Movie Time

Texas-made films grab center stage at Sundance Film Festival, including Houstonand Linsanity

One of the hottest tickets to this year’s Sundance is the documentary premiereof Linsanity, featuring Jeremy Lin.
Triple5Light
In the 12-entry category for World Dramatic, Houston, a dark psychological dramafeaturing a German executive recruiter and alcoholic who comes to Houston torecruit an energy executive will premiere Jan. 22.
FilmGuide.Sundance.org
Pit Stop, by director and screenwriter Yen Tan, tells the parallel stories oftwo working class gay men in a small Texas town who come together after eachsuffering struggles and heartbreak in other relationships.
FilmGuide.Sundance.org
Computer Chess, the fourth feature length film by Austin director AndrewBujalski, is an existential comedy about a computer convention in 1980 and themen who taught machines to play chess.
FilmGuide.Sundance.org
Sure to be controversial will be A Teacher, a psychological drama about a highschool teacher who has an affair with one of her students.
ATeacherFilm.com

PARK CITY, Utah — It is shaping up to be a banner year for Texas-centered films and filmmakers as the Sundance Film Festival kicks off Thursday and runs through January 27. More than a dozen films with Texas ties will be screened in the two drama categories, two documentary categories, the short film category and the edgy NEXT category.

One of the hottest tickets is the documentary premiere of Linsanity, featuring Jeremy Lin, the Harvard basketball player who came from a humble background and was undrafted by the NBA only to have an unbelievable run as an NBA player (he now plays for the Houston Rockets of course). A portion of the film was shot in Houston.

One of the hottest tickets is the documentary premiere of Linsanity, featuring Jeremy Lin.

The documentary, which was filmed by Lin's close friend Evan Leong, begins when Lin was a college student with no pro prospects, long before his magical run with the New York Knicks last season. The film premieres on Saturday with not a ticket to be had.

In the 12-entry category for World Dramatic, Houston, a dark psychological drama featuring a German executive recruiter and alcoholic who comes to Houston to recruit an energy executive will premiere Jan. 22. The film was — no surprise given its title — filmed in Houston and El Campo, as well as in Germany by German director and screenwriter, Bastian Gunther.

It is part-time Austin resident Gunther's first U.S. film.

Austin-based director Richard Linklater will show his latest movie, Before Midnight, a follow-up to Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, on Sunday night.

Linklater will also co-host a party saluting 10 Texas films that will be shown at the festival, including Mud, starring Matthew McConaughey as a charismatic outlaw who recruits two boys to aid his clean getaway, and Prince Avalanche, which writer/director David Gordon Green adapted from the Icelandic film Either Way and clandestinely shot in Austin.

Bold works

Sundance’s NEXT group features "pure, bold works distinguished by an innovative, forward-thinking approach to storytelling" and usually made on a modest budget. Computer Chess, Pit Stop, and A Teacher are three of the 10 submissions.

Sure to be controversial, A Teacher is a psychological drama about a high school teacher who has an affair with one of her students. This film was shot entirely in Austin and marks the first Sundance entry for film director and screenwriter, Hannah Fidell.

Sure to be controversial, A Teacher is a psychological drama about a high school teacher who has an affair with one of her students.

Computer Chess, the fourth feature length film by Austin director Andrew Bujalski is an existential comedy about a computer convention in 1980 and the men who taught machines to play chess.

Pit Stop, by director and screenwriter Yen Tan, tells the parallel stories of two working class gay men in a small Texas town who come together after each suffering struggles and heartbreak in other relationships.

Tan's script for Pit Stop was selected out of hundreds of entries to participate in the Outfest Screenwriting Lab in 2009 and the project was awarded a $7,000 grant from the Austin Film Society’s Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund. The producers utilized crowd-funding from usaprojects.org to raise another $32,000 for the project.

Tan immigrated to Dallas from Malaysia in 1996 and currently lives in Austin where he is also the go-to person for graphic design of movie posters for independent films. Tan was assisted in co-writing duties by Dallasite David Lowery.

Buzzed-about film

Filmmaker Lowery is a busy guy. Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, a film he wrote and directed, is one of one of the most buzzed-about films of the 16 submissions in the U.S. Dramatic category. It tells the story of an outlaw who escapes from prison and sets out across the Texas hills to reunite with his wife and the daughter he has never met.

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints is one of one of the most buzzed-about films of the 16 submissions in the U.S. Dramatic category.

Featuring an all-star cast of Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck and Ben Foster, the film opens in the “A” venue — the 1,100 seat Eccles Theater — on the first weekend of the festival. Ain't Them Bodies Saints follows Lowery's debut feature, St. Nick, which premiered at SXSW, in 2009 and was released commercially in 2011.

The movie will also be shown in Houston on Jan. 31 at the Sundance Cinemas as part of the Sundance Film Festival USA series held in 10 cities. Lowery and producer Toby Halbrooks will be in Houston to introduce the film and participate in an audience question-and-answer session moderated by CultureMap editor-in-chief Clifford Pugh. Tickets are on sale on the Sundance Cinemas website.

Shorts competition

In the 65 films that will screen in the Shorts Competition, Texans directors get the nod in Black Metal, The Cub, and Thank You. Black Metal, made in Austin, is a nine-minute film focused on the actions of a fan of the lead singer of a black metal band.

The Cub, filmed by Austin director Riley Stearns, is a short five-minute film, that examines the relationship of a wolf and its cubs.

Thank You, a 12-minute animated film by Austin directors Pendleton Ward and Tom Herpich, focuses on a snow golem that is attacked in the forest by a pack of wolves, who accidentally leave a cub behind after their retreat. The golem’s life is thrown into chaos as he attempts to reunite the cub with its family.

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weekend event planner

Here are the top 14 things to do in Houston this Easter weekend

Photo courtesy of New Edition

New Edition will perform at the Toyota Center this Saturday.

It’s Easter weekend, which means lots of people will be gathering with their families for a special brunch.

For those parents who don’t want to take their kids to another dang Easter egg hunt, several Disney-related happenings are going down this weekend, including a chance to see Disney characters get their Alysa Liu on.

Photo courtesy of New Edition

New Edition will perform at the Toyota Center this Saturday.

Houstonians can also attend a “conspiracy theory night,” a musical adaptation of a beloved summer blockbuster, and live music from Ronnie, Bobby, Johnny, Ricky, and Mike (don’t forget about Ralph)!

Thursday, April 2

Mid Main Houston presents First Thursday Block Party
Let’s see what the folks at Mid Main Houston have geared up this month’s First Thursday Block Party. The Orange Show for Visionary Art is this month’s nonprofit partner. Mermaid Junction, Tarot Bingo, Beetle, and Alex Lambert will provide live music, while DJ Boogie Soul spins in the breezeway. Artist Abigail Simpson will be showing her solo exhibition State of Feeling at Mid Main Gallery. Also, traveling Top Chef finalist Dawn Burrell's pop-up Philly Jawn will be serving cheesesteaks at Alley Kat Bar & Lounge, with DJ Flash Gordon Parks serving up tunes. 6 pm.

Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University presents Opening Reception for Moody Project Wall: Nick Vaughan and Jake Margolin
Celebrate the opening of interdisciplinary artists Nick Vaughan and Jake Margolin’s collaborative installation at Moody Project Wall, titled I remember this one time. . . Vaughan and Margolin draw on their joint, research-driven practice, which pieces together fragments of LGBTQ+ history to uncover, reanimate, and share stories that might otherwise be lost. The installation includes personal memories, archival histories, images, objects, and ephemera collected from Rice students and the Houston area. Through Saturday, August 15. 6 pm.

Doc’s Jazz Club presents Doc’s Presents: Veronica Swift
Doc’s Jazz Club (located in the historic Montrose building that housed the Tower Theatre) celebrates its half-year milestone and Jazz Appreciation Month with a new concert series set to light up the marquee on Thursday nights. The season begins with a performance by jazz sensation Veronica Swift. A couple Thursdays from now, rising star/former The Voice contestant Wyatt Michael will join forces with The Graeme Francis Orchestra to perform the Sinatra at the Sands live album in its entirety. 7 & 9:30 pm.

Friday, April 3

CLASS Bookstore Presents: The Tin Foil Kufi Symposium - April 2026 Edition
Do you have a conspiracy theory that you’ve wanted to discuss with a group of like-minded ~~crackpots~~ thinkers? Thankfully, CLASS Bookstore now has a monthly night for people to present their theories, no matter how weird or unbelievable they may sound. So, whether you think the Illuminati is real, Tupac and Biggie are lounging on a beach somewhere, or Sydney Sweeney is a government decoy set up to lure dudebros into going MAGA (that’s one been on our minds), you now have a place to call home. 7 pm.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents Mr Nobody Against Putin
Pasha Talankin is a beloved Russian primary-school teacher, mentor, and prankster. After Russia invaded Ukraine, Talankin is forced to promote state-sanctioned messages and is horrified by the transformation of his school and community. He soon becomes an international whistleblower, documenting the rise of militarized children’s groups, repressive laws, and fervent nationalism. Winner of multiple film-festival awards, Mr Nobody Against Putin also won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature at this year’s Academy Awards. 7 pm (5 pm Sunday).

Houston Symphony presents Disney’s Fantasia In Concert
Let’s say you convinced your fam to see Disney’s 1940 masterwork Fantasia back when you were eight. But since the movie’s music is mostly classical, you dipped out during the dancing-hippos section and never finished watching it. Here's the chance to rectify the situation. Stunning animation will fill the giant screen at Jones Hall while the Houston Symphony brings the soundtrack to life, including favorites like Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. 7:30 pm (2 & 7:30 pm Saturday).

Theatre Under the Stars presents Back to the Future the Musical
Back to the Future, the beloved cinematic classic, is now a Broadway musical. When Marty McFly finds himself transported back to 1955 in a time machine built by the eccentric scientist Doc Brown, he accidentally changes the course of history. Now, he’s in a race against time to fix the present, escape the past, and send himself… back to the future. The production features original music by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard alongside hit songs from the movie. 8 pm (7:30 pm Thursday; 2 & 8 pm Saturday; 2 & 7:30 pm Sunday).

Saturday, April 4

Disney On Ice: Jump In!
In Disney On Ice: Jump In!, classic characters Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy use the Magical MousePad to journey into the heart of other Disney tales, including Moana 2 and Inside Out 2 — bringing new characters like Anxiety to the ice for the first time. Audiences will also see Stitch from Lilo & Stitch, the bustling metropolis of Zootopia, the icy realms of Frozen, the playful universe of Toy Story, the vibrant world of Encanto, and Disney princesses like Ariel, Jasmine, Rapunzel, and Tiana. 11 am, 3 & 7 pm (7 pm Thursday; 11 am, 3 & 7 pm Friday; 3 pm Sunday).

Karbach Brewing Co. and Space Center Houston present Space News & Brews
Karbach Brewing Co. will team up with Space Center Houston for an unforgettable afternoon of craft beer and cosmic conversation. Mingle with fellow space enthusiasts and enjoy an exclusive ask-me-anything session with NASA astronaut Toni Antonelli and space expert Chris Matty. Attendees will be able to immerse themselves in a pub-style discussion with space experts about important space science and exploration news they may have missed, plus what’s coming up that they'll want to learn about. 2 pm.

Cactus Music presents George Ducas – In-Store Performance
Galveston-born, Grammy-nominated country singer George Ducas has had multiple Billboard chart hits, including his signature breakout “Lipstick Promises," and has even written hit records for all-timers like George Jones, Garth Brooks, The Chicks, and Trisha Yearwood. After dropping his 2024 effort Long Way From Home, Ducas is now that person moving the sound forward, while always respecting what has come before him. He’ll be performing songs from Home and others during a live performance at Cactus Music this weekend. 3 pm.

New Edition in concert with Boyz II Men and Toni Braxton
The New Edition Way Tour brings together three of music’s most enduring and influential acts: New Edition, Boyz II Men, and Toni Braxton. The concert celebrates music, legacy, and connection, offering fans an opportunity to experience the legendary artists performing together. New Edition stands as the ultimate supergroup, paving the way for the modern boy band phenomenon that inspired groups like New Kids on the Block, Backstreet Boys, and the K-pop phenomenon. 8 pm.

Sunday, April 5

Bunnies on the Bayou 47
Bunnies on the Bayou returns to Sesquintennial Park in downtown Houston, celebrating its 47th year with a bold affirmation of life, love, and collective power under the 2026 theme, Resistance in Bloom. The park will transform into an outdoor celebration of music, movement, and community. People can expect live DJs on the main stage, dancing, sponsor activations, drinks, food for purchase, and shared moments that remind us why gathering still matters. This is a 21+ event with no exceptions. 1 pm.

Rooftop Cinema Club Uptown presents Zootopia 2
Hop on over to Rooftop Cinema Club Uptown for an Easter celebration that’s big on magic and even bigger on fun. Enjoy the springtime atmosphere at the outdoor venue, where kids get to meet the Easter Bunny when the doors open. It all leads up to a rooftop screening of the recent hit sequel Zootopia 2, featuring everyone’s favorite bunny detective, Judy Hopps. Seating is first-come-first-serve, and no outside food or drink allowed. 3 pm.

Houston Polo Club 2026 Season
The Houston Polo Club returns with world-class play, champagne moments, and a social scene unlike anywhere else in the city. Its 2026 season features 10 spring matches and 10 fall matches, each of which features a player parade, expert announcing, live music, a champagne divot stomp at halftime, and a special trophy presentation. Things will kick off this weekend with the Spring Cup, where kids can bring their Easter baskets for a candy toss at halftime. 5 pm.

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