Hi everyone, Bryan Here…
I can’t believe April is almost here again. It just seemed like two weeks ago we were knee deep in 2014’s Dallas Film Festival, which had some excellent films showcased. But that time of the year is just about to begin and the good folks over at the Dallas Film Festival have announced the first 10 films that will show at the festival. Also, it looks like the fest will be honoring the excellent filmmaker John Landis as well, which is all sorts of cool.
While Landis hasn’t been too busy as of recent, his resume is very impressive. His works includes ‘Animal House’, ‘Coming To America’, ‘An American Werewolf in London’, ‘Kentucky Fried Movie’, ‘Three Amigos’, ‘Trading Places’, ‘Blues Brothers’, ‘Spies Like Us’, and ‘Amazon Women on the Moon’. He also collaborated with Michael Jackson on a number of music videos, including ‘Thriller‘ and ‘Black or White‘. As a good man once said, “Not exactly a light-weight.” Speaking of ‘Blues Brothers‘, the 2015 Film Festival in Dallas will show the iconic ‘Blues Brothers’ on the big screen again. Hopefully, Dan Aykroyd will show up.
Below are the ten films that have been announced so far. Enjoy.
5 FLIGHTS UP
Director: Richard Loncraine
USA
Cast: Morgan Freeman; Diane Keaton; Cynthia Nixon
Synopsis: Over one crazy weekend, a long-time married couple discovers that finding a new apartment is not about winding down, but starting a new adventure.
BEING EVEL
Director: Daniel Junge
USA
Synopsis: Millions know the man, but few know his story. In BEING EVEL, Academy Award® winning filmmaker Daniel Junge (SAVING FACE) and actor/producer Johnny Knoxville take a candid look at American daredevil and icon Robert “Evel” Knievel, while also reflecting on our voracious public appetite for heroes and spectacle.
ECHOS OF WAR (World premiere)
Director: Kane Senes
USA
Cast: James Badge Dale; Ethan Embry; William Forsythe; Maika Monroe
Synopsis: A Civil War veteran returns home to the quiet countryside, only to find himself embroiled in a conflict between his family and the brutish cattle rancher harassing them.
HOLLOW
Director: Ham Tran
Vietnam
Cast: Kieu Chinh; Jayvee Mai The Hiep; Ngoc Hiep Nguyen
Synopsis: A young girl falls into a river and drowns. When her body is found in a remote village along the river, her uncle arrives to claim her body, only to find that she is very much alive. But when she returns to her family, unexplainable occurrences lead them to believe she is possessed.
JASMINE
Director: Dax Phelan
USA
Cast: Jason Tobin; Byron Mann; Sarah Lian
Synopsis: JASMINE is a gripping and chilling psychological thriller about a man still struggling to come to terms with his grief nearly a year after his wife’s unsolved murder.
THE BLUES BROTHERS
Director: John Landis
USA
Cast: John Belushi; Dan Aykroyd; James Brown; Cab Calloway; Ray Charles; Aretha Franklin; John Lee Hooker
Synopsis: Jake Blues, just out from prison, puts together his old band to save the Catholic home where he and brother Elwood were raised.
THE LOOK OF SILENCE
Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
Denmark/Finland/Indonesia/
Synopsis: In Joshua Oppenheimer’s companion piece to the Oscar® nominated THE ACT OF KILLING, a family of survivors of the 1965 Indonesian genocide discovers how their son was murdered and the identity of the men who killed him. The youngest brother is determined to break the spell of silence and fear under which the survivors live, and so confronts the men responsible for his brother’s murder – something unimaginable in a country where killers remain in power.
PLAYING IT COOL (North American Premiere)
Director: Justin Reardon
USA
Cast: Chris Evans; Michelle Monaghan; Luke Wilson; Aubrey Plaza; Topher Grace; Anthony Mackie
Synopsis: It’s this generation’s SWINGERS meets (500) DAYS OF SUMMER. The story is fresh, quirky, and weirdly relatable as this young, slightly pretentious man falls for an unlikely girl, and will stop at nothing to get her even after realizing she’s already in a relationship.
WELCOME TO LEITH
Director: Michael Beach Nichols; Christopher K. Walker
USA
Synopsis: A white supremacist attempts to take over a small town in North Dakota.
WESTERN
Director: Bill Ross; Turner Ross
USA/Mexico
Synopsis: For generations, all that distinguished Eagle Pass, Texas from Piedras Negras, Mexico was the Rio Grande. But when darkness descends upon these harmonious border towns, a cowboy and lawman face a new reality that threatens their way of life.