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A brave venture: 2010 Dallas film fest will continue without American Film Institute

Beginning in the spring of 2007, the AFI Dallas Film Festival showcased spectacular films and documentaries. Mike Jones of indiewire.com surmises that the nonrenewal has to do with saving money from the licensing costs that comes with AFI licensing. Michael Cain, CEO and Artistic Director of the Dallas Film Society, has stated that an independent film festival for Dallas was always his goal. This is simply the next step in the process.

 

Because it is just in its beginning stages, it is unlikely that the festival will be hurt much by this matter. There are a couple of reasons why negative results are unlikely. First of all, the theaters that are chosen for the showings are always thriving. The proximity of the Dallas Angelika and the Magnolia is an inadvertent bonus (if the Angelika is chosen as a theater next spring). Secondly, the local fan base is strong and will likely come even without AFI in front of the title. It is hard to say what the final tally is but estimates run at about ten thousand total visitors last spring. Finally, the festival has adapted over the years to meet the needs of the audiences. The number of films has decreased from about 250 to 170 which is what is needed for the festival’s amount of days. The schedule from the first festival was so packed and overlapping that it was hard for people to see more than one film in a day. They have learned that when it comes to films, bigger is not always better and its quality over quantity. If the quality of this past spring's festival continues, the people will come.

 

Even without the AFI license, the Dallas film festival will continue to be a channel for rising talent throughout the nation. It has to be stated that the Dallas International Film Festival is in its infancy. In comparison, the Sundance Film Festival has been around since 1985 and the Seattle International Film Festival has been around since 1976. There is a lot of catching up to do that can only occur with prestige built by time. Plans for next spring are still forthcoming but an 11 day event around the same April/May overlap is what is expected. If the Dallas Film Society continues to choose the film showings with the stellar taste they have before, there is definitely something to look forward to next spring.