HELLION and COPENHAGEN take center stage for Wednesday (April 9) as films you should make an effort to see at this year’s Dallas International Film Festival. We’ll be posting daily suggestions on what you should make time for at DIFF, and these are pretty great.
First up is HELLION, playing tonight and tomorrow. Being a kid is great. Hanging out with your friends, riding dirt bikes, sort of talking to girls and lighting things on fire…you know, kid stuff. In Kat Candler’s HELLION, youthful innocence is tested, twisted and run through flaming hoop of heavy metal music under the hot South Texas sun.
Obsessed with heavy metal, dirt bike racing and the occasional act of vandalism, 13-year-old Jacob Wilson has begun to raise concerns around town, especially when his antics start to involve his younger brother, Wes. While the boys’ father, Hollis, loves his sons, he is still reeling from the loss of their mother. Hollis spends more time drowning his sorrows in a six pack or working on his damaged beach house than being an active parent. As a result, one day child protective services take young Wes away from his brother and father, placing him in the custody of his Aunt Pam. Hollis and Jacob are left to fend for themselves.
Loosely based on the international hit short film of the same name, Candler’s debut feature is visceral and loudly compassionate. With spectacular cinematography and breakout performances, HELLION examines the growing pains of youth in an honest and captivating way. At the end of this film everyone will feel like letting their own little Hellion out…and that’s a good thing.
— James Faust
DIRECTOR Kat Candler
SCREENWRITER Kat Candler
PRODUCER Jonathan Duffy, Kelly Williams
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Janice Beard, Tanner Beard, Sarah Green, Jeff Nichols, Suzanne Weinert
CINEMATOGRAPHER Brett Pawlak
EDITOR Alan Canant
PRODUCTION DESIGN Deneice O’Connor
CAST Aaron Paul, Juliette Lewis, Josh Wiggins, Deke Garner, Jonny Mars, Walt Roberts
DIRECTOR BIO
Atlanta-born Kat Candler is a director, writer, producer and editor now based in Austin, Texas who divides her time between filmmaking and lecturing on film production at the University of Texas. Her directing credits include CICADAS, LOVE BUG, and BLACK METAL, the latter of which won her the Short Grand Jury Prize at the 2013 Dallas International Film Festival.
Angelika 6 – Wednesday 4/9 at 7:30pm
Angelika 4 – Thursday 4/10 at 4:00pm
Next up is COPENHAGEN, also playing tonight and tomorrow. After weeks of traveling through Europe, an immature American named William finds himself at a crossroads in Copenhagen. To him it’s not just another European city. Copenhagen is also the birthplace of his father. When the youthful Effy befriends the older William, they set off on an adventure to find William’s grandfather. Effy’s mix of youthful exuberance and wisdom challenges William unlike any woman ever has. As the attraction builds and William truly connects with someone for the first time in his life, he must come to terms with destabilizing elements of his family’s sordid past.
Within the opening moments of his assured debut feature, director Mark Raso creates a fever dream of color, pulsating music and texture that takes viewers far away from home with little reason to return. At first a whimsical fish out of water adventure set in an idyllic foreign locale, the film soon evolves into a complex love story between two lonely souls meeting in the right place, but at the wrong time. Evoking the kinetic romanticism of French New Wave classics while giving fresh dimensionality to “complicated” modern day relationships, Raso delivers a narrative that is smart, nuanced and as much fun as it is deeply moving. COPENHAGEN is a place, a character and a journey.
— Josh Mandel, Slamdance Film Festival
DIRECTOR Mark Raso
SCREENWRITER Mark Raso
PRODUCER Mauro Mueller, Mette Thygesen
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Daniel-Konrad Cooper, Joseph Raso, Burton Ritchie
CINEMATOGRAPHER Alan Poon
EDITOR Mark Raso
MUSIC Agatha Kaspar
PRODUCTION DESIGN Peter De Neergaard
CAST Gethin Anthony, Frederikke Dahl Hansen, Sebastian Armesto, Tamzin Merchant, Baard Owe, Mille Dinesen, Olivia Grant, Sune Kofoed, Preben Ravn, Martin Hestbæ
DIRECTOR BIO
Mark Raso is a writer and director from Toronto, Canada who studied English Literature and Cinema Studies at the University of Toronto and received his masters in film from Columbia University. During his career in film and television he has won several awards, including a Student Academy Award Gold Medal for his short film UNDER as well as the Hollywood Foreign Press Award for Excellence in Filmmaking. COPENHAGEN marks his feature-length directorial debut.
Angelika 8 – Wednesday 4/9 at 10:15pm
Angelika 7 – Thursday 4/10 at 4:15pm
Born and raised in Dallas, Mark has been a movie critic since 1994, with reviews featured in print, radio and National TV. In 2001 he started the Entertainment section of the Herorealm website, where he contributed film reviews and celebrity interviews until 2004. After three years of service there, he started Bigfanboy.com, which has become one of the Dallas film community's leading information websites. Bigfanboy hosts several movie screenings in the Texas area, and works closely with film and TV studios and promotional partners to host exciting events and contests. The site also features a variety of rare celebrity and filmmaker interviews, and Bigfanboy.com regularly covers the film festival circuit as well. In addition to Hollywood reporting, Mark has worked for many years as an advertising and sci-fi/comic book artist. Clients have included Lucasfilm Ltd., Topps Trading Cards, The Dallas Mavericks and The Dallas Stars. From 2002 until 2015 he managed the Dallas Comic Con, Sci-Fi Expo and Fan Days events in the DFW area. He currently catalogs rare comic books and movie memorabilia for Heritage Auctions, and runs the Dallas Comic Show conventions, but remains an avid moviegoer and cinema buff. 
