Yahoo News Viva Texas Film Festival Plans First Edition
The film festival landscape is a space typically ruled by its entrenched titans from Venice, Cannes, Toronto to smaller ones such as Palm Springs, Savannah and Middleburg. While those festivals today easily attract world premieres from upcoming films and appearances from the world’s most decorated filmmakers and stars, they all had to work their way from the ground up.
Enter the Viva Texas Film Festival, which is set to launch its inaugural iteration on the weekend of Sept. 16. For three days, the city of Victoria, Texas, will take center stage for an extensive celebration of Spanish-language films, art, music and culture.
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Of the festival’s conception, founders Karissa Winters and Claire Santellana, along with Michael Dunaway — editor-at-large of Paste Magazine who joined the project to assist with connections, outreach and help establish its credibility — say their family-oriented teamwork allowed for the event to plan smoothly, more so than most first-year fests.
“We were told that the Texas Film Commission rarely ever connects to first-year festivals, but it was because of the powerhouse team of people we’ve had behind this,” Winters says. “They said that we had more done than most festivals they see, so it made us feel really good that all of our hard work had been noticed.”
They aim to translate all that into an immersive festival experience beyond sitting down and watching a lineup of curated films. Director Joshua Shultz will premiere his short “Americana,” which chronicles the plight of a grieving father. In line with the themes and visuals presented in the film, Dunaway says Shultz will bring a team of Harley motorcycle stuntmen to perform stunts throughout the streets of Victoria before opening night.
“That’s something that people will remember for a lot longer than they’ll remember going to a multiplex and seeing a movie,” Dunaway says of the planned stunt showcase. “We really wanted to create those unique experiences around the films.”
In addition to a planned Spanish-language-centered film lineup that includes recent festival favorites including “Our Father, the Devil” and “Dos Estaciones,” mixed in with classics such as “Desperado” and “Frida,” the festival will coincide with a popular local event called the Downtown Victoria Art Walk, which will spotlight works inspired by the subject figure of the Salma Hayak-starrer.
“She was one of the first well known female artists during her time period,” Santellana says. “For Hispanic culture, she has become a source of pride — she’s very iconic here in South Texas.”
Winters says it made sense to celebrate her work, especially with the Hayek-led biographical film’s 20th anniversary coming up in October. Sarah Green, a producer on the 2002 drama, is slated to attend the festival to celebrate the film’s anniversary.
The festival will present the El Classico Award award virtually to Green and actors Luis Guzman and Natalia Cordova-Bentley (all of whom will send acceptance videos), and in person to actors Vannessa Vasquez and Callie Hernandez. In addition, producer Antonia Bogdanovich, the daughter of Polly Platt and Peter Bogdanovich, will present the third Polly Platt Award for Producing to producer Elizabeth Avellan (former recipients include Lynda Obst and Green).
The trio hopes that their efforts will resonate with the local Victoria community enough to continue doing the festival for years to come.
“I want us to build trust with the audience that we’re going to bring them films that are well-done and interesting,” Dunaway says. “I want us to under-promise, but eventually overdeliver.”
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