Texandance: Film Festing in New Braunfels

Typically I would have been dealing with post-Fantastic Fest blues last weekend, but instead I managed to make it to another local film event: Texandance International Film Festival in New Braunfels. Jette spoke highly of the inaugural Texandance last year, so I decided to take a short trip on Saturday to this weekend-long film fest.

What a welcome change from the fast-paced, jam-packed Austin film festival scene -- after a leisurely brunch of apple strudel on the square at the oldest bakery in Texas, I meandered over to the Brauntex Theater. This historic venue provided a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere to enjoy the day's programming, including music videos, short films, documentaries and feature-length films. As an international festival, Texandance had a lot to offer in this year's official selections. However, most of my personal favorites were from right here in Texas.

I arrived too late to see The Eyes of the Beholder, filmed in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, but was able to view it online -- by "liking" the film's Facebook page you can watch the short film in its entirety. The story focuses on Emily (Mary McElree), a teenage girl who has been blind from birth. A life-changing turn of events reveals not only the world around her, but also changes her relationships and outlook on life. Personal decisions have an even greater impact, with heartbreaking consequences.

This short film is quite impressive -- although a little more exposition would help viewers, the cinematography and direction gives the film a high production value. Lots of well-framed close shots and awareness of mise en scene were well used. Most impressive is that the filmmakers behind this film are not out of high school yet. I look forward to seeing more of writer/director Matt Morgan and the Field 11 Studios team in the future. The Eyes of the Beholder won best student film at Texandance this year.

The first film that I saw at Texandance was Alan Barber's Six Man, Texas, a documentary about the six-man version of football in rural communities. Set against the backdrop of shrinking rural economies, Texas' smallest schools are pressured to consolidate with bigger schools and thereby shut down. With too few students for regular 11-man football, small Texas schools play a six-man version. What results is a fast, high-scoring game -- more importantly, players who've grown up together find an even closer connection on the field and to their "family" in their stands. This film featured the Three Way School, which has since closed, and Aquilla, which is right here in Central Texas but in danger of closing as well. At Aquilla High School, seven seniors who played and fought together since kindergarten dream of putting their town on the map at the state championships and making a name for themselves.

Six Man, Texas reminded me of a most recent short film I'd seen at South By Southwest this year, 6 by Jeff Bednarz, which was also about two six-man footballl teams vying for the Texas State Championship. Although 6 has a much higher production value and better cinematography, Six Man, Texas has more heart to it and engages the audience. Both films are insightful works that remind us of the loss of community in our rural landscape.

The only narrative feature I watched was Lilly's Thorn, described as a "Capra-esque" comedy. The film's plot is simple -- little guy battles big businessman, only in this scenario two women are adversaries. Lilly Nash (Geraldine Lemay) fights back a hostile takeover by real estate mogul Hillary Thorn (Deidre Schwiesow) while visited by her long absent father -- who has been dead for 12 years. As much as I tried to find anything redeeming about this movie, all I can say is that actress Lemay has potential. The rest of the film is made up of stilted dialogue, overacting and overly archetypical sound design for each character. It reminded me of the movies that Gilbert Gottfried featured on the late-night movie show "Up All Night,"where Up the Academy was considered high-brow humor.

That was the only low moment of the festival, as next up was an encore screening of last year's Texandance hit Freezer Geezers, a documentary about a hockey league consisting of players age 75 and older. The film follows the Millenium 75s as they travel from Springfield, Massachusetts to participate in Snoopy's Senior World Hockey Tournament in Santa Rosa, California. The tournament was created by the late Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schulz, who had a passion for hockey and baseball. Schulz founded a summer adult hockey camp and the older division was created for players 75 and older. Although the pacing is rather slow, the dialogue is priceless. I loved the good-natured ribbing between husband and wife -- "that was an icebox when you were a kid -- it's a refrigerator now" -- and a member of the 75s asking the visiting Mandai players for birth certificates to prove that they are old enough.

My final viewing of the day was the documentary I most anticipated, Pretzels, Polka, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Although the filmmakers were from Germany, the subject matter was all Texan -- a look at Texans of German descent, their self-images and perception by others. The journey across Texas introduces the audience to a rancher in Doss, retirees in New Braunfels, a lawyer and his wife in Houston, and two female students of Germanic Studies at The University of Texas at Austin. The UT students host the weekly radio show "It Sounds Like German" about German politics, news and lowfat sausage. It's a nostalgic and kitschy outlook, with a culmination at the annual Wurstfest in New Braunfels.

Although I had to leave before the evening program and the spotlight feature Up & Down, I hope to catch this movie soon. Shot in Houston with an almost entirely Texan cast and crew. Up and Down follows the exploits of a hotel assistant through the course of a year as he chases the girl of his dreams, copes with drunk conventioneers and deals with his boss's wayward daughter. Screenwriter Johnette Duff's lesson on how to keep production costs down? Stick to one location, and so Up & Down segments take place in an elevator (pictured at top).

I highly recommend taking a break from the big-city film festival frenzy next fall, and pick up up tickets for the 2011 Texandance International Film Festival. And as an added bonus, check the back of your tickets -- this year each ticket featured a "two for one" admission to Wurstfest in New Braunfels.