by John P. Meyer

With three full days of film screenings and events in store, there's something of interest at the TBFF for everyone.

The 2010 Texas Black Film Festival (TBFF) -- whose theme this year is "Peace through Independent Film" -- kicked off last night at the Dallas Studio Movie Grill with a red carpet premiere attended by distinguished actor Giancarlo Esposito.

Before the festival draws to a close on Saturday night, a total of 42 short films, 9 feature films, 10 documentaries, and 1 animation will have screened for North Texas audiences.

In addition to the films themselves, attendees can look forward to:

* An industry workshop on "How to get that big budget look on an indie budget" (Thursday at noon)

* A student film screenings program and workshop hosted by the Movie Institute (Saturday at 2 p.m.)

* An awards ceremony honoring Texas State Representative Dawnna Dukes, prime architect of the Texas Film Incentives Program, designed to ensure that Texas remains competitive in the film, television, and video game industry. The ceremony will also pay tribute to the Best Overall Film, Best Texas Film, Audience Choice Award, Best Director, Best Actor or Actress, Best Feature, Best Short Film, Best Documentary, and Best Animation in the 2010 TBFF lineup.

Here are a few previews for your consideration if you plan on attending the festival:

THURSDAY:

Partnering with the with the Dallas Holocaust Museum, TBFF hosts the Texas theatrical premiere of Herskovitz at The Heart of Blackness (dir. Llewellyn M. Smith), documenting the story of Melville Jean Herskovitz. This Jewish anthropologist wrote a book called The Myth of the Negro Past and introduced the concept of African-American Studies to academia. (6:15 p.m.)

FRIDAY:

Bilal's Stand (dir. Sultan Sharrief): this marks the Texas premiere of a feature film about a young man in big-city Michigan who takes up ice carving to win a college scholarship in the hopes of expanding his opportunity horizons. Below is an interview with Sharrief conducted just a few days ago at Sundance. (noon)

SATURDAY:

This showing of Frederick Douglass and the White Negro (dir. John J. Doherty) will include a specially invited audience from the Dallas chapter of Jack & Jill of America. (noon)