Texas filmmakers tout the Lone Star State at Sundance
PARK CITY, Utah — As a heavy snowstorm descended on the Sundance Film Festival Friday night, an overflow crowd of several hundred Texas filmmakers and their friends kept warm at a big party to tout the virtues of film production in the Lone Star State.
Hosted by the Texas Film Commission and its counterparts in Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio, the “Film Texas” gathering also gave those attending the nation’s most prominent independent film festival from around the state and beyond the opportunity to mix, mingle, talk film talk and even make a few deals.
Leading the Houston contingent were Houston Film Commission deputy director Alfred Cervantes, who is attending his 21st Sundance festival; Michelle Mower, CEO of Imagination Worldwide, an international film sales and distribution company; directors Scott Brignac and Jared Kudabeck; and opera singer and mixed-media performance artist Lisa E. Harris, who is attending her first Sundance festival.
“I’m here at Sundance to meet the other filmmakers, and people who are interested in music and composition for their film,” said Harris, whose documentary on Houston’s Third Ward, “Cry of the Third Eye,” debuted at the Aurora Picture Show last year. “I’ve gotten a lot of advice from people already.”
The festival also served as a celebration for Dallas producer Liz Cardenas, whose film “Never Goin’ Back” was selected to be shown at this year’s Sundance festival. It comes from Dallas filmmaker Augustine Frizzell and was shot in Fort Worth.
“It feels fantastic. It’s a little surreal,” Cardenas said. “It’s beyond words. The odds are so tough to get into Sundance, and there are so many good films out there. Sundance definitely means something in this film world. And it’s just so exciting.”
Mower, who chooses to live in Houston and commute to Los Angeles periodically because of family considerations, is at Sundance to find films from women directors with a strong female perspective for distribution. She’s encouraged by the large number of such projects this year.
“Is Sundance a ‘must stop?’ Absolutely. As a distributor, if you’re not at Sundance, you might as well shut your door,” she said.
But Mower, who directed the popular 2013 Lifetime movie “The Preacher’s Daughter” and filmed it in Houston before having to shoot subsequent movies in Canada due to financial considerations, is adamant that the Bayou City and the state of Texas needs to offer better incentives to encourage more local filmmaking.
“Nothing hurts me more than to see films set in Texas that are filmed in New Mexico or Oklahoma or wherever else. I have to censor my language here but it really upsets me,” she said.
“We’ve a very diverse city, with a lot of stories to tell, and we need the opportunities. And nobody is giving us the opportunities. It’s incumbent on us as a city to support filmmakers from the city and help them get their stories told.”
Among those hoping to film in Houston soon is Brignac, who aims to begin production on a “heist caper” flick this year. “I don’t want to shoot it in Atlanta,” he says, referring to the large incentives the state of Georgia offers to filmmakers. “I want to film it in Houston.”
Many Texan filmmakers will gather again on Saturday night for a party hosted by the Austin Film Society, reflecting the status of the Texas capital city as the center for film production in the Lone Star State.