The Dallas VideoFest—celebrating its 31st anniversary this year—is hosting a documentary film festival from Oct. 10-14.
Docufest features a wide variety of documentaries and shorts that filmmakers have deemed worthy of further investigation. And, according to D Magazine, there’s “no better, more progressive, or longer-running cultural event in Dallas.” The selected documentaries are meant to explore a wide range of nonfiction topics, from the upcoming Texas Senate race between Ted Cruz and Beto O’Rourke to sexual assault to Nazi Germany.
“Sophisticated technology that lives in the palm of our hand has made shooting high-quality documentaries easier.”
Barton Weiss
Featured documentarians include filmmakers making their first debut, as well as seasoned professionals who have been nominated for a wide variety of awards like the Adrienne Shelly Foundation’s Excellence in Film Making Award and 25 New Faces of Independent Film. North Texas will be represented by Weatherford-born Jayne Loader and Richardson-based Laurie McNair.
Docufest’s opening night was held at the historic Texas Theatre in Oak Cliff yesterday (if you’re unfamiliar with the landmark, it’s the location of the 1963 Lee Harvey Oswald arrest), but films will be shown at the Angelika Film Center in Mockingbird Station throughout the weekend. The event is open to viewers of all ages, and ticket prices range from $10 to $55. To plan your next few days, you can find the full schedule of documentaries that will be running here.
Dallas VideoFest’s founder and artistic director, Barton Weiss, believes that this is a more exciting time than ever in the documentary film-making world.
“Sophisticated technology that lives in the palm of our hand has made shooting high-quality documentaries easier,” Weiss said on the VideoFest website. “So filmmakers can follow people, movements, and injustices in a dynamic, powerful way.”
NEED TO KNOW
Dallas VideoFest is the oldest and largest video festival in the United States. Other events that VideoFest hosts include AltFiction, Podcasts, PawFest, Chris Vognar’s Screening Room, 24 Hour Video Race, Dallas Medianale, and Frame of Mind.
Some of the films being shown have debuted at major film festivals like Sundance and Tribeca, and have been nominated for awards like the BAFTA Award.
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