Boomtown 48 Hour Race kicks off Friday night at the Logon Cafe

Filmmakers of Southeast Texas and surrounding areas will gather at 7 p.m. this Friday at the Logon Café in Beaumont for the annual 48 Hr. Film Race. 

This free event is open to all and challenges teams of local movie makers to write, shoot, edit and deliver a short film based upon randomly assigned genres, all in just one weekend. The race kicks off at 7p.m on January 31.

Entries to the race will be shown and winners announced next month at Boomtown Film & Music Festival, Feb. 21-23.

This year among BoomFest's special guests will be beloved character actor Burton Gilliam, best known for his role in Blazing Saddles. Gilliam will speak about his experiences across fifty years of acting in such films as Fletch, Back to the Future Part III and Honeymoon in Vegas. 

The Jefferson Theatre will also present a Classic Movie Night screening of Gilliam's first film, the 1973 comedy Paper Moon, he will be joined by Houston's PJ Johnson who played Imogene in the film. There will be a Q&A with the two actors following the film.

Beaumont's own Katie Cokinos will be returning during the festival as she does some location scouting for an upcoming movie.

Successful screenwriter Chuck Hustmyer will travel from Baton Rouge to give insights on screenwriting that sells. Hustmyer has recently sold two scripts and optioned another last week. His first feature, "House of the Rising Sun" was Dave Bautista's first starring role.

The Film Festival Doctor, Rebekah Louisa Smith, will return from Dallas to offer more film festival strategy tips and advice to get you ready for distribution.

The three day event spans several venues in downtown Beaumont, including the historic Jefferson Theatre, the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, the Texas Energy Museum and For the Record, Southeast Texas' new combination music shop and concert hall. 

BoomFest will host the first live performances ever presented in this exciting new location.

Encore film screenings will take place during a casual Sunday Brunch at Beaumont's Logon Cafe, during which closed captions will be visible on screen in order to make the event inclusive for the hearing impaired.

Tickets and schedule are available now with special early bird discounts at boomtownfestival.org

The Boomtown Film & Music Festival is a non-profit event presented by the Boomtown Film Society and the Southeast Texas Arts Council. It is made possible by generous grants from the City of Beaumont and the Texas Commission on the Arts.