Screen Dallas is a new program from the Dallas Film Commission that annually awards one feature length documentary with a fully sponsored, week-long theatrical release, offering filmmakers a powerful platform to qualify for the Academy Awards and connect with Dallas audiences.
The Dallas Film Commission has partnered with local festival programmers to select a feature-length documentary worthy of Academy recognition.
Any documentary that screens at a Dallas area festival will automatically be considered for the program.
Submissions outside of local festivals will be opening in 2026.
Katie Schuck is the Dallas Film Commissioner. As a leader, Schuck spearheaded strategic programs to attract renowned film and television productions to the Savannah region, partnering with prominent studios and streaming services such as Sony, Netflix, Disney, Apple, and Amazon.
Austin Flores is the Location Specialist for the Dallas Film Commission. He has over 10 years of experience in the industry, ranging from freelance to corporate media production.
Dr. Rebekah Louisa Smith, also known as The Film Festival Doctor, has secured hundreds of festival screenings around the world for her clients.
Rebekah and her hard-working team are committed to nurturing filmmakers in order to help them secure film festival screenings, win awards, and cultivate a positive recognition within the film industry. Currently, her company has won more than 2,500 awards for their clients and three Oscar success stories. She has secured hundreds of festival screenings around the world for her clients and has supported over 850 international filmmakers, enlightening and inspiring their journey towards achieving their goals and following their filmmaking dreams.
Ian Loomer is a native Texan and a creative operational executive with over 20 years of experience in film, broadcast, XR, AI, and the virtual production industry.
Through his company, Modern Creative Ops, he consults with SMB's, enterprise orgs, and creative teams on everything from workflow automation, XR and innovative storytelling, virtual production, and studio design and build.
He serves as the President of the Dallas Producers Association (dallasproducers.org) and Director of Operations for the Texas Media Production Alliance (TXMPA.org).
James Faust likes to rock and watch movies. Not in that order. He began as the festival’s Senior Programmer at our inception back in 2006, when DIFF was called AFI DALLAS. That position followed programming roles with the Asian Film Festival of Dallas, The Austin Film Festival and Texas Black Film Festival.
A die-hard Red Raiders fan, James received Telecommunication and Theatre degrees at Texas Tech University, which he followed up with a degree in Cinema Studies at Southern Methodist University. He has served on juries and panels all over the world speaking about film festival management, programming and marketing.
Named in September 2022 as CEO of Dallas Film Society, Inc. | DIFF Dallas International Film Festival, Wilbins has been affiliated with the organization since its founding as a nonprofit in 2006. Under her leadership, the organization’s signature event, the Dallas International Film Festival, achieved a milestone when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences named DIFF in October 2024 as an Oscar® Qualifying Festival – one of only 59 film festivals in the U.S. and only 181 film festivals worldwide to earn the designation.
In her role as CEO, Wilbins has passionately pursued community-building for film professionals and aficionados by establishing year-round film programs, series, and events through collaborations with diverse arts organizations, nonprofit community partners, businesses, schools, filmmakers, and studios.
Wilbins is the former editor-in-chief of D Magazine and former publisher and editor-in-chief of Philanthropy World magazine.A native of Winston-Salem, NC, Wilbins was graduated cum laude from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and pursued graduate studies in mass communication at Wake Forest University.
