DIFF Shorts Film Festival

DIFF Shorts Film Festival returns to the Angelika Film Center & Café at Mockingbird Station from October 16 to 18. This is the third edition of the shorts festival, and it's a big one: more than 100 films spread across three days. The screenings are organized into sixteen themed blocks, so you can pick and choose the ones that sound your speed rather than trying to tackle the whole thing in one go.

Beyond the screenings, there are filmmaker Q&As, industry panels, and daily red carpets, so it's as much about the people behind the films as the movies themselves. If you've ever wanted to hear how a short actually comes together, the panels are where that happens. The festival is run by DIFF Dallas, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that's been around since 2006. They do year-round film programs, including an educational screening and talk series for high school students, free advance screenings, and community film series. Their signature event is the Academy Awards® Qualifying Dallas International Film Festival, which they hold every spring.

This year's shorts edition takes the bluebonnet as its mascot—iconic, a little wild, here for a short time, and hard to miss when it shows up. The organizers draw a parallel between the flower and the short film: both are fleeting but can leave a real impression. In just a few minutes, a short can be strange, funny, moving, or completely unexpected. That's the whole point of the format, and with over 100 films to choose from, you're bound to find a few that stick.

Tickets are $10 per shorts block, so you can just drop in for one or two. If you're planning to spend the whole weekend there, festival passes are $75, with senior and student passes available for $50. The festival runs October 16 through 18 at the Angelika Film Center & Café, 5321 East Mockingbird Lane #230, Dallas 75206.