WACO — The Deep in the Heart Film Festival announced the film and events lineup for its 7th edition, which will combine in-theater screenings July 20-23, followed by an online encore July 24-30. Deep in the Heart FF will kick things off with an Opening Night presentation of Dawn Mikkelson and Keri Pickett’s film festival sensation Finding Her Beat, and Anna Baumgarten’s decorated drama Disfluency will be the Closing Night selection. The festival will also present a special multi-media screening and performance of Greg Brownderville and Bart Weiss’ critically acclaimed Southern Gothic shaggy dog story Fire Bones, and a Friday Night Spotlight screening of Thaddeus D. Matula’s inspiring documentary Into the Spotlight.
With screenings at the historic Waco Hippodrome and Cultivate 7twelve, and a program divided into four categories: Crowd Pleasers, Deep Dives, Family Friendly, and For the Curious and Adventurous, the Deep in the Heart FF has once again worked to add more to the popular film festival’s screenings, events, and presentations to make it even more audience-friendly and easy to access and enjoy as they head to the movie theaters. The programming tracks were created to help audiences understand the tone of the films and make it easier for people to discover the movies that fit their tastes. The screening schedule will include 127 films (9 features, 106 shorts, 12 music videos), and 1 multi-media project).
Deep in the Heart FF co-founders and directors Samuel Thomas and Louis Hunter, said, “For this year’s edition of the film festival we are emphasizing what leads the way in every decision we make: Waco, independent, and film. We have added more feature films as we keep growing the film festival, but we will continue to focus on giving our filmmakers help with their development as artists, and work to encourage them to come back to town to shoot their next project here. Of course, we also enjoy having a reputation as a really fun film festival to attend whether you are a film fan or a filmmaker so all the favorites will return on that front as well.”
Opening Night ‘s Red Carpet Gala evening will feature Dawn Mikkelson and Keri Pickett’s Finding Her Beat, a certified hit on the regional festival circuit, screening coast-to-coast and leaving energized audiences in its wake over the course of the past year. The film follows the efforts of two women to assemble the world’s best female Taiko drummers in a bold effort to claim a cultural spotlight that has historically been reserved only for men. As the clock ticks toward their first performance, it becomes clear that their story has become much larger than Taiko. The screening will also include a live performance of Taiko drumming as part of the presentation.
Friday will feature two things that Deep in the Heart FF has made its name on: innovation and films that touch people personally. The afternoon will include a special stage and screen presentation with live music led by Dallas’ Greg Brownderville and Bart Weiss as they introduce audiences to their one-of-a-kind multi-media creation, Fire Bones. A whimsical Southern Gothic shaggy dog story told in ten chapters via multiple mediums including podcasts, short films, music videos, poems, and still images. Fire Bones follows a poet and filmmaker who meet one crazy character after another as they investigate the mystery of a missing pilot and Pentecostal preacher who vanished on a transatlantic flight. Created with smartphones in mind, the project includes podcasts, short films, music videos, poems, and still images.
Friday evening will be the Spotlight Feature screening of Thaddeus D. Matula’s Into the Spotlight. In the film, Matula follows a musical theatre program for young adults with disabilities as they prepared for their annual production at the Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas. The film is told from the perspective of the cast in the play as they share their challenges and triumphs through the 2021-22 season. The screening is co-presented with the Texas Behavioral Health Network.
The Closing Night selection is Anna Baumgarten’s Disfluency, about the struggles of a brilliant young woman, who returns home to her family’s lake house as she tries to come to terms with the confusing drama that derailed her senior year in college. The film has received an impressive number of awards on the regional festival circuit, including the Capital City Film Festival, dead Center, Ouray FF, Oxford FF, and the Austin Film Festival.
Highlights among the additional independently made features coming to Waco include Johana Putnam’s mystery Shudderbugs about a woman, who returns to her childhood home when her mother suddenly passes. In place of familiar spaces and memories, she discovers unsettling mysteries, leading her to follow a scavenger hunt her mom had prepared for her upcoming birthday, while she wrestles with her own sanity. Additional indie documentaries include Zac Zlatic’s City Kids which follows the efforts of a couple who has dedicated the past 30 years to changing the lives of inner city kids from San Antonio, and Alexander Jeffery’s You Have No Idea, which tells the extraordinary story of Evan James. When he was diagnosed with Autism in the early 90s, treatment options were limited. However, his mother Beth set out to provide her son with a life filled with purpose and friendship, and the rest of their friends and family followed suit as they helped create a wonderful world for him to thrive in despite the challenges.
Jeffery’s short film Addie and the Lightning Bugs is also in the mix of Deep in the Heart FF’s always dynamic group of short film selections. The magical realism film focuses on a young girl who hatches a plan to stay put after her family anounces plans to move, aided by the mysterious lightning bugs in her backyard. Other highlights among the shorts are Dania Bdeir’s Warsha, about a crane operator in Beirut who is able to live out his secret passion and find freedom. The film is on the Academy Award Short List. Scott Lazer’s West by God, in which a West Virginia teenager goes on an awkward date with a local drug dealer where he shares a version of himself others don't see. Fidel Ruiz-Healy, and Tyler Walker’s Midnight Award winner Dead Enders follows a young gas-station clerk on the midnight shift who must fight for his life versus an ancient race of mind-controlling parasites are other shorts to look out for.
Short films and indie filmmaking in a real practical way will also be the focus of the “Mobile Movie Making” filmmaker panel hosted by Bart Weiss, Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, and co-creator of Fire Bones. The panel will discuss how cell phone in your pocket can be the key piece of equipment for your next film.
Once again, Deep in the Heart FF will present its Made Deep in the Heart Screenplay Grant. This grant is awarded to the winner of the film festival’s screenplay contest, and it provides a variety of elements for producing that screenplay in Waco including up to 4 nights of complimentary hotel stay provided by the Waco Convention and Visitors Bureau for pre-production scouting or during the production, up to $2,500 in rebates provided by the Deep in the Heart Film Festival, camera and lighting Packages courtesy and 5 hours of free filmmaking consultation courtesy of Vision Vehicle Studios. The Waco Trolley Filmmaker Shuttle also returns to make it easy for filmmakers to get to Waco. Filmmakers can catch a free ride from DFW Airport to Waco, with a return trip at the end of the festival. Another favorite coming back is the Waco Film Locations Tour, where the film festival takes visiting filmmakers around town and show what Waco has to offer. Representatives from the Texas Film Commission, the Texas Media Production Alliance, and the Waco Convention and Visitors Bureau all participate to talk about the benefits and opportunities found by filming in Texas.
Another thing Deep in the Heart FF is famous for is the film festival’s parties and the enthusiastic local embrace of the incoming filmmakers. Each night of the festival will conclude with an after-party where local attendees can enjoy a more casual connection with those visiting filmmakers. Each party will be hosted at locally owned Waco hot spots including Brotherwell Brewing, Southern Roots Brewing, and Stay Classy Waco. Those parties will include the film festival’s famous party game night, a campfire themed event, and a bronco bull riding machine.
Ticket Information
To purchase passes and tickets and to find more information on the Deep in the Heart Film Festival, please go to: https://www.deepintheheartff.com/.
About Deep in the Heart Film Festival
Consistently ranking in Film Freeway’s Top 100 Best Reviewed Festivals in the World, Deep in the Heart Film Festival (DitHFF) brings our Central Texas community together through independent film. Established in 2017, we engage audiences with films from major festivals and Texas talent. We build networks and careers through our industry education and promotion. Add in some chips & salsa with our own DitHFF magic, and we create one of the most unique experiences on the festival circuit. For more information visitwww.deepintheheartff.com, and follow us on Facebook.com and Instagram.com
Click on the link to view a full gallery of pictures from last years film festival.
2022 Deep in the Heart Film Festival
A full list of the 2023 Deep in the Heart Film Festival official selections can be found here.
25 News is proud to return as a partner for the festival this year. Each year the festival has grown and shown that it makes a big impact on the Central Texas community. In it's seventh year, we are excited to see all of the changes that they have coming up for the festival and organization.
