Lone Star In 35mm! 30th Anniversary!
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Head back to the borderlands of 1990s Texas with Lone Star in 35mm! celebrating its 30th anniversary on the big screen. This is your chance to see John Sayles’ critically acclaimed neo‑western mystery exactly the way it was meant to be seen: projected on film, in a historic movie palace, with every grain and shadow adding to the atmosphere of the desert night.
Released in 1996, Lone Star weaves a layered, time-jumping story that starts with a skeleton unearthed in the Texas sand and spirals into a decades-spanning investigation of family secrets, buried crimes, and the myths communities tell about themselves. It’s part murder mystery, part slow-burn western, and part intimate drama about identity, legacy, and the long shadow of history along the U.S.–Mexico border.
The cast is stacked: Chris Cooper anchors the film as Sam Deeds, the local lawman trying to step out from under his legendary father’s bootprints. He’s joined by Elizabeth Peña, Kris Kristofferson, Joe Morton, Ron Canada, Clifton James, Frances McDormand, and a young Matthew McConaughey, all orbiting the same twisted legacy from different angles.
The genre-bending vibe: Lone Star plays like a detective story wrapped in a western, wrapped in a family saga. The sunbaked landscape is full of secrets, and Sayles uses each reveal to peel back another layer of personal and political history.
Social commentary with real teeth: Sayles is known for dissecting American life without preaching, and this film is one of his sharpest works. The story digs into racial tensions, border politics, and the selective memory of small towns, all while keeping you hooked on the central mystery.
35mm magic: Seeing Lone Star in 35mm lets you experience its dusty textures, twilight hues, and intricate cross-cutting the old-school way. The print projection gives the film a tactile, lived-in feel that perfectly matches its themes of memory and buried truth.
Perfect for: fans of rich, character-driven dramas, anyone obsessed with borderlands stories, lovers of smart westerns and noir, and film nerds who live for those rare chances to see a modern classic in its original format.
This anniversary screening is more than just a nostalgia trip; it’s a reminder of how powerful and quietly radical a well-crafted film can be. Come early, grab some popcorn, and settle in as Lone Star pulls you into Rio County, where the past never really stays buried—and every legend has a darker, more complicated truth waiting to be unearthed.