Barak Epstein is the CEO of Aviation Cinemas, which puts him atop the marquee at the Texas Theatre. He’s also one of the directors of the Oak Cliff Film Festival, which kicks off on Thursday with programming at the Texas, the Bishop Arts Theatre Center, the Kessler Theater, Top Ten Records, and the Oak Cliff Assembly.
The lineup is all about discovery: the avant garde R&B musician who tells his life story while getting his pool painted (Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted), the rock star with a MiniDV camera (Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird, which takes you inside At the Drive-In and the Mars Volta), the trailblazing life of one of the first openly gay U.S. politicians (The Times of Harvey Milk), and a surprisingly funny 1922 horror film that includes grave robbing, satanic ceremonies, torture, and witches set to a live score (Haxan).
There are 58 shorts and 27 features across the four days of programming, which will close with a screening of the Tribeca favorite (and Tim Headington-produced) Between the Temples, which features Jason Schwartzman, Carol Kane, and Robert Smigel.
As we do every year, we invited Barak to the Old Monk to talk about why the festival is so important (to show little flicks like The Becomers) and briefly break down Sony’s recent purchase of Alamo Drafthouse. We’ll preview the festival a bit more later today, but for now, listen below, and grab your tickets here.
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