Film Fest News

Dallas Int'l Film Festival 2025 will debut Oscar-contender flicks

King of the Roadies Ben Dorcy

Piper Ferguson

The lineup has been revealed for the 19th edition of the annual Dallas International Film Festival, taking place April 25-May 1 with more than 120 films, Q&A sessions, filmmaker and actor panels, nightly DIFF Red Carpets, and special events.

Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas Victory Park, located at 2365 Victory Park Ln., will serve as the host venue. Additional screenings and events will be held in the AT&T Discovery District, the Harwood District, the Texas Theatre, and Virgin Hotels Dallas, which returns for the third year as the Premier Sponsor of the Festival.

The Festival comes this year with extra cachet as it was named in October as an Oscar-Qualifying Festival by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This increases the festival's visibility as well as its appeal for filmmakers who are angling to earn a nomination for an Academy Award. DIFF is one of only 59 film festivals in the U.S. on that list.

According to DIFF Artistic Director James Faust, highlights include the world premiere of Happy As Larry, whose screenplay was a semifinalist in the festival's screenwriting competition in 2024; and a music and film panel with Abraham Alexander, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for Sing Sing, which played at DIFF in 2024.

Among the lineup of feature films for DIFF 2025 so far are these world premieres:

A PORTRAIT OF A POSTMAN (Documentary) (USA) Director: Chris Charles Scott
True story of Kermit Oliver, a reclusive genius who spent decades working the graveyard shift at a Texas post office — while secretly creating masterpieces that would hang in the Smithsonian and designing million-dollar scarves for Hermès.

THE CONFESSION (Narrative Feature) (USA) Director: Will A Canon
Set in rural Texas, a struggling musician moves back into her childhood home and discovers a disturbing family secret that threatens to unravel her entire life.

DIY: THE RISE AND FALL AND RISE OF PUNK (Documentary) (USA) Director: Joel Cecilio Herrera
DIY is an extrospective dissection of Pop-Punk; from the SoCal garages of the 80’s to the enduring impact the genre has had on music, fashion, and culture.

DUE WEST (Narrative Feature) (USA) Director: Evan Miller
A small-town woman in need of medical care in West Texas is forced to break the law.

HAPPY AS LARRY (Narrative Feature) (United Kingdom) Director: Hugo Andre
Unsatisfied with life after years of writing novels far more interesting than his own life, Larry decides to go on one last adventure in the Isle of Skye before his scheduled demise.

KINTSUGI DREAMS: THE UNMUKT CHAND STORY (Documentary) (India) Director: Raghav Khanna
The film follows Unmukt’s journey from India to the United States as he tackles issues of immigration, patriotism and identity while trying to fulfill his childhood dream of playing international cricket.

MATTER OF TIME (Narrative Feature) (USA) Director: Jeremy Snead
Charlie Fleck, a 29-year-old aspiring videogame designer, is given the opportunity of a lifetime with a time-stopping device given to him by his friend, an eccentric toy shop owner, Gibbs.

NIGHT IN WEST TEXAS (Documentary) (USA) Director: Deborah S. Esquenazi
Forty years after a gay Apache man is framed for the brutal murder of a closeted Catholic priest, a police chief uncovers long-buried evidence that shakes up the small, oil-rich West Texas town that imprisoned him.

THE OTHER (Narrative Feature) (USA) Director: Paul Etheredge
After years of struggling with infertility, a Caucasian couple, Daniel and Robin, become foster parents to Kathelia (8), a mute, African American orphan, with the hope of becoming a permanent family. The challenges begin immediately.

THE SALAMANDER KING (Narrative Feature) (USA) Director: Austin Nichols
Indie comedy focuses on a group of Austinites who work and play at a municipal golf course that’s come under threat of extinction due to the city’s rapid growth.

TAKE IT AWAY (Documentary) (USA) Director: Adrian Alejandro Arredondo
The meteoric rise of Tejano and Regional Mexican music can arguably be traced to one man: Johnny Canales, whose syndicated music variety show launched the careers of legendary musicians like Selena, Ramon Ayala, and Intocable.

WILLIE NELSON PRESENTS: KING OF THE ROADIES (Documentary) (USA) Director: Amy Lee Nelson
Nelson and friends share stories of the enigmatic Texan, Ben Dorcy (aka Lovey), an unsung hero who shaped American music history, pioneered an entire profession as the world's first roadie, and rivaled time itself to keep the show on the road.

The festival will also feature live screenplay table reads, awards, and other events and activations where filmmakers, screenwriters, film industry leaders, celebrities, sponsors, and audiences come together to experience and discuss film. Films are curated from submissions received by filmmakers worldwide, across Texas, and the U.S., and include narrative features, documentaries, and short films of all genres from studios and independent filmmakers.

Grand Jury Prizes for DIFF 2025 will be awarded for Best Texas Short Film, Best Texas Feature, Best Documentary Short Film, Best Documentary Feature, Best International Feature, Best International Short Film, Best Narrative Feature, Best Animated Short Film, and Best Student Film within the Shorts Competition. Additionally, Audience Awards will be given for Best Documentary Feature, Best Narrative Feature, and Best Short Film. There will also be a Dallas County Historical Commission Prize for Best Historical Film.

Oscar Qualifying short film awards at the Dallas International Film Festival are: Grand Jury Prize - Best Animated Short Film; Grand Jury Prize - Best Documentary Short Film; and Grand Jury Prize - Best Narrative Short Film. Films that win qualified awards between October 1, 2024, and September 30, 2025, may be qualified to enter the 98th Academy Awards, provided that the films meet all the requirements set forth in the official rules for that season.

Passes for the Dallas International Film Festival are on sale at dallasfilm.org/diff/passes. Tickets will be available to the general public on April 7.

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Movie review

Tantalizing teen comedy Summer of 69 is more nerdy than naughty

Photo courtesy of Hulu

Sam Morelos and Chloe Fineman in Summer of 69.

There was a trend in the late 2010s/early 2020s of bawdy comedies featuring teenage female protagonists, including Blockers, Booksmart, and Yes, God, Yes. Those types of films seemed to go by the wayside in recent years, but they’re making a comeback with the new film Summer of 69.

Abby (Sam Morelos) is a high school senior and video game streamer who has had a crush on her classmate Max (Matt Cornett) for her entire childhood. When she learns that Max has recently broken up with his longtime girlfriend, she’s determined to make her move. With advice from a confidant that Max likes a certain sexual position, Abby sets out to learn as much as she can about it, including hiring a stripper, Santa Monica (Chloe Fineman), to help her.

Coincidentally, Santa Monica is facing a situation where the club at which she works, Diamond Dolls, will be closed if the owner doesn’t come up with $20,000 in a week. Abby, who comes from a well-to-do family, seems to offer the perfect solution, and so the two agree to a week of lessons for that amount. Naturally, all sorts of complications arise, as well as the two women forming an unexpected bond.

Written and directed by Jillian Bell, with help from co-writers Jules Byrne and Liz Nico, the film is both suggestive and innocent at the same time. For all of the talk about sex and innuendo, having the nerdy and inexperienced Abby at the center of the film ensures that the story remains relatively chaste throughout. That includes scenes at the strip club, where Bell makes the choice to show almost no nudity.

Most of the humor of the film stems from Abby’s lack of experience, highlighted by her having “sexual” fantasies about Max that never actually get to the sex part. The juxtaposition between Abby and Santa Monica is also used for laughs, although Bell and her co-writers make sure to include a side story for the dancer that makes her into a three-dimensional person.

What ultimately makes the movie succeed is the way it keeps its characters relatable. Many high school films feel the need to play into a bunch of stereotypes, but those are kept to a minimum here. Instead, Bell upends expectations by delivering honest - sometimes to a fault for the characters - dialogue that acknowledges the spectrum of sexual realities for high schoolers, a version that differs from insatiable horniness of some other teen comedies.

Morelos, one of the stars of Netflix’s That ‘90s Show, makes for a charming lead, someone who can convincingly take her character from awkward to confident over the course of the story. Fineman, best known for her current stint as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, complements her well, showing her comedic prowess in a number of physical scenes. A supporting cast that includes Nicole Byer, Paula Pell, Alex Moffat, and Natalie Morales keeps the energy level high.

Despite its titillating title, Summer of 69 is much more sweet than naughty. Like most coming-of-age movies, it’s about a girl who’s trying to figure out where she fits in the world. The answers she finds aren’t always the ones she was expecting, but in the best possible way.

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Summer of 69 starts streaming on Hulu on May 9.

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