When the 2023 EarthX Film & Music Festival kicks off on Friday, Oct. 20 at the historic Texas Theatre, it will bring together people, personalities, stories and performances designed to inspire and engage North Texans in a way unlike any other event. The evening includes a concert by acclaimed indie artist. Donna Missal.
Friday’s event, with a theme of regenerative farming, is a perfect topic for a Texas audience. With nearly 250,000 farms and ranches (the most of any state in the US) and 126 million acres of farm and ranch land (14% of the US total), agriculture is a critical part of the Texas economy, and Texas agriculture is critical to the entire country.
The festival weekend kicks off with a screening of Common Ground, the follow-up film to Kiss the Ground from filmmakers Josh and Rebecca Tickell. The feature-length Common Ground explores the regenerative farming movement as narrated by Rosario Dawson, Laura Dern, Jason Momoa and others. By fusing journalistic expose’ with deeply personal stories from those on the front lines of the food movement, Common Ground unveils a dark web of money, power, and politics behind our broken food system. The film reveals how unjust practices forged our current farm system in which farmers of all colors are literally dying to feed us. The film profiles a hopeful and uplifting movement of white, black, and indigenous farmers who are using alternative “regenerative” models of agriculture that could balance the climate, save our health, and stabilize America’s economy – before it’s too late.
Filmmaker Josh Tickell will be joined by a Texas rancher and by Hugh Aljoe, the Director of Ranches, Outreach and Partnerships for the Noble Research Institute. Headquartered in Ardmore, Oklahoma, Noble’s goal is to achieve land stewardship for improved soil health in grazing animal production with lasting producer profitability. Noble aims to remove, mitigate or help producers avoid the barriers that deter the lasting use of regenerative, profitable land management practices in grazing animal production. Dallas media personality Anna de Haro will moderate the discussion.
Doors to the venue will open at 6 p.m., and guests are invited to enjoy a drink at the bar and find a seat in the theater. The program will begin promptly at 7 p.m.
The evening’s musical performer Donna Missal started out as a songwriter and backing artist, collaborating with artists like Tinashe, Sharon Van Etten, Macklemore, and Lee Fields before landing a recording contract in her early 20s. After her 2020 release of ‘Lighter’, Missal became a sought-out vocalist, tapped to contribute a cover of Cigarettes After Sex’s “Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby” for the Oscar-winning film ‘Promising Young Woman’.
During the pandemic, Missal suffered a series of setbacks, including being dropped by her label for artistic difference. However, she has rebounded with strength and resilience. Her new album, her first as an independent artis, is entitled Revel, and that is exactly what she has been doing. The tracks are considered among the best Missal has ever created.
In the past five years, Donna has collected tens of millions of streams across platforms, cultivated a passionate fan base for her heartfelt songwriting, played festivals from Bonnaroo to Bottle Rock, and toured with high-profile artists including Lewis Capaldi, CHVRCHES, and King Princess. Rolling Stone calls her music “stunning”, and Billboard has hailed her “drop kick of a vocal.”
An after-party will take place at vegan Tex-Mex fave Casa del Vegano with food, drinks and DJ music.
EVENT INFORMATION
What: EarthX Film & Music Festival
When: Oct. 20-22, 2023
Where: Various locations throughout Oak Cliff
Tickets: Oct. 20, 2023
Texas Theatre, 231 Jefferson Blvd., Dallas, TX 75208
$37 - Film screening, live Q&A and concert by Donna Missal
$50 - Same as above plus admission to the after-party
Oct. 21, 2023
Arts Mission Oak Cliff, 410 S. Windomere Ave., Dallas, TX 75208
$60
Oct. 22, 2023
The Kessler Theater, 1230 W. Davis St., Dallas, TX 75208
$30 - Floor Level Seating: Film Screenings, live Q&A and concert by Danielle Ponder
$40 - Same as above plus admission to the after-party
$50 - Balcony level seating plus admission to the after-party
$340 – Private suite including eight tickets plus admission to the after-party
Information: earthxfilmfestival.org
About EarthX Film:
EarthX Film & Music Festival's mission is to build an annual flagship environmental film festival in Dallas, Texas, and a year-round community that supports film, music, culture, and the outdoors. We seek to promote film and the art of storytelling in a way that entertains, informs and inspires audiences to get outside, push boundaries, and protect the environment. We are reaching beyond the choir with the environmental conversation. https://earthxfilmfestival.org/