The Fort Worth Film Commission hosted its 16th annual Lone Star Film Festival from November 10 to November 12 in Downtown Fort Worth.
The festival shined bright on its opening night.
“A group of forward-thinking Fort Worthians thought it would be a great idea to bring film to Fort Worth,” said Director of the Lone Star Film Festival Chad Matthews, speaking to The Dallas Express.
“The idea was to not only bring great entertaining movies for the people of Fort Worth to watch, but also to entice filmmakers to make their movies here in Fort Worth,” Matthews explained.
The venues showcasing independent films are Downtown Cowtown at the ISIS Theater, Bob Schieffer College of Communications at TCU, the Cowboy Channel Studio, National Hall, and Artes De La Rosa.
Moviegoers will be able to purchase refreshments when they arrive.
The film lineup consists of three categories: documentary feature films, short films, and narrative feature films.
“Butcher’s Crossing” is a narrative feature film drama based on the novel written by John Williams and directed by Gabe Polsky, and produced by Molly Conners.
Conners has been a producer for nearly 18 years, started producing political commercials, and eventually worked her way over to making films.
She has produced hit films like “Triple 9,” “Joe” and “Plan A.”
“‘Butcher’s Crossing’ was a novel that I was attracted to and thought it would be an amazing story,” said Conners, speaking to The Dallas Express.
“Working with the Black Feet Tribe in Montana was amazing, and with their herd, I learned so much about livestock, and that’s what I love about producing. You learn something new every day,” Conners told The Dallas Express.
The film stars Nicholas Cage, Fred Hechinger, and Xander Berkeley, who has worked on over 250 projects such as the Walking Dead series, “Air Force One,” “Terminator 2,” and the thriller “Lockdown.”
When preparing for this role, Berkeley immersed himself in his character by adapting to what he learned from bringing food and helping the homeless.
“I thought about all the conversations I had with homeless people,” said Berkeley speaking to The Dallas Express.
“Over the years, I would bring food to certain people I felt was safe when I approached them. And they looked hungry and looked like they could use someone to talk to. I’ve just done that over the years for many years, and that has stayed with me,” Berkeley explained.
He plays a one-handed character, a longtime friend of Miller (Cage’s character), and explained to The Dallas Express that he had to learn to do things with a nub during the film.
“Learning how to drive a mule team with one hand and spending as much time as I could for two weeks along with learning how to cook with one hand and immersing myself in the reality of having one hand was very difficult,” said Berkeley.
Berkeley also explained to The Dallas Express that he does his own makeup and has done so for other cast members.
“Butcher’s Crossing” centers around an Ivy League drop-out as he travels to the Colorado wilderness, where he joins a team of buffalo hunters on a journey that puts his life and sanity at risk. Based on the highly acclaimed novel by John Williams.
“Butcher’s Crossing” will be released in 2023.
For more information on passes and tickets, click here.