Dallas, TX (July 21, 2020) – Women Texas Film Festival announced the official selections for the fifth year of the critically-acclaimed Dallas-based film festival which focuses solely on the work of visionary female filmmakers (August 13-16). Pivoting to an all-virtual presentation, Olivia Peace’s teenage comedy TAHARA opens the film festival and Lisa Donato’s GOSSAMER FOLDS is the Closing Night Selection for WTxFF, which will again feature LGBTQIA+ stories, provocative documentaries, and Texas-based female filmmakers throughout its lineup.
WTxFF Founder and Artistic Director Justina Walford said, “We feel going all-virtual this year makes us emphasize the work we are curating even more so since there are no physical events or parties to distract us even for a moment. Therefore, we are reminded at every moment of what sets our film festival apart from other film festivals and what sets film festivals (in general) apart from simply seeing a movie at a multiplex: Curating. Discovering, introducing, and presenting dynamic female filmmakers and giving them an enthusiastic platform to show their work, discuss it, and celebrate their audacity to put those thoughts, ideas, and visions onscreen for us all to share is what is behind the work we do – whether we see that film on a big screen or in our living rooms or our laptops.”
Walford added, “We love being part of the international movement to showcase female filmmakers and we know we must continue our efforts with even more force so that we change the filmmaking industry in hiring an equitable gender ratio. Our goal has always been to show the range of the female storyteller, and the depths to which women can take us via their work in film- whether it be emotional, visual, introspective, startling, shocking, and horrific. From our gripping documentaries like NEVER GOING BACK and A WHORE LIKE ME to our endearing films like GOSSAMER FOLDS and TAHARA, there are tremendous layers in each project that engage and thrill us.”
Olivia Peace’s TAHARA delighted audiences during its debut earlier in the year at Slamdance, and also made a splash at Frameline, the celebrated LGBTQIA+ film festival, last month. The film follows two best friends who comically deal with the emotional stress resulting from the suicide of their Hebrew school classmate in very different ways. The school’s attempts to help the students understand grief through their faith immediately leads to awkward places, but after an innocent kissing exercise changes everything for one of them, the best friends find themselves distracted by the teenage complications neither of them even remotely anticipated.
Walford has said that it wouldn’t seem like WTxFF without a Lisa Donato film, having screened a number of her short films prior to this year. Therefore, it seems entirely right and appropriate that her new film, GOSSAMER FOLDS would be selected to close out this year’s fest. Set in 1986, the film follows a ten-year-old boy who has been uprooted and unwillingly moved to the suburbs of Kansas City. Already on unsure footing due to the move, his world is further shaken thanks to his parent's marriage troubles. However, he finds solace thanks to the friendship he begins to find with his next-door neighbors: a retired college professor and his transgender daughter, Gossamer. Among the impressive list of familiar faces and names in the film include Alexandra Gray, Sprague Greyden, Shane West, Ethan Suplee, Jen Richards, and Yeardley Smith. While details have not been finalized Donato will be joined by some of the cast members for a special virtual Q&A following the screening.
In addition to being a prime showcase in Dallas and North Texas for LGBTQIA+ films, as demonstrated yet again by the Opening and Closing Night selections, as well as films like Ksenia Ratushnaya’s outrageous and mind blowing film, OUTLAW, and Jessica Wolfson and Jessie Auritt’s documentary short THE PAINT WIZZARD about a transgender painter, Women Texas Film Festival has also built a reputation for finding hard-hitting documentaries that often line up with current hot political topics.
This year is no different, with Sharon Yaish and Yael Shachar’s A WHORE LIKE ME taking a look at sex trafficking via one woman’s harrowing journey back into the world she had escaped. Larissa Lam’s FAR EAST DEEP SOUTH opens a different door into the subject of race and American history through her film about Chinese immigrants in Mississippi. Janette A. López’s NEVER GOING BACK gives needed insight into the humanity behind the immigration issue with its focus on one family’s journey from Honduras to the States. Marie Skovgaard’s THE REFORMIST – A FEMALE IMAM, takes a hard look at the struggles within the Islamic faith as it follows the efforts of a woman to open one of the first mosques in Europe headed by a female imam.
Highlights among the curated shorts selections include: Britt Lower’s CIRCUS PERSON, about a woman’s self-realization journey following a breakup and her subsequent crush on the other woman, which screened as part of the worldwide WE ARE ONE fest; the return of former WTxFF award-winner Tracie Laymon, with her latest film, GHOSTED about a woman’s new relationship being thwarted by the deceased ex; Comedy writer and Executive Producer on HBO’s Insecure, Amy Aniobi’s HONEYMOON, follows a newlywed couple’s first night after their first meeting; Award-winning screenwriter Stacey Davis’ CHERRY about a woman’s hopes for a final Easter with her dying father; and celebrated Kenyan-American filmmaker Wanjiru Njenendu’s BOXED about the remarkable story of a slave who mailed himself to freedom. Texas shorts selections include another returning WTxFF alum, Paloma Hernandez’s PASTICHE, about a struggling artist who accidentally becomes entangled in art forgery, and the directorial debut of indie film producer Lisa Normand (THE OLD MAN & THE GUN) with her comic horror film NO REALLY, I’M FINE, PANDEMIC NOTWITHSTANDING.
All films can be viewed for free with an option to donate. Seating is limited. Also, all films except exclusive screenings can be viewed at any time starting August 13th at 5pm until midnight August 16th. Q&As and panels will be announced and viewable here: https://wtxff.eventive.org/. Stay tuned for details at womentxff.org.
The 2020 Women Texas Film Festival official selections:
