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Texas Film Festival Seeks Stories for John Alonzo Retrospective There was a storybook quality to John Alonzo’s life. His parents were migrant workers from Mexico. He began his career sweeping floors at a Dallas TV station and turned it into an opportunity to direct a cooking program and host a puppet show for kids. The puppet shows provided his ticket to Los Angeles, where it briefly aired on local television. Alonzo began working in movies as a bit actor, mainly portraying villains in Westerns. He had a talent for still photography which Charlie Lang, ASC noticed when they worked together on The Magnificant Seven. Lang encouraged Alonzo to pursue a career in cinematography. He apprenticed with Floyd Crosby, ASC, and went on to shoot documentaries with David Wolper. Alonzo subsequently compiled an extraordinary body of work as a narrative filmmaker, including Bloody Momma, Vanishing Point, Sounder, Black Sunday, Chinatown, Harold and Maude, Pete and Tilly, Norma Rae, Steel Magnolias, Cool World and other classics which left enduring impressions. The Vistas Film Festival in Dallas is preparing a retrospective of Alonzo’s work and a documentary about his life and unique contributions to the art form. They need anecdotes, still photos, clippings from his movies and anything else you think might help to tell the story of this extraordinary filmmaker. Contact Josh Hickman at JWHickman@aol.com , call (214)826-9560, or write to him at 4122 Main Street, Dallas, Texas 75226. See also the website: www.vistasfilmfestival.org.

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