Party Watch
Wish upon a star: Houston's film festival gives a celebrity preview on the veranda of a downtown hotel
What:Houston Cinema Arts Festival launch party.
Where: The upper level veranda of the Sam Houston Hotel.
The 411: Festival artistic director Richard Herskowitz announced the lineup of 50 films and a handful of celebrities to be featured in various presentations in theaters across the city Nov. 12 to 16. The 300 guests were welcomed by festival founder and board chair Franci Neely Crane and executive director Trish Rigdon.
The Sam Houston Hotel will serve as film festival headquarters where you could probably find famed director James Ivory (Room With a View, Howard's End), who will be in town to receive the Levantine Cinema Award.
Who: Gracie and Bob Cavnar, Gary Tinterow, Sima Ladjevardian, Rania Daniel, Liz Blaine, Jim Nelson, Andrea White, Barbara Davis, Charles Dove, Wendy Waitriss and Fred Baldwin, Ernie Manouse and Elena Sgarbi, Consul General of Italy.