BY Andrea Torres | The Rider
Brownsville has a rich history as a film locale, with movies such as “La Banda del Carro Rojo” (1978) and “Back Roads” (1981) to “Endgame” (2015). This Saturday, it will be the site of a festival with about 100 movies from across the globe.
“A slew of films have been filmed here,” said Al Alder, a Brownsville International Film Festival boss. “We’re not the first but we’re definitely here to try to help enhance that and trying to, sort of, bring that attention back and say, ‘This is a really cool location, people. Filmmakers, take note, that this is a place worth looking at in the future of filmmaking.’”
Alder is one of four members who created BIFF, a collaborative project bringing filmmakers, artists, musicians, film buffs and students together to promote film and arts in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, according to its website.
“It’s definitely worth noting that this is not the very first film festival that’s happened down here. In fact, there’s another film festival, CineSol, that’s worth bringing up,” Alder said. “They started that because there is a very rich film history in the Rio Grande Valley.”
BIFF will host its first festival Saturday, when it will screen between 10 and 15 hours of movies from around the world.
Filmmakers had until Oct. 2 to submit documentaries, narratives and movie trailers online.
A total of 2,300 films, ranging between two minutes and two hours, were submitted to BIFF and were reviewed by 14 volunteers, said BIFF boss Catheline Froehlich, a UTRGV research associate in the School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences.
“The baseline criteria, like Catheline said, we looked at things like aspects, like plotline, storytelling, character development,” Alder said. “Ultimately, what we told our volunteers is ‘Do you want other people to see this film?’”
The volunteers have narrowed the list to 100 films and BIFF decided on a variety of films, including two from Valley filmmakers.
“Acting 101,” filmed by Rene Rhi, is 25 minutes long and will be screened at 7 p.m. in the Half Moon Saloon, located at 1101 E. Adams St. Afterward, “The Opossum Begins” by Rick Medina will be screened. Medina’s film is 20 minutes long.
Movies will start screening at 4 p.m. in El Hueso de Fraile, located at 837 E. Elizabeth St. and The Kraken Lounge, 1123 E. Adams St., Suite C.
Winners of various pre-screening and audience-judged categories will receive trophies, which UTRGV ceramics students created in the Advanced Ceramics course taught by Art Lecturer Stephen Hawks.
BIFF is also collaborating with BAM, Brownsville Artists and Musicians, located at 1045 E. Washington St.
“They are going to hold an event that, sort of, mirrors our event, or really works with our event,” Alder said. “They’re going to be showing local films from around the area, specifically, and holding Q&A sessions with these filmmakers.”
To read the full BIFF and BAM schedule, visit www.bifftx.com/event-schedule.html.
