Native earns top directing honors at film fest

By PETE BANDA
Special to the NEWS

By the time he was seven-years-old, Dylan Hensley was making a habit of filming most family events with his parents’ handheld video camera. With a supportive family whose only demand was not to tape over any previous recordings, Hensley’s passion for filmmaking grew each year and eventually evolved to him making films with his friends. Fast forward 20 years, and Hensley is now an award winning director, despite just getting his feet wet in the industry, and has aspirations of bringing notoriety to his hometown.

Hensley, a 2013 SBHS graduate, was recently named the ‘Best Director in the RGV’ by the South Texas International Film Festival (STIFF), for his film, “Somos Borderlands.” The film, which is a short documentary dreamscape that Hensley created for his second year of grad school at the University of North Texas, takes viewers on a short personal tour of the Valley from Rio Grande City all the way down to Boca Chica Beach.

The film serves to highlight some of the people, perspectives and spaces of today through the music and lore of “Futuro Conjunto”, an album by Charlie Vela and Jonathan Leal, who also serve as storytellers throughout the film.

According to Hensley, growing up the Valley has given his film making a distinctive style that has served him well early on in his career.

“Where I come from is very important to me and I always wanted to showcase that with this documentary,” said Hensley. “This is the first kind of recognition I have ever received for a film and the fact that I filmed it all in the Valley makes it even more of an accomplishment for me.”

“Somos Borderlands” was actually nominated for two different awards at STIFF, and while both were a surprise to Hensley, his nomination for Best Director didn’t come until the day of the festival. While the San Benito native estimated his work on the film took up a little over four months (spread out over the year), he noted that he never expected to be awarded for the project.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.sbnewspaper.com/2022/09/30/native-earns-top-directing-honors-at-film-fest/

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