Austin Filmmaker Earns Prestigious Award In Directorial Debut

AUSTIN, TX – In his feature length directorial debut, Austin-based producer and director David Blue Garcia has taken home the ‘Audience Award’ for his film Tejano from the Dallas International Film Festival, officials said Tuesday.

The award came after two packed screenings of Tejano at the 2018 Dallas International Film Festival, which marked the World Premiere of Garcia's film. The director was honored with the Audience Award in the category of Narrative Feature Competition, officials said.

“It really means so much to receive this award for Tejano, especially since it was our first screening ever,” Garcia said in a prepared statement. “After six years of working on this film, I couldn’t have asked for a better audience to share it with. They laughed at all of the right moments and cringed during the suspense scenes. One lady even asked me if it was a good time for her to go to the bathroom because she didn’t want to miss anything. Tejano was meant to be an engaging movie and from what I could sense in the theater, they were hooked.”

With a story by Garcia and a screenplay by Kyle Bogart, Tejano brings to life the thrilling story about a South Texas ranch hand (portrayed by Patrick Mackie) who breaks his own arm in order to smuggle a cast of cocaine across the U.S.-Mexico Border. The reason for this plot element is driven by the character's aim to make enough money to save his ailing grandfather.

Raised in Harlingen, Texas, Garcia shot the film in about five weeks' time toward the end of 2015 in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. Using a grassroots method of production, Tejano features stirring scenes shot throughout border towns of the Lone Star State, including Harlingen, Brownsville and McAllen. Residents and visitors alike to the region will recognize many of the giant wind turbines now towering over the landscape of Southern Texas, along with the expansive fields and canals of the Rio Grande Valley figuring prominently in the film.

The Spanish-language thriller features an almost entire cast of actors who were born and raised or live in South Texas, officials said, giving the film an authentic feel and sense of place. The word Tejano represents the Spanish word for a Mexican-American resident of Texas.

Pictured: David Blue Garcia in pattern shirt

Last year’s ‘Audience Award’ winner in the same category was Bomb City, an American crime film based on the murder of teenage punk musician Brian Deneke. For more information on Tejano, visit: www.facebook.com/tejanothemovie. For more information on the 2018 Dallas International Film Festival, visit www.dallasfilm.org.

Watch the trailer below:

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