The Dallas VideoFest has commenced its culminating event week after entertaining and giving love to the Dallas community for 3 decades according to a DMagazine article from September 30,
“Last night, VideoFest kicked off the beginning of the end with an event suited to the outsized role the festival has played in the Dallas film community over the past 35 years.
The night presented three core elements of VideoFest’s programmatic DNA: an appreciation for the history and evolution of visual media; an ambition for creating new ways of experiencing visual art; and a mission to nurture and celebrate Dallas’ artistic community. It was a bittersweet evening. After this weekend’s slate of documentaries, VideoFest’s long run as the city’s most ambitious and exciting film festival will come to an end.”
Prior to the culminating night showed-off different videos and films, it was already known to many that this year would be the final strand of the visionary VideoFest according to a Dallas Observer article from September 28 which reported,
“Bart Weiss, the founder of Dallas VideoFest, announced over the summer that the 34th annual media festival would be the last. He said he felt it was time to retire the annual film gathering because of the changing landscape of media and availability of independent TV and cinema since the first VideoFest in 1986.
“A lot of what we set out to do was seeing things that are beyond the margin, just going beyond the first six pages on Netflix to find something more interesting,” Weiss says. “Right now on Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu, and certainly on the Criterion Channel, are things that we would’ve been interesting in showing or things we have shown.”
Details regarding the event were provided in a Dallas Morning News article from September 29 which reported,
“DocuFest runs Sept. 29-Oct. 3 at Texas Theatre, the Angelika and the Forum Country Club in Richardson. Passes, $20-$70. Tickets to individual screenings, $10-$15.”
While it is indeed sad to see the Dallas VideoFest say goodbye to the community, we should remember the entertainment and joy it brought to us for 35 years. Not only did it change the way we saw films but it also helped bring different and independent works that helped artists and directors alike to express their passion and talent.
