T here’s something almost deliciously defiant about sitting in a dark theater, enveloped in a movie these days. Letting a film wash over you instead of doom scrolling. Surrendering to someone else’s imagination instead of the algorithm’s incessant feed. In an often fractured America of flickering screens and half attention spans, the simple act of watching a movie — together with other people no less — can almost begin to feel like a tiny civic disobedience. Houston Cinema Arts Festival is betting on that. Or, to put it in cinematic terms: HCAF 2025 arrives as the gentle but firm hand tilting chins back toward the theater’s flickering sanctuary

The theme of Houston Cinema Arts Fest this year is HERE, an idea that that sounds simple until you try to practice it for more than three minut

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