MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
August 28 – September 4, 2008 Edition
Martin Sheen
to Appear
at Film Festival
FORT WORTH, TX/8/26/08–The Lone Star International Film Festival, Fort Worth, in Sundance Square, today announced the dates and venues for its second annual festival, as well as delivering the news that Martin Sheen, last years Life Achievement Award honoree will be back for an encore appearance.
LSIFF also announced that Fort Worth luminary, Entertainment Reporter and Film Critic, Bobbie Wygant has been appointed Honorary Festival Chair for 2008.
The five-day festival will take place November 12-16, 2008 and feature a selection of narrative, documentary, feature and short films from around the world. Venues will include the AMC Palace Theatre, the Four Day Weekend Theater, and the Scott Theatre, as well as the Norris Conference Center, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and the Kimbell Art Museum, with additional venues to be announced soon.
Sponsored by the Lone Star Film Society, the festival promotes the work of emerging international filmmakers through competition and showcases, providing resources for distribution and cutting edge technology. The goal of the festival is to cultivate global cultural awareness through the art of the moving image, while featuring Fort Worth, Texas, as an international destination for both artistic and professional resources.
Sheen, the recipient of the inaugural LSIFF Lifetime Achievement Award has remained an ardent supporter of the festival and has agreed to return to Fort Worth to present the award to the 2008 recipient. Sheen will also participate in the selection of the honoree, in a process the festivals organizers hope to continue as an ongoing LSIFF tradition.
Wygant, a broadcasting legend and beloved television presence for more than 50 years on NBC 5 KXAS-TV was appointed Honorary Festival Chair for the 2008 edition of the festival. The first woman to host and produce a general interest television program in the southwestern United States, she has been recognized as one of the top women in broadcasting in the U.S.
In 2004 Wygant was presented with an Emmy by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, as she was elected into its Gold Circle for over 50 years of outstanding achievement in broadcasting. Wygant was the first person in Texas to receive this Emmy and only the 16th in the United States. Wygant continues to serve as the stations Entertainment Reporter and Critic. She is known and respected throughout the film communities in Hollywood and New York for her incisive interviews and film reviews.
Wygant said, I feel like this is the beginning of something wonderful. The Lone Star International Film Festival is the fastest-growing cultural event in Fort Worth – a film festival that is going to grow and become not only Lone Star famous, but world famous. I am happy and honored to lend my support.
LSIFF will begin on Wednesday, November 12 with Focus Fort Worth: A Day in the City that will feature various events celebrating the citys rich cultural heritage as well as screenings for local special interest organizations, including Fort Worth Imagination Celebration, Fort Worth YMCA, the Lena Pope Home, TCUs Starpoint School, the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Fort Worth, and the Arc of Greater Tarrant County.
Thursday, November 13 will feature the Opening Night Gala at the AMC Palace Theater in Sundance Square.
Last years festival was a great beginning to our pursuit of creating a truly original film festival. This years Lone Star International Film Festival, Fort Worth, in Sundance Square is on track to present a program unlike anything the city has experienced. Showcasing the history, culture and charm of Fort Worth through the citys venues, LSIFF 2008 will be an event that is unique among festivals worldwide. Privileged with Martin Sheens return participation this year, we are also thrilled to announce celebrated Entertainment Reporter and Critic, Bobbie Wygants position as Honorary Chair, said Festival Director, Dennis Bishop.
The festivals debut in 2007 brought 156 films to Fort Worth, with attendance totaling more than 5,000 people. LSIFF featured 16 interactive panels and numerous Q&A sessions with prominent filmmakers, industry professionals and students from TCU and UTA. Bill Paxton chaired the advisory board and showcased films from his body of work. Paxton and Sheen were joined by prominent film notables such as Robert Rodriguez, Keith Carradine, Jason Ritter Patrick Fugit, Paul Soter, Jay Chandrasekhar, Donal Logue, and Harry Dean Stanton.
Last years festival also featured a number of outstanding musicians such as T. Bone Burnett, Stanton, and Johnny Reno who performed at some of the citys marquee venues downtown and on the historic North Side. Rodriguez even honored festival-goers with a rare concert performance with his band, The Rumblers, and followed the concert with a flashback screening of his acclaimed ROADRACERS at a midnight showing at the Ridgemar Rave Theater.
In addition, the festival featured special showcases devoted to Texas cinema, international films programmed by Fort Worths Sister Cities International, and Mumblecore, an emerging film style that embodies the artistic direction of some of todays most promising young independent filmmakers. In another programming highlight, the Festival hosted Cine Latino at the citys historic Rose Marine Theatre. The series was organized by Julio Cesar Cedillo, one of Fort Worths gifted filmmakers, and included the work of some of the best Hispanic filmmakers working today such as Enrique Renteria.
Festival Passes will be available for sale on September 8. For sales and more information, please visit www.lsiff.com.
About The Lone Star Film Society
The Lone Star Film Society exists to preserve and present the art of the moving image and examine its influence on world culture. LSFS, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, achieves these goals and engenders visual literacy by cultivating an appreciation of the visual arts, supporting film initiatives in the community and building the recognition and status of Fort Worth, and of Texas in filmmaking.
About Sundance Square
Sundance Square oversees more than two million square feet of commercial office, retail and residential space. Located in the heart of downtown Fort Worth, historic Sundance Square is a 35-block commercial, residential, entertainment and retail district where people work, live, shop and dine. Sundance Squares beautiful landscaping, red-brick streets and turn-of-the-century buildings make it a pedestrians delight. Named after the famed Sundance Kid, who used the Fort Worth area as a hideout, Sundance Square has been hailed as a monumental achievement in urban redevelopment. For more information, visit www.sundancesquare.com.
About Bumbershoot Productions
BPI is a Fort Worth based film production company run by Johnny Langdon and Susan OConnell. The company acquires theatrical rights to literary properties and develops original material for feature release. Films currently in development include A Confederacy of Dunces (Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by John Kennedy OToole), The Pro (a comic novel about the Seniors Golf Tour, written by Mike Shropshire), Empire Man (an original screenplay by film and television writer Rod Taylor), Winnie (starring Shirley MacLaine and written by Stefan Schaefer), and Bohemian Grove (screenplay by Po Bronson). BPI also has other film projects in various stages of development.
About Universal Cinema Services
Universal Cinema Services, Inc. was formed specifically to address the needs of the theatre operator. Our specialty is the development and outfitting of multiplex theatres around the world. We have completed hundreds of projects while earning a reputation for on time and in budget project completion. Additionally, the principals have personally owned and operated independent theatres and understand the expectations, concerns, and needs of exhibitors.
Additional Sponsors
AMC Theatres, Four Day Weekend, Norris Conference Centers, University of Texas at Arlington, Panavision Dallas, Fort Worth Arts Council and Community Arts Center, Texas Capital Bank, PDS Services, ATC Logistics, Rahr and Sons Brewery, Park Place Mercedes, Interstate Industrial Genpar, LLC, Bondurant Group, LLC, TCU Department of Communications, Red Bull, Aldridge, Griffin CPA, Media 2-Way, AFI Dallas International Film Festival, Valley Lane Investments, HBO, Moroch Entertainment.
