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EarthX Film Festival Announcement

EARTHX FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES ITS 2022 PROGRAM LINEUP FEATURING OVER 75 FILMS

— BEN MASTERS’ FILM DEEP IN THE HEART NARRATED BY AWARD WINNER MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY WORLD PREMIERING ON OPENING NIGHT AT THE FEST —

Also Screening are Festival Favorites FIRE OF LOVE, WE FEED PEOPLE, and THE TERRITORY Along with Stories Unique to Texas

Curiosity Joins Festival as Presenting Sponsor

Dallas, TX (April 8, 2022) –  EarthX Film Festival 2022 presented by Curiosity unveiled its programming lineup today with over 75 feature-length and short films screening during its four-day run May 12-15. This year’s theme, “A Celebration of the Outdoors,” continues the Film Festival’s mission to highlight films and emerging media that celebrate nature and outdoor adventure stories exploring the environment, conservation, climate change, and science while honoring the heroes working to protect our planet. This year for the first time, the EarthX Film Festival will be held in the Dallas Arts District, providing easy walking for attendees to the five theater venues tapping into the vibrant downtown community and making it an exciting cultural touchstone for the city. Each night of the Film Festival will feature a musical act performing before a showcase screening.

Curiosity, a leading factual entertainment media company, has joined the festival as the Presenting Sponsor. Curiosity’s flagship streaming service, Curiosity Stream, delivers thousands of films, series, and shows on space, history, nature, tech, lifestyle and more, all on demand, available to watch on all the major streaming devices. They will also be presenting a screening of the Curiosity original film GOING CIRCULAR, exploring circularity, an innovative concept that could save our collective future on planet Earth.

“We’re thrilled to present films this year that showcase our amazing planet and the people dedicated to making a difference. It’s always been our vision to create a world-class event that celebrates the spirit of Texas and welcomes global citizens to experience the rich arts culture in Dallas,” said Michael Fletcher, CEO of EarthX. “We’re pleased to welcome Curiosity as our Presenting Sponsor. They share our vision in the power of storytelling to change the world, and we’re grateful for their continued support.”

Curiosity is thrilled to partner with EarthX to bring this incredible lineup of game-changing films to thousands of festival-goers both in person and virtually,” said Rob Burk, head of original content for Curiosity. “We know firsthand to resonate deeply with viewers, films must dive into our past and present and also explore solutions for the future, and we are proud to support the EarthX Film Festival mission to empower documentary fans to learn, enjoy, and take action.” 

For more information and tickets, go to: https://earthxfilmfestival.org/  or download the app available on iOS and Android.

OPENING SCREENING

This year’s Film Festival has something for everyone with 24 features and 54 shorts, music, art installations, panel discussions, and more. The festival’s opening night will be the world premiere of Ben Masters’ film DEEP IN THE HEART, narrated by Academy Award® Winner Matthew McConaughey. The first feature-length wildlife film ever produced about Texas, DEEP IN THE HEART, is a visually stunning celebration of what makes Texas unique — its diverse landscapes and remarkable wildlife behavior that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.  Filmed over two years, DEEP IN THE HEART showcases Texas’ breathtaking species and wild places, the connectivity of water and wildlife, and recognizes Texas’ conservation importance on a continental scale.

“Texas has one of the most diverse wildlife and ecosystems in the country. For Texans, this is a love letter to the diverse and vibrant state that we call home,” said Ben Masters, filmmaker. “We’re all interconnected, and it’s only by conserving what we have that we can ensure our future. I’m proud to bring DEEP IN THE HEART to the EarthX Film Festival.”

FESTIVAL FAVORITES COMING TO DALLAS

The Festival has programmed several festival darlings in the lineup, including Sara Dosa’s FIRE OF LOVE, WE FEED PEOPLE, directed by Ron Howard, THE TERRITORY (Sundance Audience Award winner), Lucy Walker’s BRING YOUR OWN BRIGADE, and Rachel Lears’ TO THE END.

This year’s Festival features a wide range of filmmakers, including award winners Jeff Orlowsky (CHASING ICE), Raj Patel & Zak Piper (THE ANTS AND THE GRASSHOPPER), young superstar Lindsey Hagen (CALIFORNIA NATURAL)  and several newcomers, includingtwo, second grade brothers making their first film with their father called LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE. The films cover a variety of important topics, from the healing experience for veterans through nature (ERIC AND THE BEES, BASTARDS’ ROAD), to female big wave surfing (BIG VS SMALL), and tiger poaching (TIGRE GENTE). Also screening are popular outdoor culture films REEL ROCK: BLACK ICE, The North Face’s award-winning film LEARNING TO DROWN, SPIRIT OF THE PEAKS from REI and Protect Our Winters, and MOUNTAIN REVELATIONS from Protect Our Winters.

LOCAL SPOTLIGHT – UNIQUELY TEXAS STORIES

This year’s festival turns a spotlight on Texas with DEEP IN THE HEART that addresses Texas conservation issues, BATTLE FOR THE HEART OF TEXAS that addresses property rights in energy production, WHEN IT’S GOOD, IT’S GOOD, focusing on oil-drilling communities in West Texas, and REI’s SLIM PICKINS about diversity in outdoor culture.

SHORT FILMS

Many of the Festival’s shorts are associated with well known brands and film companies including Patagonia’s RAISED FROM THE EARTH about living off the land, and THE MONSTER IN OUR CLOSET which focuses on the plastic in our fashion. The Redford Center is presenting two short films on mass transit, COMMUNITY POWER ARIZONA: EN NUESTRXS MANOS (IN OUR HANDS) and COMMUNITY POWER NEVADA: UNIDXS EN ACCION (UNITED IN ACTION).

You can find the entire EarthX Film Festival 2022 line-up here:  

FEATURE-LENGTH FILMS

  • Bastards’ Road, Director Brian Morrison
  • Battle for the Heart of Texas, Director John Brown
  • Before They Fall, Director Cam MacArthur
  • Big vs Small, Director Minna Dufton
  • REEL ROCK: Black Ice, Director Peter Mortimer, Zachary Barr
  • Bring Your Own Brigade, Director Lucy Walker
  • Chasing Ice, Director Jeff Orlowski
  • Coextinction, Director Gloria Pancrazi, Elena Jean
  • Deep in the Heart, Director Ben Masters
  • Ferngully: The Last Rainforest, Director Bill Kroyer
  • Fire of Love, Director Sara Dosa
  • Godspeed, Los Polacos!, Director Adam Nawrot
  • Going Circular, Director Ricard Dale, Nigel Walk
  • Inhabitants, Director Costas Boutsikaris, Anna Palmer
  • Learning to Drown, Director Ben Knight
  • Mountain Revelations, Director Justin Fann
  • Newtok, Director Michael Kirby, Andrew Burton
  • Spirit of the Peaks, Director Connor Ryan, Tim Kressin
  • The Ants and the Grasshopper, Director Raj Patel, Zak Piper
  • The Territory, Director Alex Pritz
  • Tigre Gente, Director Elizabeth Unger
  • To the End, Director Rachel Lears
  • We Feed People, Director Ron Howard
  • Zero Gravity, Director Thomas Verrette

SHORT FILMS

  • 80° North, Director Brandon Holmes
  • All Bodies on Bikes, Director Zeppelin Zeerip
  • American Scar, Director Daniel Lombroso
  • An Eye for Detail, Director Matthew Harmer
  • Bad Boy of Bonsai, Director Juan A. Moreno
  • Breaking Trail, Director Jesse Roesler
  • California Natural, Director Lindsey Hagen
  • Camp Yoshi, Director Faith E. Briggs
  • Chasing the Sublime, Director Amanda Bluglass
  • Community Power Arizona: En Nuestrxs Manos (In Our Hands), Director Pita Juarez
  • Community Power Nevada: Unidxs En Acción (United In Action), Director Nico Cadena
  • Eric and the Bees, Director Erin Brethauer, Tim Hussin
  • Finding Gulo, Director Colin Arisman
  • From My Window, Director Frank Pickell
  • Humanity Has Not Yet Failed, Director Norma V. Toraya, Jared P. Scott
  • I am One of the People, Director Cameron Woodle
  • If I Tell Them, Director Oliver Sutro
  • Kāhuli, Director Chris Jones
  • Life in the Slow Lane, Director Sol de Glanville, Ben de Glanville
  • Like a River, Director Jim Aikman
  • Listen to the Beat of our Images, Director Audrey Jean-Baptiste, Maxime Jean-Baptiste
  • Loon, Director Jason Whalen, Chris Zuker
  • Mission Mountain, Director Kody Kohlman, Andrew Bydlon
  • Mother of the Sea, Director Nicholas Brown
  • Mylo, Director Chris Bukard
  • No Soy Oscar, Director Jon Ayon
  • Nuisance Bear, Director Jack Weisman, Gabriela Osio Vanden
  • One Star Reviews: National Parks, Director Alex Massey
  • Patagonia Provisions: The Ocean Solution Film, Director Darcy Hennessey Turenne
  • Raised from the Earth, Director Forest Woodard
  • Rebirth of a Reef, Director Shaun Wolfe
  • Return to Earth, Director Darcy Wittenburg, Darren McCoullough, Colin Jones
  • Rockies Repeat, Director Caroline Hedin
  • Slim Pickins, Director Justin Jeffers
  • The Captain, Director Gregory Kohs
  • The Diamond, Director Caitlyn Greene
  • The Endless Wave, Director Tom Attwater
  • The Interconnectedness of all Living Things, Director Jenn den Broeder
  • The Land of Griffons, Director Riccardo Soriano
  • The Last Last Hike, Director Celene Francois
  • The Monster in Our Closet, Director Kathryn Bays, Nicole Gormley
  • The Seeds We Keep, Director Gabriel E.W. Carter
  • The Seeker, Director Lance Edmands
  • The Wilderness Within, Director Jason van Bruggen
  • They Carry Us With Them: Gabriel Frey, Director Jeremy Seifert
  • Thomas Deininger. Trash Artist., Director Gnarly Bay
  • To Live Here (sống ở đây), Director Melanie Dang Ho
  • Wastewater: The Tale of Two Cities, Director Sarah Franke
  • We Decided to Become Farmers, Director Rob Herring, Ryan Wirick
  • What Remains, Director Paavo Hanninen
  • When It Comes from the Earth, Director Katalin Egely
  • When it’s Good it’s Good, Director Alejandra Vasquez

ABOUT EARTHX FILM FESTIVAL 2022

The 2022 EarthX Film Festival is four days of film, music and interactive environmental programs and events set in the heart of Dallas Arts District, May 12-15. Our mission is to bring awareness of the environmental crisis in order to create sincere action on both an individual and communal scale; to inspire local and global change on how we as humans affect our home planet and our fellow beings. We aim to include Texas, and the Southwest, in the conversation on climate change through compassionate, positive, truthful storytelling.For more information, visit https://earthxfilmfestival.org

Fantastic Fest Reviews: “The True Adventures of Wolfboy” & “Homewrecker”

Martin Krejci’s “The True Adventures of Wolfboy”

The True Adventures of Wolf Boy

“The Adventures of Wolfboy features an all-star cast including Jaeden Martell, Chris Messina, and Chloe Sevigny. The film is about Paul (Martell), a young boy with Hypertrichosis – a disease that causes him to have hair all over him, making him look like a wolf. Paul is bullied and feels alone in this world, even though he has a supportive and loving father (Messina) who only wants to make Paul happy.

On Paul’s 13th birthday, he receives a mysterious gift from his estranged mother. He sneaks out of the house on a journey to find her, and hopes she has an explanation for his condition. In an attempt to make money, he stops at the local circus. He ends up gaining an enemy in Mr. Silk (John Turturro). While on the run, Paul eventually makes some new friends, including Aristiana (Sophie Giannamore). This adventure quickly turns into a wild ride.

The film is far from original, and it’s a pretty basic story. Luckily, there are one or two surprises in there that make up for its predictability. And even though the premise is familiar, “The True Adventures of Wolfboy” finds a sweet way to portray the message of self-acceptance.

Side note: This film’s soundtrack was the best of the fest!

Rating: 3.5/5

Zach Gayne’s “Homewrecker”

Homewrecker

Lifetime should pick up this movie right way. It is basically made for TV gold.

“Homewrecker” follows Michelle (Alex Essoe), a young woman who has clearly been stalked by a slightly older and unhinged Linda (Precious Chong). After a “chance encounter” at a cafe, Linda persuades Michelle to stop by her house for a business opportunity. What was supposed to be a quick visit, turns into a nightmare.

There are a lot of problems with this movie. The editing is questionable. Mainly the bath bomb transitions that throw off the flow of the film. The script is hardly original or good, and everyone besides the two leads are weak actors. At the same time, there’s a lot to like!

Essoe is a terrific actress; quite possibly too good for this movie. Chong does a fantastic job at playing a deranged stranger whose blank stares are enough to freak anyone out. It’s actually these two who make the film a pleasure. Watching these two go from one extreme to another is a lot of fun. Bouncing from a friendship, to jealousy, to hate, to sympathizing with one another, and the emotions go on.

This is honestly a ridiculous film and an avoidable situation. But somehow, Essoe and Chong make it work. So much so, that I didn’t want their madness to end. If you like the typical Lifetime movie formula, then you’ll enjoy the hell out of “Homewrecker”.

Rating: 3/5

Fantastic Fest Reviews: “First Love”, “The Golden Glove”, & “Butt Boy”

Takashi Miike’s “First Love”

First Love

Leo (Masataka Kubota) is a young boxer who lacks almost any kind of emotion, even when he wins a match. But when he discovers he doesn’t have much time left to live; an unexpected chain of events happens that involve drugs, the Yakuza, corrupt cops, and Monica- a female escort who is need of a hero. It’s a hell of night to say the least.

I’ll admit, this was my first Miike film and I was told this one was tame in comparison to his other movies like “Audition” and “13 Assassins”. However, “tame” isn’t the word I would use to describe this movie. It’s an action packed bone crushing, head cutting, blood fest!

Not only was I entertained by the graphic violence, but the screenplay is hilarious. The film is very self-aware of how comical this chaotic situation has gotten. It’s John Wick meets Guy Ritchie in Japan! I highly recommend this one.

Rating: 4/5

Faith Akin’s “The Golden Glove”

The Golden Glove

Oh man this movie was gross! I just have to start by saying, it’s been a while since a film made me physically gag, and I’m still not certain if that’s a good or bad thing. I guess I can say “The Golden Glove” is affective.

“The Golden Glove is about Fritz Honka (Jonas Dassler), the serial killer who murdered four elderly prostitutes in Germany during the 1970’s. Fritz isn’t the most appealing man to look at. He lives like a slob, and his murders are gruesome. There are many reasons why this film will have your stomachs churning. Beginning with the opening scene. Let’s just say it sets the tone perfectly for what you’re about to endure for the next two hours.

The film has already received a lot of backlash for being too vile, and unnecessarily disgusting. Though Honka’s actions are vile, how else would you have a film about this psychotic murder portrayed?

“The Golden Glove” will not be everyone’s cup of tea. It’s an unforgettable one and done for myself. I can’t say I enjoyed watching this film, but I’m pretty sure my reactions throughout the movie were probably what the filmmaker was going for. So in that sense, I can respect this movie.

Rating: 3/5

Tyler Cornack’s “Butt Boy”

Butt Boy

Yes, the title of the film “Butt Boy” insinuates what you’re probably thinking. This film is about a man, Chip (Tyler Cornack), who goes in for his first prostate examine and discovers he likes it more than he expected. Suddenly a little boy has gone missing, and the connection between the two instances will have you dumbfounded.

I hate to say that I was so disappointed in this film. The premise and the beginning had me sucked in, but the second half of the film went straight to shit (pun intended). The acting is mediocre. And though the plot is unique, it’s far too ridiculous to even enjoy.

With the right mind set, “Butt Boy” could appeal to a particular audience. Remind yourself that this is more of a sci-fi comedy, and maybe you’ll gain some entertainment value.

Rating: 2/5