MFAH Film – Movies Houstonians Love: True Stories (Introduced by Stephanie Saint Sanchez, Senorita Cinema)

Often surprising and always intriguing, Movies Houstonians Love has become one of the Museum’s most popular film series.

Over the past decade, more than 60 local luminaries from different fields—the arts, politics, sports, education, restaurants, medicine, and beyond—have shared anecdotes from their personal moviegoing histories, and then taken a seat to enjoy the incomparable experience of watching the film on the big screen, with an audience.

This year, each presenter has chosen a favorite comedy.

The 2015–16 season opens on September 28 with Ken Hoffman, the highly entertaining Houston Chronicle columnist. The next two months bring architect Jim Furr on October 26; and Stephanie Saint Sanchez, Señorita Cinema founder, on November 23.

Save the dates for these memorable Monday night screenings! The lineup continues monthly through April, so check back for additional presenters, film descriptions, and tickets.

True Stories

Directed by David Byrne
1986, USA
90 minutes, 35mm

Introduced by Stephanie Saint Sanchez, Señorita Cinema.

David Byrne, leader of the Talking Heads, directs and narrates this affectionate but cautionary tale about the imaginary town of Virgil, Texas.

True Stories details Virgil’s sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) celebration, which culminates in a parade and talent show.

Often compared to Robert Altman’s Nashville, Byrne’s film features a quirky ensemble cast that includes John Goodman as a lonely bachelor and Swoosie Kurtz as the laziest woman in the world, plus musical interludes from the Talking Heads.

“Joyous, daft, and hauntingly original. . . .”  —Los Angeles Times

“Byrne says the movie was influenced by true stories he read in the papers. They range from the mundane (the happily married couple who have not spoken to one another for 15 years) to the cosmic (the Universal Product Code on grocery items is the advance sign of the coming of the Antichrist). Try to imagine Virgil as being populated by everyone who went stir-crazy in Lake Wobegon.” —Roger Ebert

About the speaker
Texas native Stephanie Saint Sanchez grew up in the MTV-era 1980s. When she received her first video camera at age 13, she was off and running, creating video stories and mini-epics. Over the last 15 years as founder of La Chicana Laundry Pictures, she has written, produced, and directed more than 30 award-winning, genre-splitting short films. Inspired by a screening at the Real Women Have Curves film festival, she started Senorita Cinema, an all-Latina film festival based in Texas and now in its fifth year.