CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — For 20 years, filmmakers have brought stories from Texas and around the world to the Coastal Bend through the Rockport Film Festival.
The festival returns this weekend, running Friday, Oct. 30 through Sunday, Nov. 1, at the Rockport Conference Center. Organized by the Rockport Center for the Arts, the event showcases independent films ranging from documentaries and fiction features to shorts and student productions.
For Kathleen Barrera, deputy director of the Rockport Center for the Arts and director of the Rockport Film Festival, reaching the 20-year milestone is about much more than screening movies.
“Us coming together to be able to put on this film festival year after year after year for 20 years is really special for our community, and the funds that we raise go to do scholarships for children here in our community as well as the many programs of Rockport Center for the Arts,” Barrera said. “So I would say that's why it's so exciting because we get to have this one event that impacts us the whole year long.”
Barrera said the festival began as a partnership between the Rockport Center for the Arts and the Rockport Rotary Club.
Interest in getting a film onto the Rockport screen remains strong. Barrera said organizers received about 100 entries this year before a committee narrowed the field to 30 films.
“This year we had about 100 entries and we have a committee that reviews all of the films and the best of the best are selected every year,” Barrera said. “This year we have 30 films that will be screening over the weekend.”
Those films span several categories.
“We have all kinds of different categories we have student films, we have short films, both fiction and documentary, and then we have, um, features that are fiction and documentary as well,” Barrera said.
The festival isn't limited to Texas filmmakers. Barrera said this year's selections include international entries from South Korea and Spain, while previous festivals have included films from India.
At the same time, organizers continue to make room for filmmakers closer to home. Sunday's lineup includes a segment called “Texas Love,” dedicated to Texas-based or Texas-made films.
For Barrera, part of what separates Rockport from larger film festivals is the setting.
“I would say it's the backdrop. I mean you get to come to Rockport, Texas, which is kind of, um, you know, a very rural community, but it's preserved in that and so you have this beautiful coastal environment and then as well as the art center being the location for this event you're surrounded by art, by creativity, and so that's what makes it so special.”
The festival also has a connection to the Rockport Center for the Arts' current campus. Barrera said the facilities opened at the end of 2022, with that year's film festival serving as the inaugural event.
As the festival celebrates its past, Barrera is also looking toward its next generation.
For about eight years, the art center has invested in its Young Filmmakers of Tomorrow program. Barrera said high school students work with a professional filmmaker and can take part in developing scripts, storyboarding, acting, costume design and editing.
“I think one critical investment we've made, um, for about the last 8 years is our Young Filmmakers of Tomorrow program,” Barrera said.
This year, Rockport High School students worked on the short film Two Truths through the young filmmakers program. The film is part of Sunday's student programming.
Barrera said she believes those young filmmakers could ultimately become part of the festival's future.
“What I see the future is those kids because we've made the investment in them so early on who knows we might have them come back later on in some creative capacity and be part of the festival in some way,” Barrera said. “I see that as the future because we've made those investments right now.”
Rockport Film Festival schedule
Friday, Oct. 30
- 10:30 a.m. — Documentary Shorts
- 2 p.m. — Fiction Feature: The Thrift Store Dress
- 4 to 5:30 p.m. — Reception at Moon Over Water Gallery
- 6 p.m. — Documentary Feature: REVOLUTION'S DAUGHTER
- 8:30 p.m. — Late Night Shorts
Saturday, Oct. 31
Saturday's programming includes fiction shorts, a documentary feature, a downtown reception, a fiction feature and a late-night feature. Among the scheduled screenings are:
- 2 p.m. — The Song of Trees
- 6 p.m. — Aunt Jessica Will Fix Everything
- 8:30 p.m. — The Demonatrix
Sunday, Nov. 1
- 11 a.m. — Brunch
- Noon — Student Shorts
- 2 p.m. — “Texas Love” film block
Sunday's programming puts an emphasis on young and Texas filmmakers. Rockport High School students worked on the short film Two Truths through the Rockport Center for the Arts' Young Filmmakers Production Program. The “Texas Love” block also includes Hope for Guadalupe, a documentary about the July 4, 2025 Hill Country floods.
The Rockport Film Festival continues through Sunday, Nov. 1.
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