Dallas International Film Festival Turns 20 | James Faust, Katie Schuck, Austin Flores

The Dallas International Film Festival is turning 20, and Jeff Crilley brings three of the people running it into the studio to talk about what's in store this year — and where Dallas filmmaking is headed. James Faust, the festival's Artistic Director, has been involved since the beginning. He recounts the early days of partnering with AFI and rattles off a guest list that includes Robert De Niro, Charlize Theron, Jeremy Renner (who showed up with The Hurt Locker before anyone knew it was an Oscar film), and Adrian Brody. Dallas Film Commissioner Katie Schuck explains how Texas's newly funded incentive program and the Taylor Sheridan effect have turned DFW into the state's top production hub. Creative Director Austin Flores breaks down this year's industry conference, featuring keynotes from Warner Brothers co-chair Michael DeLuca and Sing Sing director Greg Kwedar, plus 11 panels on producing, funding, documentary filmmaking, and more. The group also gets into the AI question head-on — where it might help with color correction or sound sweetening, and where it crosses a line into replacing real people on set. James shares a specific example of a Swedish film that used AI to clone actors' voices for an English dub, and why that felt like a step too far. This year's festival screens 100+ films from around the world at Cinematopolis and the Texas Theater, with the conference hosted at the Virgin Hotels Dallas. Opening night features The Last Shot with Jaime Pressly, Baron Davis, and Dallas native Johnny Simmons. diffdallas.org