New film festival coming to Round Top outside Austin

A new film festival is coming to a historic town in the Texas Hill Country, just between Austin and Houston.

Round Top Film Festival, from mother-daughter duo Shanna Schanen and Skylar Schanen, will have its inaugural year in the town of Round Top from Nov. 7-10. Submissions to the event are currently open and close on Aug. 20.

While the Schanens said the festival will incorporate much of the town, the Festival Hill campus from the Round Top Festival Institute will serve as the main venue.

"Growing up, my family and I always went to Round Top... and so we had discussed maybe starting a film festival because the town has been expanding so much and it's where a lot of creatives go," Skylar told the Statesman. "Creating a film festival is our love letter to Round Top."

Skylar has a background in writing, directing and acting, and after attending many film festivals, she wants to bring only the positive elements she's witnessed elsewhere to Round Top.

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This includes not just feature film screenings, but panels and speakers. One screening will be for a "throwback film" made in Texas back in the '70s, '80s or '90s.

"We'll hopefully have a podcast during the festival in a different location (where) people can go and get some inside scoop on the industry," Shanna, who grew up close to Round Top in La Grange, told the Statesman.

Early bird festival tickets are currently on sale on the Round Top Film Festival website. The silver screen pass, which is like general admission, costs $325 while the luminary pass, which is like VIP, costs $575. The sale of early bird passes ends July 31.