Blog

Back On the Road

(June 6, 2013) My dark period of festival abstinence has mercifully ended. I visited the Ashland Independent Film Festival in early April, my first visit to this intimate, well-programmed and well-run festival in the arts-saturated little town that also houses the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.  I saw several films there that are prospects for the Houston Cinema Arts Festival, but the standout for me was Before the Spring, After the Fall, a ground-level view of the Egyptian revolution. The film follows some brilliant, totally committed young revolutionaries; the most impressive one is a character I could hardly believe really exists…. the feminist leader of an all-female heavy metal group (this is why documentaries often trump fiction).
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My Immobile Festival Experience

(March 15, 2013) This month, I am not traveling to any festivals at all. I am not where I would very much like to be – at South by Southwest, or the True/False Film Festival, or the International Festival of Films on Art in Montreal. I have been to the Montreal festival, the other North American festival with an emphasis on films about artists, twice, and found gems for our program….so that’s frustrating. And I have been dying to check out the True/False festival in Columbia, Missouri, an incredibly imaginative, energetic, and well-programmed event, and South By Southwest. Alas, I’m saving up for another festival trip (to be revealed below), and I am also in my peak period of organizing Oregon’s Cinema Pacific film festival, my other gig.
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My Trip to Sundance

(February 10, 2013) My trip to Sundance was brief this year – just three days – but productive. I decided to stretch my festival travel budget by not purchasing an expensive pass, which kept me from seeing some of the big attractions, like Before Midnight by our honorary board member, Richard Linklater. Admittedly, that was frustrating, but, luckily, much of what I wanted to see was off the beaten track and available to individual ticket buyers.
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Programming HCAF 2013: The Early Days

(January 11, 2013) It’s only been two months since we wrapped the 2012 festival, but planning for the 2013 festival is already well underway. A lot has happened in the past two months, including loads of cleanup and analysis and write-ups to help process the lessons of 2012 (you’ll find some of my thoughts in the annual yearbook we send our members and supporters, coming in February). We also confirmed a new partnership with the Austin Film Society’s Texas Independent Film Network, enabling us to present more year-round programming, beginning with When I Rise on February 12th at Sundance Cinemas.
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Intro to the 2012 Festival Program

by Richard Herskowitz, Artistic Director

Earlier this year, a great film programmer, Amos Vogel, passed away.  Vogel founded Cinema 16, New York’s pioneering film society, and co-founded the 50-year-old New York Film Festival, through which so many classic films have been introduced to the U.S. I was Amos’ teaching assistant for two years, and am one of many film programmers he influenced profoundly.
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© 2013 Houston Cinema Arts Society