For more pictures from the Cinema Arts Festival opening, check out our slideshow.
The MFAH and Cinema Arts Society rolled out the red carpet last night for the opening of the 2011 Cinema Arts Festival, featuring a screening of Downtown Express and a performance by its star, violinist Philippe Quint, at the afterparty.
The opening film tells the story of a straitlaced Russian violinist who meets an outgoing songstress while studying at Juilliard, and the double paths his life takes.
The festival's two big-name honorees, Texas-born actor Ethan Hawke and Dazed and Confused director Richard Linklater, were not at the opening. Hawke stars in the film The Woman in the Fifth, which will screen Saturday, November 12, at 7 p.m. at the MFAH. Following that screening is the Cinema Arts Celebration, the big blow-out party for Cinema Arts Society members and guests at Gigi's Asian Bistro.
Film screenings and artist talks are ongoing throughout the weekend. Other movies on Art Attacks' radar include Natural Selection, about a Texas housewife who discovers her devout but dying husband has an illegitimate son; David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Weapon, about Carl Jung and starring Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud; Here, a romantic road movie; and !Women Art Revolution, a documentary about the feminist art movement. If you go see the latter, be sure to also check out director Lynn Hershman's installation and companion piece, Raw/War, at the MFAH.