The Dallas-based USA Film Festival returns to the Angelika Film Center in 2025 for its 55th edition with red carpet events, celebrity appearances, and films films films.
The five-day event takes place April 23-27 and will feature more than 25 separate programs, including narrative feature films, documentaries, and short films. Something for everyone.
Opening night will include three big events:
- a salute to filmmaker Jon Avnet (Fried Green Tomatoes), screening his latest film, The Last Rodeo, about a retired rodeo legend who risks it all in a high-stakes bull-riding competition to save his grandson, co-written by Avnet, Neal McDonough (Suits, Boomtown), and Derek Presley, and starring McDonough, Sarah Jones, Mykelti Williamson, Christopher McDonald, Ruvé McDonough, and Daylon Swearingen. The film will be released by Angel Studios on May 23. In attendance will be Jon Avnet, Neal McDonough, Ruvé McDonough, and Mykelti Williamson.
- 25th Anniversary screening of Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending 2000 thriller Memento, with actor Stephen Tobolowsky in attendance
- salute to Hollywood legend Nancy Kwan, whose career includes films such as The World of Suzie Wong, Flower Drum Song, and many more. Ms. Kwan will sign copies of her new memoir, The World of Nancy Kwan.
Other highlights include the new drama On Swift Horses, starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Will Poulter, and Jacob Elordi, and a celebration of veteran actor Martin Kove, the Karate Kid baddie, alongside a 50th anniversary screening of the Roger Corman cult classic, Death Race 2000, starring David Carradine, Sylvester Stallone, Roberta Collins, and Mary Woronov.
Screening on Saturday will be Brandt Johnson’s highly entertaining documentary comedy Rebel with a Clause, which follows a grammar guru who takes her pop-up grammar advice stand on a road trip across all 50 states to show that comma fights can bring us closer together in a divided time. Brandt Johnson and author/film subject Ellen Jovin will both be in attendance.
Screening on Sunday will be Dallas-based writer/director/producer Olive Talley’s The Stones Are Speaking, chronicling the story of how archaeologist Mike Collins, at great risk and personal sacrifice, saved 30 acres of looted land in Texas and revealed it as one of the most significant archeological sites in the Americas. Talley will be in attendance to talk about the film.
The festival will go out with a bang: a closing-night screening of a newly restored and remastered version of Brigitte Berman’s Academy Award-winning documentary, Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got, celebrating its 40th anniversary.
Short film programs include narrative shorts, Texas films and filmmakers, and student shorts. Jurors for this year’s USAFF International Short Film Competition include actress/director/educator Karen Allen, actor Jim Beaver, actor Jason Scott Lee, animator/director Bill Haller, actress/producer/documentarian/educator Diane Baker, manager/writer/producer/director Chris Roe, and artist/director/writer Rosson Crow. USAFF will also screen short films from Garland High School and Sachse High School.
The USA Film Festival is a 55-year-old Dallas-based 501c3 non-profit dedicated to the recognition and promotion of excellence in the film and video arts.
All screenings and events will be held at the Angelika Film Center, with all but two of the programs presented for free. The general public can reserve tickets for individual screenings starting on April 9 at eventbrite.com.
“We are pleased to once again celebrate Dallas Arts Month with our annual Spring Festival,” said USAFF Managing Director Ann Alexander in a statement. “We are honored to bring a number of distinguished Master Artists to our stage in Dallas - including Nancy Kwan, Jon Avnet, Martin Kove, Neal McDonough, Mykelti Williamson, Stephen Tobolowsky and William Shockley - and to celebrate so many talented filmmakers with new works as well as revisiting a few classic favorites."
