Festival News

Billy the Kid Film Festival in Hico, Texas loves outlaws the most

Rolling Film, Rocking History, Al Maysles Captures the Beatles

Courtesy photo

Who doesn't love an outlaw? Surely not the annual Billy the Kid Film Festival, a festival dedicated to outlaws which is coming to Hico, Texas from November 7-9.

The festival was founded in 2019 in Hico, the hometown of "Brushy Bill" Robert, AKA Billy the Kid. It seeks films that answer the question, What does it mean to be an outlaw? — featuring stories of characters who go against the grain.

This is the festival's 7th edition and it will screen 55 films including shorts and music videos. Opening night will include a free under-the-stars presentation of short films at Green Canoe's Beer Garden in Hico, featuring two documentaries with a Dallas connection:

Dallasite Bart Weiss’ Rolling Film, Rocking History, Al Maysles Captures the Beatles — people, where is the editor here — where Al Maysles tells the story of how he shot the Beatles coming to the U.S. for the first time
Former Dallasite Justina Walford’s Tattler’s Tale about a legendary stray dog that finally finds a home in South Dallas

Two narrative shorts will also be included: Robby Robinson’s Hub City about a singer dealing with the mysterious death of his brother; and The Strange Story of Blasting Betty directed by William Samson about a woman in the Wild West.

The evening’s program will be capped by screenings of three music videos, two of which have parentheses in the title: I Remember the Alamo (But Can't Recall Her Name), Let’s Keep Austin, Texas and The Elephant (Dear Valentine).

The festival's 55 films include nine feature-length, plus 46 short films and music videos, all of which have outlaw and/or western themes, with a focus on local and Texas-based filmmakers.

Along with the free-to-the public opening night, there'll be a film festival workshop with filmmaker consultant Rebecca Smith offered to aspiring filmmakers and those navigating the film festival circuit; as well as the return of Dennis and Amanda Moore from Pine Moore Old West Studio to present BTKFF’s annual Pine Moore Award, in honor of the famous western and Old West location set which has been utilized by countless films, television shows, commercials, and music videos for scenic backdrops.

Film/TV and Texas legend Barry Corbin will appear at the Billy the Kid Film Festival on both Friday and Saturday as a special guest. The festival will also feature the locally produced film Reel Hico, which was filmed entirely in Hico and showcases many of the town’s residents. This hometown favorite will screen as a Friday night feature presentation.

he festival is introducing a new venue, the Wild Saddle Saloon, where films will be shown throughout the day on Saturday. The VIP and Red Carpet Party will take place under a Big Party Tent provided by Event-O-Matic, offering attendees a lively and festive atmosphere to celebrate the weekend’s events.

Festival founder Luci DiGiorgio, said, “In our magical seventh year, the Billy the Kid Film Festival feels the confidence of a long-standing festival. We are ecstatic to bring the best of Texas filmmakers as well as daring films from all over the world. We’ve truly developed a filmmaker family here in Hico.”

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Movie Review

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma gives horror a surreal twist

Photo courtesy of MUBI

Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson in Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.

The horror genre really ramped up in the 1970s and ‘80s, bringing with it a new subgenre - the slasher - that gave audiences new visuals of gore, but also a reliance on sexism and homophobia that would come to define the era. The new film Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma wrestles with that legacy in ways that are funny, thought-provoking, and downright strange.

Kris (Hannah Einbinder) is a queer filmmaker who has been hired to reboot the moldy IP that is the Camp Miasma franchise, one that was fresh in the 1970s but which numerous shlocky sequels have rendered irrelevant. In an attempt to get to know the property better, Kris has scored a meeting with the reclusive Billy (Gillian Anderson), the star of the original film who has shunned the public eye for decades.

Turns out that Billy lives deep in the woods at Camp Rivoli, which served as the location for the first film. As Kris tries to get to know Billy and convince her to be a part of the new film, she starts to fall under Billy’s spell and the lore of the franchise as a whole. That includes believing that the movie’s villain, Little Death - a transgender person who has an air conditioning vent as a head/mask - may not just be a character created for the movies.

Written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow), the film at first feels like it’s going to go the straight-up comedy route, with comic explosions of blood, a strange fascination with candy brands, and a production design that does nothing to hide that the two main actors are on a movie set with painted backdrops. This is backed up by Kris’ phone conversations with her girlfriend, Mari (Jasmine Savoy Brown) and her agent (Sarah Sherman), as well as numerous other details.

But the film starts to go down the surreal route the longer Kris stays at the camp with Billy, especially when they sit down to watch the original Camp Miasma. An extended sequence shows a good amount of that film-within-the-film, demonstrating why Kris and Billy have a love/hate relationship with the property. For Kris, though, the lines between the film and the real world start to blur, and Schoenbrun uses a variety of out-there elements to drive the point home.

The final act of the film can barely be described as Kris goes deeper down the rabbit hole, with Schoenbrun using her film to comment on the horror genre as a whole, its treatment of women and LGBT people, the movie industry, and more. All the while the “camp” of Camp Miasma maintains a presence, with candy wrappers showing up everywhere and the tongue-in-cheek references to Little Death (the French term La petite mort, which means “the little death,” is a euphemism for orgasm).

Einbinder, an Emmy winner for Hacks, is the perfect person to inhabit her role. Her established real-life and fictional personas color everything she does in the film, with her enthusiasm and curiosity shining through. Anderson leans heavily into another reference - Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard - to create a character that is as mysterious as she is alluring. Supporting actors like Brown, Sherman, Patrick Fischler, Dylan Baker, and Eva Victor keep the movie at the right pitch all the way through.

While other films have made fun of horror movie tropes before, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma finds a wholly unique way of doing so. It’s a funny and daring trip into the psyches of two women who may be victims of their own obsessions, and of the movies that made them that way.

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Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is now playing in select theaters

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