Organizers of the Oak Cliff Film Festival recently released their 2022 lineup. Everything starts Thursday, June 23 at home base, Texas Theatre, with the Texas premiere of Butterfly in the Sky, a documentary about the TV show Reading Rainbow.
Other neighborhood venues including Bishop Arts Theatre Center, Kessler Theater and The Wild Detectives will host events throughout the long weekend, which wraps June 26 with I Love My Dad, starring Patton Oswalt, about a young man catfished by his own father. In between those two screenings are so many things — movies, music, parties and all-star personalities. Here are a few highlights.
1. Butterfly in the Sky, plus live The Octopus Project DJ set afterparty
OCFF alumni Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb direct the film about the children’s educational series Reading Rainbow — the movie, according to the notes, “lovingly chronicles the journeys of broadcasters, educators and filmmakers who believed TV could inspire a lifetime love of reading.” The film screens at 8 p.m. followed by a DJ set from the film composer The Octopus Project.
2. MIJA, the documentary about a young music manager and the Oak Cliff-bred musician she discovered, is complemented by a weekend performance from said musician, the incomparable Jacks Haupt.
Filmmaker Isabel Castro also will be in attendance at the festival. Jacks Haupt performs Friday 6/24 at Wild Detectives. The MIJA screening is Saturday 6/25 at Texas Theater in the downstairs auditorium.
About Mija: At 23, Doris Muñoz began a career in music talent management, “passionately advocating for rising Latinx artists,” according to the film description. “… Doris finds Jacks — then an auspicious young singer eager to break out of her parent’s home in Dallas, Texas. …Doris and Jacks share the ever-present guilt of being the first American-born members of their undocumented families.”
3. The immersive, sound-driven film 32 Sounds and an afterparty. Friday night at Texas Theatre (11-1).
The DFW premiere of 32 Sounds, a feature documentary and “profound sensory experience” comes from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sam Green and features original music by JD Samson (Le Tigre, MEN). Afterward is a party (co-presented by Talented Friends and Dallas Ambient Music Nights) in the Texas Theater and lobby projection areas.
4. After a movie about the Found Footage Film Festival called Chop and Steele, there’s a live comedy show. It all starts at 8:45 Saturday night at Texas Theatre.
It begins with a screening of Chop and Steele, “a documentary chronicling the Found Footage Festival’s rise to become pioneers of hilariously absurd video collage to the legal ramifications they faced at the litigious hands of humorless corporate overlords.” Filmmakers Ben Steinbauer and Berndt Mader will attend, and right after the screening, Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher host the comedic Found Footage Festival.
5. Family film fun — screening of Marcel the Shell with Shoes On at 1 p.m. Sunday. (Families, see also a retrospective screening of Secret of Nimh, Friday night on the Turner House lawn).
Marcel, a one-inch-tall shell, lives a miniature life with his grandma Connie and their pet lint, Alan. When the trio goes viral, they get millions of fans and new hope for finding their long-lost family. This one’s inside the Texas Theatre Sunday at 1 p.m.
There’s so much more happening. The full schedule is available here along with information about tickets and passes and parties. And stay tuned for more coverage.
