By Axel Roessler
Desert Dust Cinema is a three-day, nonprofit film festival organized by a few of the denizens of Lobo, Texas. Just 16 miles south of I-10, Exit 140 from Van Horn, Lobo is located on US Hwy 90. The festival is in its fourth run and will take place this Labor Day weekend from Friday, September 2 to Sunday, September 4.
Lobo is a very small desert town in west Texas that was abandoned by its last residents in 1991. Ten years later, three desert-loving individuals and some of their friends started the process of rebuilding the former ghost town. Along with the work of reclaiming the houses, the motel, the town hall and the former gas station, their goal was to make Lobo a meeting place for all the people in the area. During the last few years, several nonprofit art, music, and just hang-around-in-the-sun related events took place that are still fondly remembered by its participants.
During the three days of the Desert Dust Cinema Festival, our small town wants to create a unique atmosphere for anyone interested in today’s wide range of short films. Of course, Lobo does not have what others may call a typical cinema venue, but we will do our best to make this location and the festival a special one. The program includes more than 30 international short films in a variety of styles. The main focus is on experimental shorts, so don‘t expect too much “classic narrative“ stories. Our selection spans animations, documentations, stop motion, music videos and experimental shorts to motion graphics.
Most of the material that will be shown was created during the last two years.
Festival schedule is as follows:
Friday, September 2, 9:00 p.m. after dark Opening party / Lobo Rocket launch.
Saturday, September 3, 9:00 p.m. after dark Program 1 (approx. 75 minutes).
Sunday, September 4 9:00 pm/after dark Program 2 (approx. 75 minutes).
All screenings will take place in the area of the former Lobo gas station. Depending on the weather it will be either open air or indoors. There is no cover charge. Please bring your own chairs. We will have musicians from Austin and Tucson performing after the screenings in the pool near the Lobo Motel. A documentation of the whole festival will be ready on the festival‘s website at the end of this month. If you would like additional information, including a listing of the films that will be shown, please have a look at www.desertdustcinema.com. Hope to see you around, for the Desert Dust Cinema
www.desertdustcinema.com.