAMP)’s Houston Short Film Fund Films at 6:45 PM, and My Name Is Faith, co-directed by Tiffany Sudela-Junker of Conroe, at 7:00 PM. Honor Flight: One Last Mission, which follows a group of World War II veterans on a trip to Washington DC, will screen free at Minute Maid on Nov. 11 at 2:00 PM.
Houston Ballet (USA, 2013) will be accompanied by director John Carrithers and special guests from the Houston Ballet. The documentary chronicles the history of the internationally acclaimed Houston Ballet, from the early impact of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in the 1930s and ‘40s in inculcating a love of dance among Houstonians, to the determination and perseverance of a handful of Houston’s founding families, to the Houston Ballet’s place today as the fourth largest ballet company in America with a facility unmatched in the United States.
The Volunteer (USA, 2013) will be accompanied by Vicky Wight, a Houston resident whose short film, Coffee, premiered at SXSW in Austin in 2009. Winner of Best Narrative Feature at this year’s Urbanworld Film Festival, The Volunteer portrays 40-something Leigh, who finds herself wondering if there’s more to life, to love, to everything, after dramatically leaving a successful but soul-crushing career. She decides to volunteer at a local soup kitchen, where she meets Ethan, a troubled drifter with whom she begins an electric but turbulent affair. Aujanue Ellis, who plays the lead character Leigh and was previously seen in Ray and The Help, will attend the Q&A.
Several Houston filmmakers will be on hand for The Houston Short Film Fund Films (USA, 2013), a project inaugurated by SWAMP in 2013 to help Houston-area filmmakers develop their craft. The winning filmmakers completed their projects in early October with the help of professional mentors arranged by SWAMP. Their films’ first public screening will be at this event, accompanied by earlier work by the artists. Projects include Kathryn Kane’s Sing-Song, a ‘50s-period film following a young girl consumed with resentment toward her older sister; Lauren Kelley’s Burlap Interior, a stop-motion animated short that depicts everyday-life situations in the interiors of automobiles; Douglas Newman’s Bellows and Buttons, a profile of Houston musical treasure Gabbanelli Accordions; and Jerry Ochoa’s This Neighborhood, about a deeply disturbed man convinced he must kill everyone to save mankind. SWAMP, a 36-year-old nonprofit media arts organization, supports the creation and appreciation of film, video and new media as art forms of a multicultural community in Houston.
My Name is Faith (USA, 2012) will be accompanied by co-director Tiffany Sudela-Junker. Winner of Slamdance’s Feature Documentary Audience Award and listed as one of Indiewire’s 10 Hottest Docs to watch, My Name is Faith is the powerful story of a 13-year-old girl working to overcome a troubling past and accept and embrace the love that now surrounds her. Born as Brianna to a drug-addicted mother, she and her baby brother lived in harrowing conditions before being adopted by Sudela-Junker and her husband, a couple fully invested in raising their children to be whole, happy and strong.
Admission for The Volunteer, The Houston Short Film Fund Films and My Name is Faith will be $12 (general admission), $10 for students and seniors. Tickets will be available Oct. 16 on the Houston Cinema Arts Society website (www.cinemartsociety.org), where HCAF 2013 Festival All-Access, Weekend and One-Day Passes are already on sale. Free tickets to the Honor Flight: One Last Mission screening at Minute Maid Park as part of the Houston Astros’ Veterans Day Salute presented by Occidental Petroleum are available online at mlb.com/hou/community/salute_to_vets.jsp.
ABOUT THE HOUSTON CINEMA ARTS SOCIETY
Houston Cinema Arts Society is a non-profit organization created in 2008 with the support of former Houston Mayor Bill White and the leadership of Franci Crane. HCAS organizes and hosts the annual Houston Cinema Arts Festival, a groundbreaking and innovative arts festival featuring films and new media by and about artists in the visual, performing and literary arts. The festival celebrates the vitality and diversity of the arts in Houston and enriches the city’s film and arts community. HCAS sponsors include the Crane Foundation, a grant from the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Levantine Entertainment, Houston First Corporation, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Champion Energy Services, Amegy Bank of Texas, The Brown Foundation, Inc. and others. The project is also supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Texas Commission on the Arts. The 2013 Houston Cinema Arts Festival was held Nov. 6-10. For more information, please visit HCAS at www.cinemartsociety.org.