The 20th anniversary of this weekend’s annual Lone Star Film Festival includes some stellar entries, including the music-driven love story Bleeding Hearts, Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut, and Cannes prize winner Rehearsals for a Revolution, plus a week of wall-to-wall films. It’s a North Texas cinephile’s dream come true.
These titles join a slate that spans narrative and documentary features, special screenings, and short films from around the world showing in the Fort Wednesday thru Tue, Nov 11.
The main venue for screenings is the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (3200 Darnell St, Fort Worth, 817-738-9215), but films will be showcased at AMC Palace Theater (220 E 3rd St, Fort Worth, 817-336-0431), the headquarters of Texas Ballet Theater (1500 Mall Cir, Fort Worth, 877-828-9200), and Fort Works Art (2100 Montgomery St, Fort Worth, 817-759-9475). Special events, like the closing gala on Thu, Nov 13, will be at Bowie House (3700 Camp Bowie Blvd, Fort Worth, 855-683-4092), plus pass holders are welcome to drop in at Ampersand Coffee & Cocktails (3009 Bledsoe St, Fort Worth, 682-707-9626) throughout the festival for coffee and film-related activations.
While film-only tickets are sold out, all-access passes are still available. While $400 is admittedly a little steep, it sounds like it’s well worth the money for a true fan. You are provided full admission for all seven days of the festival to more than 20 film blocs (features, shorts, and showcase screenings), afternoon film talks, evening parties, and happy hours. Get yours ASAP at LoneStarFilmFestival.com. Now, about those recently announced special films …
Courtesy FortWorthFilmFestival.com
Bleeding Hearts (USA)
Directed by Andrew Morgan, this music-driven love story is about real-life couple Zella Day and Jesse Woods, the musicians behind Chaparelle. Following their first year together, they chase a shared dream while facing pressures that could spark a breakup — or a breakthrough.
The Debut (USA)
Written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg, this musical comedy follows Mona Friedman, a shy, unassuming housewife cast in a bit part at a small community theater before transforming into a zealous method actor determined to protect the artistic integrity of her role — even if it means waging war against the show’s domineering director. The film stars Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti, with supporting turns from Halle Bailey, Cara Buono, Craig Bierko, Eldar Isgandarov, and Bernadette Peters, alongside Eisenberg himself. The Debut is an A24 release and closed the 70th BFI London Film Festival.
Rehearsals for a Revolution (Czech Republic, Spain, Iran)
Directed by Pegah Ahangarani, this winner of the L’Œil d’or for Best Documentary at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival is a feature-length essay film in which actress-turned-director Pegah Ahangarani traces more than 40 years of post-revolutionary Iranian history through the lens of her own life. Drawing on family archives, home movies, street-protest footage, and recorded testimony, the film unfolds in five chapters — each dedicated to a friend or family member lost along the way — moving from the 1979 Islamic Revolution through the 2026 conflict.
Individual film tickets are also available, starting at only $12. The full festival schedule and individual tickets are available now at LSFF26.eventive.org/schedule, but here are a few of the screening highlights with the closest ties to Fort Worth, Texas. Along with documentaries and narrative features, the festival has more than 70 shorts, with nearly half coming from Texas filmmakers, so there are several worth investigating. #KeepItLocal
Courtesy FortWorthFilmFestival.com
Documentary Feature Films
A Cowboy in London by Jared L. Christopher
Home From the Vietnam War by Mat Hames
The Man with the Big Hat by Austin Lee Sayre
Narrative Feature Films
Murderous by Neil LaBute
Courtesy FortWorthFilmFestival.com
Rumination by Dylan Snyder
Unwinding by Reza Ghassemi
Short Films
The Best Little Tiny Park in Texas by Margaret Barry
Lessons Learned in Cotulla by Oddett Garza
Wonderful World with Clint Townsend by Michael Dean Marbach
Lone Star Film Festival is a presentation of the Lone Star Film Society, a nonprofit bringing the world of cinema to Fort Worth, showcasing our city as a hub for film production in Texas, plus the Fort Worth Film Commission, a division of Visit Fort Worth. Through location services, preproduction, and postproduction, the commission has worked with hundreds of projects, driven $1 billion in economic impact, and created more than 50,000 jobs, raising awareness of Fort Worth as a city for creative industries and a tourist destination. For more information, visit FilmFortWorth.com.
