The second year of AFI Dallas was a big hit with locals, with ticket sales way over expectations. Big kudos have to go to fest director Michael Caine* and his stellar team for working out the kinks from last year's fest and making everything flow smoothly this year, while programming a huge lineup for Dallas cinephiles. Here are some of the pics; a rundown of this year's fest highlights is after the jump:

I'm in Dallas for the second AFI Dallas Film Festival, and having a great time so far. The fest has worked through some of those first-year kinks and things seem to be sailing along smoothly, though I know there's probably lots of finagling going on behind the scenes that makes whatever glitches do come up invisible to most of us here. Shuttle service for passholders this year is making it much easier to navigate the fest quickly and efficiently between venues. The festival lounge is great this year -- the space is nicely decorated, there are always yummy snacks on hand, the drinks flow all night long, and Guitar Hero battles happen nightly.

I kicked things off here on Tuesday moderating a panel on women filmmakers for a private event held for a group of high-powered corporate women. Filmmakers SJ Main (Luck of the Draw) and Robin Bliley (Circus Rosaire) made my job super easy; both had many insights to share about being independent filmmakers and women working in the business, and the women (and their husbands) in attendance had many thought-provoking questions that kept the tone conversational and interesting.

Earlier this year, Jette Kernion and I covered the inaugural year of the AFI Dallas Film Festival. I was quite impressed with the job the AFI Dallas team did in pulling the fest together; they had a pretty solid lineup, especially for their first year. It takes a while to shake out all those kinks, but the staff was knowledgable and enthusiastic, the press office was organized and helpful, and overall they did a solid job. But, the work of a film fest staff is never done, and so, just a few months after the first fest ended, AFI Dallas is already making plans for 2008, and I'm pretty pumped to see what they do with it -- especially now that I'm living in Oklahoma City, just a three-hour drive from Dallas.

Says the fest's senior programmer James Faust (a super-nice guy who, I swear, must have had a cloning machine hidden in the fest office somewhere, because I saw him introduce countless screenings at both main venues), "After a stellar first year, we hope to expand our programming to include more film education, more music, increase our international film content, stretch the imagination with new and amazing animation, and continue to showcase that great Texas hospitality to all of our filmmakers and festival goers."

The expanded programming will be featured in categories including World Cinema, Dallas Premiere Series, Deep Ellum Sounds (that one will focus on music and honors the culture of Dallas' artsy Deep Ellum neighborhood), Mavericks (aka, those films that make you go, "hmm ...."), Family Friendly (self-explanatory), American Visions, and Midnight Specials (those are always a nice break from the more serious fest fare).

Last year's fest had 194 films; this year they're aiming for 225, so all you filmmakers out there itching to get your film into a fest, it's time to shake a leg and submit your film to AFI Dallas. The early deadline (with reduced fees!) is October 26, final deadline is December 7, with decisions announced no later than February 27, 2008. More info is available at the official AFI Dallas website.

Ah, the glamour of traveling to film festivals. It all seems like such fun, and really it is ... once you get here. I headed out for the AFI Dallas International Film Festival (which will hereafter and forevermore be referred to here as 'AFI Dallas' for simplicity's sake -- and because I'm lazy), only to arrive at the airport and find that my flight to Denver had been delayed by four hours, which meant I wasn't going to make my connection to OKC.

See, I had this brilliant plan to fly into OKC and drive down from there in my mom's extra car, thereby both saving AOL bucks on a rental car while also getting to say howdy to my family. Unfortunately, thanks to spring break, I couldn't get a rebooked flight into OKC until March 27, but they were able to get me into Dallas. So I arrived here a day early and got settled in so I could hit the ground running.