Updated 08/13/2012 09:54 AM
Lone Star Scene: Independent films find new life in statewide network
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The Fort Worth-made movie "Searching for Sonny" won't be showing at your everyday multiplex but it's coming soon to a theater in Texas near you, even if you live in Abilene, McAllen or Waco.
Those are some of the twenty-one towns included in the Texas Independent Film Network, which brings indie films to the big screen after the festival fanfare runs its course.
"What we try to do with every screening is have a special event feeling to it, a film festival like atmosphere and we achieve that through a couple of different ways. We try to bring the filmmakers to town whenever possible," co-founder Ryan Long said.
Four more films roll out during the fall season—all of them connected to Texas in some way, like "Sironia," an audience award winning drama about a failing singer-songwriter who relocates to a small Texas town.
"We want to tell great Texas stories. A lot of times those will be Texas directors involved. A lot of times, it might be a documentary that's about a Texas subject," Long said.
Another upcoming film, "America's Parking Lot," speaks to the heart of Dallas Cowboys fans who populate every corner of the state. That's one of the reasons the network spans so wide, including metropolitan areas and partnering with smaller film societies, independent theaters and universities not normally connected to specialty cinema.
"One of my favorites is in Llano. They actually began the Llano Film Society centered around these events and mayor and the projectionist are the same person," Long said.
The tour makes a stop in Austin next week with a screening of "Searching for Sonny" and filmmaker Andrew Disney in attendance at Violet Crown Cinema.
Details on the full schedule are at TexasIFN.com.
The Texas Independent Film Network is in its second year and is operated by the Austin Film Society.