The 21st Annual Dallas Video Festival will be showcased at Anglika Film Center in Mockingbird Station. The 4 day festival will feature “cutting-edge, fiercely independent work by local, regional, national and international video artists…. Programs range from imaginative 30-second television commercials to mesmerizing video art, compelling documentaries, surrealistic animation, innovative digital features, and narrative shorts that surprise, inspire and entertain.”

Film Festivals can be eye-opening and also overwhelming if you have never been to one. With a couple hours of research I went through the schedule of films and created one for my own. I have no intention to go to the entire festival and see every film on schedule. By creating a personal schedule based on my interest and curiosity is how I prepare and arrive at the fest -  attending like the filmgoer I am and the expert I am not.

Day passes are available for purchase – Thursday, Friday and Saturday priced at $25 and Sunday pass is $35. “All Fest” passes are available for purchase price of $75. No per film passes.

Listed below are films I have flagged for the DVF:

Thursday, November 6th:
8:30pm – German Music Videos (Category: Music Videos, Run Time: 60min) – A quirky collection of innovative and pristinely produced music video courtesy of the Goethe Institute.

10:30pm – Copyright & Creativity in the Digital Age (Category: Documentary, Run Time: 42min) – Copyright & Creativity in the Digital Age’ explores the impact that increasingly restrictive copyright laws are having on fair use and the creation of culture–specifically the creative process of visual artists, musicians, DJs, and documentary filmmakers.

Friday, November 7th: None

Saturday, November 8th:
12:00pm – Joe Mover (Category: Shorts, Run Time: 15min) – HBO’s hit television series’ “Entourage”& ‘The Wire’, Paul Ben Victor, stars in this working class drama based on a true story. Joe is a should-be-retired-blue-collar everyman whose story unfolds in the disintegrating world of an industrial complex on Long Island. Working amidst a group of blue-collar oddballs, in a harsh reality where a better life never seems to be within their reach, one day, Joe twists off a cap from a bottle of soda and wins a chance to fulfill a life-long childhood dream.

10:00pm – Shorts After Dark (Category: Shorts Compilation, Run Time: 90min) – This collection of adult-oriented shorts is sure to provoke and entertain.

Sunday, November 9th:
1:30pm – La Couleur d’Argent (Category: Documentary, Run Time: NA) – The 2008 presidential race will be the most expensive election in U.S. history. Over 2 billion dollars could be spent campaigning before the November vote. Candidates have had to dish out colossal sums just to stay in the race for the White House. And the entire country has gotten caught up in the race, from your average everyday American to the most powerful figures in the U.S. The country’s special interest groups are gearing up for battle, from Hollywood players to Wall Street financiers to Texas oil tycoons…. Our film will take a close-up look at this underground battle: a struggle between the American people, who want to chose their own president, and U.S. corporate groups, whose special interests often clash with those of ordinary citizens.

2:45pm – Not Enough Night (Category: Experimental Short, Run Time: 8min) – The Longmont Colorado gas station that Jack Kerouac wrote about in ‘On the Road’ was moved twice to protect it from certain destruction. Our present day bulldozes the past to make room for quaint condominiums and homes that pretend to be part of an American yesteryear of cottages and town squares…. This tape commemorates the passing of the fiftieth year since the publication of ‘On the Road.’

6:45pm – The Joys of Womanhood (Category: Shorts Compilation, Run Time: NA) – An ironically titled, yet excellent, compilation of shorts dealing with the varied cultural peculiarities imposed on women. Sponsored by Women in Film Dallas.

6:45pm – Streetcar Named Perspire (Category: Shorts Animated, Run Time: 7min) – A roller coaster ride through an important phase in a woman’s life. Made with Flash Pro 8.

8:15pm – Poltron Y Perezoso (Category: Experimental Short) – Adam’s monotonous and lazy lifestyle sucks the humanity out of him, while his couch sheds her comfortable shackles and becomes a woman.

8:45pm – The Texas Show (Category: Shorts Compilation, Run Time: 5min) – The annual Texas Show is a sampling of the finest shorts the Lone Star State has to offer over a broad spectrum of genres and styles. This year’s showcase was juried by Ya’ke, Austin-Based filmmaker and educator, James Johnston, underground filmmaker and reknowned Vegan Chef, and A.C. Abbott festival director, filmmaker and educator.

10:30pm – The Perfect Cappucino (Category: Documentary, Run Time: 89min) – In recent years, though, I’ve been suffering from anxiety. It’s an anxiety over the fact that American coffee culture is so utterly dominated by Starbucks…. THE PERFECT CAPPUCCINO is a personal documentary that traces my attempt to understand my Starbucks anxiety – where it comes from and what it means. It’s an attempt that has comprised a five year-long journey, all over the U.S. and Italy, across the paths of baristas and coffee geeks, cultural critics and business leaders, raising more questions than it has answered.