Festival Director appointed for Lone Star Film Fest
May 4, 2008, Filmfestivals.com

The Lone Star Film Society has appointed Dennis Bishop as festival director of the 2008 Lone Star International Film Festival, which is scheduled for November 12-16, 2008, in Fort Worth, Texas.
A Dallas native, who began his career in Texas, Bishop is an independent filmmaker and producer based in Los Angeles whose career in the film and entertainment industry has spanned three decades. He has served in various capacities for major film festivals, workshops and seminars across the nation, including the AFI Dallas International Film Festival, the Sundance Institute Producers Conference and June Labs, the Austin Heart of Film Festival and the SXSW Film Conference.
“We are extremely fortunate to have someone of Dennis’s experience and stature in the film industry as director of this year’s Lone Star International Film Festival,” said Johnny Langdon, chairman of the Lone Star Film Society. “He is widely known and highly regarded throughout the film community, not only as a strong advocate for independent film, but also as a world-class producer in film studio and television venues.”
Sponsored by the Lone Star Film Society, the Lone Star International Film Festival promotes the work of emerging international filmmakers through competition and showcases, providing resources for distribution and cutting edge technology. The goal of the festival is to cultivate global cultural awareness through the art of the moving image, while featuring Fort Worth, Texas, as an international destination for both artistic and professional resources.
To obtain more information about this year’s film festival or volunteer, visit www.lonestarfilmsociety.com or call the Lone Star Film Society office at 817-735-1117.
“It is important to me as a filmmaker and producer to work with filmmakers who have something to say,” said Bishop. “The Lone Star International Film Festival will provide an excellent venue for me to realize that goal while allowing me to continue to give back to the community that has provided me with so many opportunities.”
Taking the helm of the Lone Star International Film Festival is a natural step in Bishop’s career. Having produced feature films, movies for television, documentaries, commercials, corporate films, and multi-image presentations, his extensive experience includes his tenure as a vice president of HBO Pictures where he oversaw the production of 27 movies that won 51 major awards, including “And The Band Played On,” “Barbarians at the Gate,” “Against the Wall” and “Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader Murdering Mom.”
His feature film productions range from high-profile independent films such as David Putnam’s “Local Hero” to Horton Foote’s “1918” and Foote’s Academy Award-winning “The Trip to Bountiful” as well as Universal Pictures’ immensely popular “The Fast and the Furious.”
His award-winning films for television include Golden Globe winner “Inherit the Wind” for MGM/Showtime and “Two for Texas” for Turner Network Television. He has also produced pilots for both network television and cable networks including “Cane” with Jimmy Smits for CBS/Paramount and ABC Studios, and “Dexter” for Showtime Pictures.
Bishop participates on industry committees and panels including the Directors Guild of America (DGA), the Producers Guild of America (PGA) and the American Film Market. He serves as co-chair of the FilmUSA Committee at the PGA and as a member of the Runaway Production Committee at the DGA and the Runaway Advisory Committee of the California Film Commission to draft tax-incentive legislation for California
Bishop attended both University of North Texas and The University of Texas at Arlington. He has served as an adjunct professor and visiting professional at universities such as University of Southern California and Southern Methodist University and has spoken on the subject of filmmaking at other universities, trade schools, high schools and grade schools.
A resident of Santa Monica, California, for the past 18 years, he is married and has three daughters.

Texas-bred Oscar-bait movie producer Dennis Bishop has accepted an appointment as festival director with the Lone Star Film Society of Fort Worth.

Bishop will head development of the second Lone Star International Film Festival, docketed for Nov. 12-16, film-society chairman Johnny Langdon said in a May 1 announcement.

“This is a real breakthrough for Fort Worth,” said Langdon, an alternative-energy and medical-technology developer who pursues a sideline in independent film production. “A festival director of such experience and stature — both in mainstream Hollywood and the independent-film arena — is a rare find.”

Dallas native Bishop’s ties to Texas-based indie film have run apace with such mass-market corporate involvements as a three-year vice presidency with HBO Pictures. Key projects in Texas range from line-producer duties on Horton Foote and Peter Masterson’s Oscar-anointed drama The Trip to Bountiful (1985) to a collaboration with Fort Worth-based filmmaker J. Mitchell Johnson on World without Waves (2001).

Bishop served as an organizer and consultant to last year’s premiere event, primarily with educational panel discussions in connection with the motion-picture showings. Bishop said specific film selections for the 2008 event have yet to be made but indicated that many showings and related events will take place in downtown Fort Worth.

“We’re involving ourselves ever more deeply with the community at large,” Bishop said, “seeking to learn what the community wants, and to learn how we can join forces. Ideally, a film festival ties itself in with its community to become an integral element.”

He plans to work with the Fort Worth organization while maintaining a base of operations in Santa Monica, Calif., where he and his wife, writer Janis Jolcuvar, have resided for 18 years.

“It is important to me as a filmmaker and producer to work with filmmakers who have something to say,” said Bishop. “The Lone Star International Film Festival will provide an excellent venue for me to realize that goal while allowing me to continue to give back to the community that has provided me with so many opportunities.”

The helming of the local expo seems a natural progression. Bishop’s film-festival activities have included the AFI Dallas International Fest, the Sundance Institute Producers Conference, the Austin Heart of Film Festival and the SXSW Film Conference at Austin.

Bishop’s HBO tenure involved 27 movies that racked up 51 filmmaking awards, including the AIDS drama And the Band Played On and the economic-crisis drama Barbarians at the Gate (both from 1993). Theatrical-feature assignments range from David Putnam’s Local Hero and the collaborations with playwright Foote on 1918 and The Trip to Bountiful, during the 1980s, to corporate supervision on Universal Pictures’ big ticket-seller of 2001, The Fast and the Furious. Bishop’s films for television also include MGM/Showtime’s Golden Globe-winning remake of Inherit the Wind (1999) and TNT’s Two for Texas (1998).

Bishop’s professional affiliations include the Directors Guild, the Producers Guild and the American Film Market. He and his wife have three daughters.