Every year we put on the Houston Film Commission’s Texas Filmmakers Showcase presenting some of the best short films from the state of Texas. Because we have to limit the program to a two hour show, there are a lot of quality Texas-made short films that barely miss the cut. Join us at Dean's on Thursday June 1st for the short films that would make up “Hour #3” of the Texas Filmmakers Showcase 2006.
Every first Thursday of the month we will have a FREE screening of award-winning Texas-made short film entries from the Houston Film Commissions Texas Filmmakers Showcase or from other film festivals. The one hour-ish screenings will begin at 9PM at
Dean's Credit Clothing, 316 Main Street (between Preston & Congress). Come see some great films that you may never get to see again or to just talk film in the comfort of the hippest venue downtown. If you can't make it, do the right thing and tell a film making friend. Films subject to change. For more information call 713-437-5249 or e-mail.
June first Thursday Partners: Aurora Picture Show |Homestead Studio Suites | Allied Vaughn | Only In Houston
Past first Thursdays: May 4 |April 6 | March 2 | February 2 | January 5
June 1, 2006 @ 9PM: 6 Films = 61 minutes. Always FREE Admission! 
Behind The Veil (11:18 min., 2005)
A mockumentary about a famous horror movie director's death and his son being called in to finish his father's last film.
- Adam White and Jack Cornett - Houston, Texas
Adam White and Jack Cornett met in the late 90's while attending the University of Houston. Both were in the school's television and "film" program where their mutual disinterest in creating art led them to begin collaborating on their television and film projects. The pair quickly became known for their ability to add actual entertainment value to the projects they worked on, whether behind or in front of the camera, lleading them to working on more than a few certain-to-come-back-and-haunt-them productions during their time there. After graduation, Adam and Jack continued to work on short film projects whenever possible, many of which can be seen on atomfilms.com. In the Fall of 2003, the two entered Countdown Cinema in which teams had to draw a random film genre from a hat and then write, shoot, and edit a film in 48 hours. Drawing on their experience of doing all their college video projects at the last possible minute, and enlisting the help of members of a comedy troupe they belonged to at the time, the team produced the musical comedy, "Fill Up the Boot." Their ridiculous tale of a group of friends hanging out at a bar trying to come up with a plan to spring their pal from jail won the Best Directing, Best Screenplay, and Best Soundtrack awards at the competition. The following year, Adam and Jack collaborated on "The Robot With the Freeze Ray From Outer Space," a 1950's Sci-Fi Comedy. The film, directed by Adam, won top honors at the 2004 Houston Halloween Film Festival. In the Summer of 2005, another 48 hour film competition came to town. Oddly enough, it was called the "48 Hour Film Project," and Adam and Jack immediately entered. Teaming up with a more refined cast and a crack production team, they went on to make a mockumentary entitled "Behind the Veil: The Unmaking of the Veil." The film went on to win Best Film, Best Directing, Best Acting, Best Visual Effects, Best Graphics, Best Use of Line of Dialogue, Audience Choice Award. They submitted a longer version of the film to the 2005 Houston Halloween Film Festival and took top honors there as well. Adam White and Jack Cornett are currently working on a sketch comedy program entitled "The Frown Machine" and both reside in Houston with vacation homes in Badassylvania.
Pan De Vida (15:00 min., 2005)
A documentary that gives us a glimpse into the cultural, artistic, and spiritual life of the Day of Dead and how the artists and panaderos (bakers) interpret this tradition. Commissioned by the Blue Star Contemporary Arts Center, San Antonio, and curated by Andy Benavidez.
- Guillermina Zabala and Laura Varela - San Antonio, Texas
Guillermina Zabala, currently the Media Arts Director at San Antonio's SAY S’ program, served as Curator of the 28th Annual CineFestival en San Antonio, recently exhibited the video installation Progress at the Esperanza Center, the video installation True or False: Video Altar Dedicated to the Muertos of the Iraq War and the documentary Pan de Vida: Bread of Life, both at the Blue Star Contemporary Arts Center. Her short film The Hot Room premiered at the 2000 Showtime Latino Filmmakers Showcase. As an editor she has worked on numerous TV shows, music videos and documentaries that have been screened at the 2005 Beverly Hills Film festival, the 2006 Albuquerque's Sin Fronteras Film Festivaland, and won the KordaVision Best Documentary award at the 2004 San Francisco Latino Film Festival. She was editor on the Bolivian feature film The Most Beautiful of My Very Best Years which premiered at the 2005 American Film Institute Film Festival and won Best First Feature Film at the 2006 Guadalajara Film Festival. Guillermina is currently in production on Blacklisted, a documentary about the late Argentine actor Luis Politti whose acting career was cut short due to a tragic political exile, and in pre-production on the feature The White Room, a film about three women who reflect on materialism and their spiritual void after their friend is missing. Guillermina, who has directed many narrative shorts, documentary shorts, and music videos, holds a Bachelor's degree in Cinema from Columbia College-Hollywood.
Laura Varela, originally from El Paso, is a San Antonio-based filmmaker and media artist whose projects are community-based and focus on issues of social justice and cultural preservation. She will be attending the CPB/PBS Producers Academy at WGBH in Boston; She is a 2003 alumni of the NALIP/UCLA Latino Producers Academy and received her bachelor's degree from the University
of Texas at Austin in Radio/TV/Film. Her project As Long as I Remember: American Veteranos was a recipient of the Humanities
Texas Media Arts Grant and was selected for funding by Latino Public Broadcasting's Open Call 2005. In 2004 she co-produced Texas Majority Minority for the Voting in America Project. In 2002 she was Associate Producer of A Slight Discomfort: Echoes from the Clinic which won the Premio Mesquite Award for Best Experimental Work at the San Antonio CineFestival and most recently screened at the Peter Norton Symphony Space in New York as part of the Women of Color Film Festival. Since 1994 her projects have been screened in several venues throughout the nation including The Chicago Latino Film Festival, The Dallas Video Festival, and SXSW. She is the Director of Programming for the San Antonio Chapter of NALIP (National Association of Latino Independent Producers) and just completed here second year as a Media Arts Panelist for the Texas Commission on the Arts.
Road Does Not End (7:00 min., 2005)
A conversation with eccentric artist Stanley Marsh III. Marsh discusses some of his work, including the world famous "Cadillac Ranch", and shares his thoughts on art in general.
- Todd Kent - Crandall, Texas
Todd Kent received his Bachelor's Degree in Radio/Television/Film from the University of North Texas where he specialized in television production and documentary field production. Since then he has worked on a variety of TV projects like American Music, Weekend Welder and North Texas Explorer. Kent's documentary work has included producing and directing award winning short films such as Solid Waste: Out of Sight, Out of Mind (co-produced with Scott Harris), Fast Food, ToadSpotting: The Legend of Old Rip and RockHounds: The Movie. His films have been exhibited on television and at film festivals across the country.
Sons of the Rodeo (13:30 min., 2005)
Sons of the Rodeo is a rite of passage film about a small town Texas boy who gains independence from his domineering older brother at a futuristic rodeo.
- Matheson Muir - Austin, Texas
Matheson G. Muir started his career as a commercial producer/director and later worked for renowned artist and art patron Stanley Marsh III who is part of the art collective, The Dynamite Museum. Matheson holds a Masters of Fine Arts degree in film production from the University of Texas in Austin, where he currently resides.
Tadpoles (7:40 min., 2005)
A gunshot suddenly interrupts a young boy's tranquil day in the woods. Curious, he investigates and stumbles upon a strange pit in a small clearing guarded by an armed soldier. The boy hides, but the puzzling sounds of creaking hinges, crashing planks, and desperate gasps soon draw the boy into the clearing and into a discovery he'll never forget.
- Miguel Alvarez - Austin, Texas
Bio Coming Soon.
This is Keith Rolyat (7:00 min., 2004)
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