Hallowed Ground
El Paso
El Paso Museum of Art Museums and Cultural Affairs Staff
El Paso The organizers of the Día de los Muertos Festival would like to clarify a few points. For starters, the holiday, which has Aztec roots, is not a morbid or sad occasion. Nor is it the Mexican version of Halloween; you won’t find any witches or goblins here. No, the Day of the Dead is a joyful commemoration of deceased friends and relatives that offers a chance to connect with long-gone ancestors (as well as rot your teeth nibbling on sugar skulls). For celebrants, death is not the end of one’s existence but the beginning of a new stage of life. And so they party accordingly. The festivities will start with Thursday night’s Culture Cruise, which will take visitors on a tour of local museums and galleries (many will serve hot chocolate and traditional pan de muerto). On Friday, revelers are invited to set up elaborate altars in Union Plaza to remember the departed (the memorials will be decorated with bright flowers, sweet treats, and other ofrendas, which can be purchased from vendors at the Bones Market). Later that evening, a funeral procession that’s anything but morose will snake through the streets of downtown led by actors from a local theater group who will be dressed in traditional skeleton costumes and as mojigangas, giant dancing papier-mâché puppets. And Saturday has even more in store with storytelling and theatrical performances for the kids, plus an exhibit on the use of skulls in Mexican art at the public library downtown. Nov 1—3. Various locations, 915-541-4481, elpasotexas.gov/mcad/dia/
Book Smarts
Austin It may not be as hyped as some of the Capital City’s other annual gatherings (South by Southwest, the Austin City Limits Music Festival), but the Texas Book Festival might be the most consistently impressive. As you skim through the long list of authors slated to appear at this year’s event, you realize that—cliché though it may be—there is something for everyone. The opening gala alone proves this, with featured guests Marlee Matlin (the Oscar winner has just published her third novel for children), Roy Blount Jr. (if you want to read side-splitting essays on all things Southern, pick up his latest), and Douglas Brinkley (the best-selling historian just came out with his account of Hurricane Katrina). Also in the lineup: Dagoberto Gilb and Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, who will be receiving Bookend Awards for their contributions to Texas lit; famous daughters Jenna Bush and Kristin Gore, who will be touting their new books; biographers Robert Draper and David Talbot, who’ve written about George W. Bush and the Kennedy brothers, respectively; and cookbook authors Paula Disbrowe and Robb Walsh, who’ll face off in the Cast Iron Cookoff. (Head to the official Web site to see the full list of participants.) The event has hit the $2 million mark in grants donated to the state’s public libraries and drew upward of 40,000 readers last year. As festivals go, this one holds its own. Nov 1—4. Capitol building and grounds, 11th & Colorado; 512-477-4055; texasbookfestival.org
World Vision
Fort Worth In 1998 Cowtown presented its own homage to the silver screen with the Fort Worth Film Festival, but the event was saddled with money trouble, never attracted more than two hundred attendees, and finally sunk in 2002. Now, not content to stand by and let Dallas have all the fun (the AFI Dallas International Film Festival was launched to great fanfare in March), the city is ready to try again with this month’s inaugural Lone Star International Film Festival. Given Fort Worth’s size (it’s the fifth-largest city in the state) and positioning as a cultural mecca (the museum corridor draws art snobs from all over), the common chorus seems to be “It’s about time.” So how will the LSIFF stand out from its peers? “We’ve made international selections our centerpiece and not just a sidebar,” says managing director Pete Asplund, explaining the LSIFF’s partnership with Fort Worth Sister Cities, a nonprofit that links locals with their global counterparts. Three countries in particular—India, Israel, and Hungary (Budapest is one of Fort Worth’s seven sister cities, six of which have submitted films)—will be highlighted this year, so expect to see top offerings from each as well as special guests. Organizers are anticipating some five thousand to six thousand cinephiles to attend screenings of more than sixty shorts and features of all genres, which will be shown primarily at the two AMC theaters downtown (there will also be a free outdoor screening in Sundance Square). Two local-boys-gone-Hollywood are behind the efforts. Tom Huckabee, the LSIFF’s artistic director, has been an industry insider—he’s worked as a writer, director, producer, and script consultant (often uncredited) on countless projects—for the past 25 years; his reputation, not to mention his impressive Rolodex, should help establish the festival’s street cred. Huckabee’s longtime best friend, actor Bill Paxton, is already putting more than just his name into this endeavor. The Fort Worth native has been doing his part to generate buzz for the LSIFF, chatting it up at benefit parties, proposing a commemorative poster series, and acting as the chairman of the advisory board. (“If my movie-business identity can help this film festival get started, then I’m glad to have a hand in it,” he told the Fort Worth Business Press in September.) As for more star power, actress Janine Turner (yet another Metro-plex-reared celeb) kicked off the media blitz at the LSIFF’s first press conference, and Martin Sheen is slated to appear to receive a lifetime achievement award (he has also handpicked a couple of his flicks for the occasion: this summer’s Talk to Me, starring Don Cheadle, and Da, a 1988 drama). Nov 7—11. Sundance Square, 817-735-1117, lsiff.com
My Library
