Cannes. Park City, Utah. New York. Now Amarillo?
That’s what the starry-eyed organizers of the inaugural Amarillo International Film Festival are hoping for after its first batch of films screen in October.
The festival—which will feature 35 in-competition films, including narrative features, documentaries, shorts and student films—runs from Oct. 10 to 12 at Arts in the Sunset, 3701 Plains Blvd.
The event developed serendipitously, organizers say.
Sherman Bass, film commissioner of the Greater Amarillo Film Commission, first brought up the idea when he interviewed for his position in 2022. Around that same time, but separately, Amarillo native Kate McSwain returned to her hometown; after settling in, she started looking for a way to make a difference in town and decided what was missing was a festival. Then Bass got introduced to a third film fan, Joshua Shawn, who had suggested that a film section be added to the Hoodoo Mural Festival.
“It was going to happen no matter what,” Bass believes. “It just turned out to be really good timing with multiple people thinking that it’s time to have a juried film festival in Amarillo.”
Shawn is now part of the festival’s planning committee, while McSwain founded the Amarillo Film Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the festival while also setting up pop-up screenings throughout the year.
“I’ve lived all over the U.S., and pretty much wherever I live, if I don’t get involved in (an existing) project, I create a project—something I feel like is missing or would add to the community I live in,” McSwain says. She’d mentioned it to her former classmate, Sheryl Anderson of Anderson Modeling & Talent Agency, who told her that Bass was running the now-revived and expanded film commission.
“Until about two years ago, we were a very small line item in the budget and always someone else’s secondary obligation,” Bass says.
But then, the Amarillo Convention and Visitors Bureau started “seeing a lot of synergy” around some major projects, Bass says. TV impresario Taylor Sheridan bought the 6666 Ranch and decided to film Yellowstone prequel 1883 in the area. Plus, Sharpened Iron Studios, a faith-based studio in downtown Amarillo, opened in 2021 and made the drama What Remains in the region.
“I think the community started getting excited in 2021 and ’22 about the possibility that people might be making movies or TV in Amarillo,” Bass says. That was enough to convince the CVB to boost the film commission’s budget and hire its first full-time director. And Bass is bullish on his chances to use those increased resources to attract more productions to the region.
Attention-Getting Topography
In addition to the area’s significant homes, brick streets and historic Route 66, Bass also has a heck of an ace in the hole.
“While we have architecture from multiple periods, what sets us apart from other large film commissions in the state is Palo Duro Canyon,” Bass says. “Our topography of mesas and the canyon makes us totally different from other areas. We can do everything here but mountains and beaches.”
The international film festival is part of Bass’s strategy, too. “It’s another way to highlight Amarillo to the filmmakers who come,” Bass says. “They’ll see the topography, the geography and the city for themselves.”
Though Amarillo has hosted a few such festivals in the past, none have had quite the scope as this one. Dozens of films (Bass won’t give the exact number) from around the world were submitted, and a selection committee chose 35: three narrative features, three documentary features, six documentary shorts, 12 narrative shorts and 11 student shorts. Four come from Amarillo-based filmmakers.
“They’re all so well done,” Bass says. “They all have good storytelling at the heart, no matter what the subject is.”
Helping get the first festival off the ground are McSwain and co-director Margaret Jenkins. “They are both wonderful, passionate ladies,” Bass says. “It has been wonderful working with them.”
Jenkins, a fan of all types of films, met McSwain shortly after she moved back to Amarilllo. “Her enthusiasm for the project sold me,” Jenkins says. “I was in from the very start. And then, when we met Sherman, it became more real … and it took off.
“Amarillo is growing,” Jenkins continues. “We have lots of arts and culture already, and I think film is another one added to the vibrant community.”
High Quality, Multiple Genres
McSwain says she’s excited for festival newbies to see what’s on offer. “I’ve lived in many places where there were film festivals … and at each one, you’ll see films that nine out of 10 times are never seen again commercially, and they’re mind-blowing. That makes festivals not only unique, but very special,” McSwain says.
The inaugural Amarillo festival kicks off with a VIP reception and screening of For the Record, a short documentary about The Canadian Record, from 6 to 9 p.m. Oct. 10.
Films will screen in five blocks from 1 to 9:30 p.m. Oct. 11, then in seven blocks from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Oct. 12. Seminars on animation and writing for the screen also are scheduled. The festival will wrap with an awards ceremony, recognizing the top film in each category, as judged by the festival’s still top-secret jury.
Admission is $15 for Friday or Saturday, $25 for the full weekend and $75 for a VIP pass. For information and tickets, visit AmarilloFilmFestival.com.
“I think everyone is going to be very pleased with the turnout,” Bass says. And attendees should be quite pleased with the films themselves. “The genres are all over the place, from really serious drama to slasher to suspense to comedy,” he says. “Some of the highest-quality films are in the student category, which was really pleasantly surprising.”
The community is starting to get on board, as well.
“We’re trying to do as much locally as possible,” McSwain says, listing Blind Bird Glassblowing as the creator of the trophies being distributed, T-shirts from Free Cheese Prints and catering from Black Fig Food.
That’s not all, she says. “We have volunteers from 20-somethings at The 806 (Coffee + Lounge) to ladies in my garden club.”
