Now in its 12th year, Film Comment Selects has become the hipper alternative to the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s headliners, the New York Film Festival and New Directors/ New Films.

Showing films yet to be seen in New York -- although some have distributors and will open--Film Comment Selects has also expanded to include films forgotten or deemed worthy of rediscovery.

The Dallas Int’l Film Festival 2012 will take place on April 12^th – 22^nd in its titular Texas neighborhood as it showcases some of the finest new films to be released around the globe, including 2 world premieres and 9 Texas premieres. Approximately 180 films from all over the world will be screened over 11 days.

For the first year since the festival’s inception there will be a Festival Village at the fashionable Mockingbird Station.  The Festival Village will serve as the hub of the festival where filmmakers and film fans will have the chance to mingle and network at the Festival Lounge, and CBS Radio will present its first ever Music Lounge - showcasing local music to the public every evening for the festival’s eleven-day duration.  Only a few steps from Mockingbird Station, Kimpton’s luxurious Hotel Palomar will conveniently offer a stylish retreat for the out-of-town filmmakers and visiting celebrities as the festival’s host hotel.

Legendary Disney animator, director, author and illustrator Glen Keane, best known for his work on modern classics such as Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, The Little Mermaid and Tangled, will be awarded the highly coveted Texas Avery Animation Award presented by Reel FX. Keane has previously received the prestigious Winsor McCay Award for lifetime achievement in animation.

Among the other festival highlights include Lawrence Kasdan’s return to directing after nearly 10 years on hiatus with two new films. The first, The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best, revolves around a singer-songwriter as he hits the road with a self-appointed music revolutionary.  The stellar cast includes Ryan O’ Nan, Michael Weston, Arielle Kebbel, Andrew McCarthy, Jason Ritter, Wilmer Valderrama, Christoper McDonald and Melissa Leo. The second, Luv, starring Common, Michael K. Williams, Danny Glover, Meagan Good and Charles S. Dutton, covers the course of one day, a shy 13-year-old forms a bond with his troubled uncle as he shows the boy what it takes to be a man in Baltimore. Both critically-acclaimed award winners, these films are sure to impress.

Horror genre fans will be thrilled as the director of The Grudge films, Takashi Shimizu headlines the festival’s Midnight category and makes a special apperance at the screening his latest film, Tormented, the tale of a young boy whose family seems to be unraveling around him and finds release in manifesting a dangerous friendship with a stuffed toy rabbit that comes to life. A once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet one of the horror genre’s greatest modern icons.

Other features scheduled to screen include America’s Parking Lot, a comedy about two die-hard fans and leaders of the legendary 'Gate 6' tailgate party as they spend spend their last season with the Dallas Cowboys at historic Texas Stadium. When the Cowboys move 20 miles west to Arlington, the shifting politics and economics of major league sports threaten to dissolve the friendships and traditions they have built over 20 years and they scramble to preserve their place in America’s Parking Lot. Bindlestiffs , follows the journey of three high school virgins, suspended from school on a bogus graffiti charge, as they flee to the inner city in an attempt to live out the plot of The Catcher in the Rye - a book they neither have read nor understand.  Sironia, starring Wes Cunningham, Amy Acker, Tony Hale, Jeremy Sisto, Courtney Ford, Carrie Preston and Robyn Lively, presents the simple story of a singer-songwriter beat up by the L.A. music machine who moves with his wife to the quiet town of Sironia, Texas – quiet, that is, until he arrives..  Darling Companion, with an outstanding cast that includes Diane Keaton, Kevin Kline, Richard Jenkins, Dianne Wiest and Elisabeth Moss is the story of a woman who loves her dog more than her husband… and then her husband loses the dog.

Several fantastic documentaries are set to be screened over the course of the festival. The Atomic States of America, featuring an appearance by Alec Baldwin, will also be featured in the Environmental Visions Competition. Following the 2011 9.0 magnitude earthquake which hit Japan and caused chaos at the Fukushima Power Plant, the film displays the fierce debate over the safety and viability of nuclear power as it takes viewers on a journey to reactor communities around the country, exposing the truths and myths of nuclear power, and poses the question of whether or not man can responsibly split the atom. Biba! One Island, 879 Votes follows the rallies and debates of Trenton Conner and Henry San Nicolas in their battle for control over the Pacific island, Tinian. Along the way we learn about Tinian's historic and geopolitical significance, being the launch point for the Enola Gay in World War II and presently the home of the Voice of America broadcasting towers, sending pro-democracy propaganda into China and North Korea. Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare exposes the perverse nature of American healthcare, contrasting the powerful forces opposing change with the compelling stories of pioneering leaders and the patients they seek to help. The film is about finding a way out, about saving the health of a nation.  Andrew Bird: Fever Year, filmed during culminating months of the acclaimed singer-songwriter's most rigorous year of touring, watches as Andrew Bird crosses the December finish line in his hometown of Chicago - feverish and on crutches from an onstage injury. Fever Year is the first to capture Bird's precarious multi-instrumental looping technique and features live performances at Milwaukee's Pabst Theater with collaborators Martin Dosh, Jeremy Ylvisaker, Michael Lewis and Annie Clark of St. Vincent. Marking their third appearance at DIFF are filmmaking tandem Ashley Sabin and David Redmon as they go behind the scenes of the Japanese and Siberian modeling industry and uncover the unsettling truth in their latest work, Girl Model.

The festival will culminate with the Dallas Film Society Honors on April 20, an evening of tributes with Dallas Star Award honorees and filmmaker award winners at the Hotel Palomar. Along with the cash prizes from Whole Foods and The Embrey Family Foundation, TXU Energy will award grants to the winning schools and student filmmakers for the Student Light Up the Red Carpet Film Contest.  Other Grand Jury Prize awards will be presented to the best narrative feature, documentary feature, Texas Competition, Short Film, Student Short Film and Animated Short Film presented by REEL FX Entertainment.

Passes range from $100 for a Festival Lounge Pass to $750 for an all-access Star Pass.  Tickets go on sale at the Prekindle Box Office and online to the public on March 22. The Prekindle Box Office will be featured as part of the Festival Village at Mockingbird Station. For further information visit: Dallasfilm.org or call 214.720.0555.

Dallas Int’l Film Festival
April 12-22, 2012

Mockingbird Station
5321 E Mockingbird Lane
Dallas, TX 75206

ABOUT THE DALLAS FILM SOCIETY
The Dallas Film Society celebrates films and their impact on society.  A 501(c)3 non-profit organization, the Dallas Film Society recognizes and honors filmmakers for their achievements in enhancing the creative community, provides educational programs to students to develop better understanding of the role of film in today's world, and promotes the City of Dallas and its commitment to the art of filmmaking. The annual Dallas International Film Festival, scheduled for April 12 – 22, 2012, is a presentation of the Dallas Film Society. In addition to producing one of the largest festivals in the Southwest, the Society produces numerous year round events, screening series and partnership programs with arts organizations around the city.  The offices of the Dallas Film Society are located at 3625 North Hall Street, Suite 740, Dallas, TX 75219. 

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