#TBT to last weekend in Dallas
The Art of Film
“See Things DIFFerently.”
The mission of the Dallas International Film Festival (DIFF)
is: to support the magic of film as an art form by bringing a diverse program of
poignant and thought-provoking films to Dallas, honoring the filmmakers
worldwide, and promoting our local filmmakers on an international scale.
This year’s festival took place over the course of 11 days
(March 30th – April 9th) featuring over 150 films, panel
discussions, and a special showcase of films from 1967.
This was my third year attending the festival. It’s always exciting
to see the early showings of unrated works of art by aspiring writers and
directors.
Awards were presented to filmmakers in several categories:
- Narrative Feature
- Documentary Feature
- Short Film
- Texas Competition
- Animated Short
The Dallas Star Award was presented to Bill Paxton
(posthumously), my favorite actor from Big
Love. His family was present to receive the award on his behalf.
I was only able to
catch one film during this year’s festival. Since most of the films in
competition are unrated and haven’t “made it” to the big screen the audience
has a responsibility to the writer and director not to share too many details
about the film. In watching the film, I learned
a lot about story structure, character arch, dialect, camera angles, and dialogue. At the end of the 75-minute film I was able to cast my
vote for the Audience Award.
Looking forward to next year’s DIFF as well as checking out
the 4th annual Denton Black Film Festival (January 25-28, 2018).
For more information regarding DIFF or the Denton Black Film
Festival check out the websites below.
The Art of Writing
This year was the first WORDfest event. WORDfest (Writers
Organizations Round Dallas) is made up every writing group, club, or
organization in the DFW area.
From 10AM – 4PM, writers from every genre and writing level
were able to take classes, attend small breakout sessions, get to know the
leads from each of the writing groups in Dallas, as well as network with other
writers.
Finding Your Voice was
one of the classes offered during this year’s event. I’ve heard this phrase
thrown around in several writing circles.
Did I have a “writing voice”?
If so, what did it sound like?
If not, how the heck do I find it?
The facilitator, a writing instructor from the local
community college, went on to tell us that our voice is “the way you put
together words and phrases that are uniquely you”. It is your genuine self. Those words and phrases carry power and
energy.
After giving us a few
examples of writing styles and voice like that of Tom Robbins and Joyce Carol
Oats, our facilitator gave us an assignment.
We had to describe the night sky but do so in the voice of a child, a cowboy,
an artist, and a scientist. Writing in
the voice of a child was easy (I can still hear my younger self in my head), but
the others were a struggle. She then gave us the opportunity to write in our
own voice. And just like that, it made
sense.
Here is what I wrote:
It is as if the sky
speaks to me. A little breeze steals a
kiss on my cheeks, the stars wink at me, the moon tips its hat and just like
that I have peace. I wonder if the sky
will look like this everywhere I go. What if I forget this moment? What if this melody at midnight only happens
in Texas?
After the course, I tip toed through the halls of Tarrant
County College – Northeast Campus, picking up flyers and business cards from
every writing group while having to remind myself that I no longer live in
Texas. LOL!
There were panel discussions, breakout sessions, and prize
giveaways. I thoroughly enjoyed my time
at this year’s event and am looking forward to next year.
If you are a writer looking for a critique group or writing
support group and you live in the Dallas area, check out the groups below.
-
Dallas Screenwriters Association- DallasScreenwriters.com/join-now
-
Words of wisdom writers’ society - WOWWS.org
The Art of an Artist
I ended my artsy weekend at The Door nightclub for the Deep Ellum Arts Festival. Until last week I had never heard of the
#PancakesandBooze event. Apparently, this is something that goes down in cities
around the U.S. I’m not sure what
pancakes and booze have to do with art, but it was catchy and the pancakes
looked pretty good.
I got my entire life as I stepped through aisle and after
aisle talking to the amazing artist and giving them kudos for their awesome work.
Being an artist in any form is scary but
also freeing. You are literally creating magic.
Like for real. It’s just
amazing.
Here are a few of my favorite pieces…
LIFE!!!!!
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