Texas

AUSTIN, TX – It’s ironic that the film “Queendom” played the SXSW Film & TV Festival right down the street from the Texas legislature, which is leading the charge in American for the dissolution of LGBTQ+ rights and specifically drag queens. This story is from Russia, which at one time was held up as the opposite to where American should be.

AUSTIN, TX – Finding a way to my first film at the 2023 SXSW Film/TV Fest is a specific challenge, but after being shuttled to the famed Alamo Drafthouse, I found myself at the World Premiere of “Satan Wants You,” an amazing documentary about the “Satanic Panic” of the 1980s and ‘90s, directed by Sean Horlor and Steve J. Adams.

AUSTIN, TX – The SXSW Conference and Festivals wrapped on March 19th, after 10 days of magic and Austin wackiness, showcasing film, TV, interactive, conferences, interviews and music. The Film & TV Fest named “Raging Grace” as the top Narrative Feature and “Grown” as top TV Pilot.

CHICAGO – The in-person SXSW Conference and Festivals opens tonight with “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” as part of the Film and TV Fest. SXSW 2023 runs March 10th-19th in Austin, Texas.

CHICAGO – Alamo Drafthouse Cinema … which began 26 years ago as a single screen in Austin, Texas, and has expanded to 38 locations … is opening in Chicago’s Wrigleyville neighborhood on January 27th, 2023.

CHICAGO – The date of November 22nd, 1963, will always have meaning to certain generations of people as to the where-were-they-when-they-heard that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. The City of Chicago was not immune to this event, and three odd connections became apparent as the news broke and in the subsequent associations that emerged afterward.

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Ben Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on July 29th, reviewing “Vengeance,” which is written, directed and features B.J. Novak of “The Office,” opening in theaters beginning July 29th.

CHICAGO – Exceptional films that reflect honest relationships are rare, but the latest film “Don’t Make Me Go” – streaming on Prime Video on July 15th – accomplishes the father/daughter dynamic with authentic situations and emotions. John Cho and Mia Isaac portray that relationship, in a film directed by Hannah Marks.

CHICAGO – Of all the films of the recent 2022 SXSW Festival, one documentary stood out as a profile of empathy. Co-directors Zara Katz and Lisa Riordan Seville presented “A Woman on the Outside,” an overview of a Philadelphia activist who advocates for prison reform while actually having – within her own story – three male family members in and out of incarceration.

CHICAGO – As the 2022 SXSW Festival wraps up this weekend, many filmmakers brought their new works, and one that stood out is a new documentary on Voyager, the space probes (1 & 2) that were launched in 1977 and still miraculously are exploring the interstellar galaxy. Filmmaker Billy Miossi profiles the crew keeping tabs on the probes in “it’s Quieter in the Twilight.”