Lone Star Film Festival at 20: Fort Worth's Festival Rolls Into Its Final Days at The Modern

FORT WORTH — The Lone Star Film Festival is old enough to have a history now, and it is spending its 20th anniversary the way it has spent the last two decades: filling the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth with narrative features, documentaries, special screenings and shorts from around the world. The festival, presented by the Fort Worth Film Commission, runs November 4 through 13, and Monday night sits in the heart of its final stretch.

The 20th-anniversary lineup kept growing into the fall. Late additions included 'The Debut,' a musical comedy written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg and starring Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti, about a shy housewife cast in a bit part at a community theater who turns zealous method actor; 'Rehearsals for a Revolution,' Pegah Ahangarani's documentary built from personal archives and street protests, which won the L'Oeil d'Or for Best Documentary at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival; and 'Bleeding Hearts,' Andrew Morgan's music-driven love story about real-life couple Zella Day and Jesse Woods, the musicians behind Chaparelle. The wider slate ranges from 'Autofiction' and Neil LaBute's 'Murderous' to the documentary 'As Far Back As I Can Remember... The Story of Goodfellas.'

For Metroplex readers planning a night out: the festival's own listings put 'What the Hell Happened' — a documentary following five college friends across thirty years — at 5:30 p.m. Monday at The Modern, with 'Rehearsals for a Revolution' following at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday brings 'Growing Up Slowly' at 5:45 p.m. and the world premiere of 'Rumination,' filmed in West Texas and featuring Fort Worth actor Eric Nelsen, at 8:00 p.m. The festival closes Thursday, Nov. 13. All-access passes are $400, and the full schedule and individual tickets are on the festival's ticketing site.