GRAPHIC: The 2021 Houston Cinema Arts Festival will take place Nov. 11-22 at various venues across Houston. Graphic by The Signal Editor-in-Chief Miles Shellshear. — The 2021 Houston Cinema Arts Festival will take place Nov. 11-22 at various venues across Houston. Graphic by The Signal Editor-in-Chief Miles Shellshear.

Houston Cinema Arts Festival announces 2021 lineup

By Miles Shellshear, Editor-in-Chief Last updated Nov 1, 2021 256 0

PHOTO: "The Humans" stars Beanie Feldstein (left) and Steven Yeun (right). Photo courtesy of the Houston Cinema Arts Festival. — “The Humans” stars Beanie Feldstein (left) and Steven Yeun (right). Photo courtesy of the Houston Cinema Arts Festival.

The annual Houston Cinema Arts Festival will take place from Nov. 11-22 at various venues across Houston. There will be an opening night party at Mo’ Better Brews featuring live music and special guests to kick off the festival, with film screenings at locations including the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Moonstruck Drive-in, Rice Cinema, MECA, Asia Society Texas Center and many more. Furthermore, there will be a selection of virtual screenings available to attendees.

The theme for this year’s festival is “The Third Coast”, a reference to the region of the United States that borders the Gulf of Mexico. The festival includes short film contests like the NASA collaborative Cinespace film competition and the regional Borders No Borders film contest.

Additionally, the festival features centerpiece screenings of “The Humans” starring Steven Yeun, Beanie Feldstein, Amy Schumer and more, as well as “Bushwick Bill: Geto Boy,” a documentary about the life of the legendary Houston rapper.

The festival also features the Houston debut of several buzzworthy films including “C’mon C’mon” starring Joaquin Phoenix. Two of the films were nominated for the Palme d’Or, the highest prize at the Cannes film festival: “Red Rocket” which was filmed in Texas and “Memoria” starring Tilda Swinton.

GRAPHIC: "Again, Together" shows the impact of environmental racism on Houstonians. Photo courtesy of the Houston Cinema Arts Festival. — “Again, Together” shows the impact of environmental racism on Houstonians. Photo courtesy of the Houston Cinema Arts Festival.

Additional film screenings include a breadth of short and feature-length narrative and documentary films on topics of culture, music, dance, feminism, identity, immigration and life on the coast.

Among many free events including outdoor movie screenings, the festival will also host a curator’s walkthrough of a photography exhibition from Houston-born Pam Francis at Post HTX Nov. 14 at 11 a.m. The exhibition showcases the work of Francis, who photographed various Texas music legends throughout her career from Stevie Ray Vaughn to Selena.

Those interested in attending the Houston Cinema Arts Festival can purchase virtual, hybrid or all-access passes depending on which events and screenings they are interested in. Tickets are also available for many of the individual events and screenings. For more information, check out the in person schedule and virtual event schedules.