The Dallas International Film Festival has announced the first 10 films it has lined up for its April run. The most high-profile among them are Solitary Man, starring Michael Douglas as a former car dealership mogul dealing with problems both business and personal and No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson, a doc by Hoop Dreams director Steve James that looks at an incident from the NBA star’s past.

Also on the list are a couple of films with Texas ties. Austin director Tim McCanlies (Dancer, Texas Pop. 81) brings Alabama Moon to town. The children’s adventure film follows a young boy on a journey from Alabama to Alaska and is a 180 from the decidedly un-kid friendly (but pretty funny) The 2 Bobs that McCanlies showed at last year’s festival. Meanwhile, Fort Worth’s Tom Huckabee will screen his Carried Away, which is set in his home town and recently won Best Feature Film at the Oxford Film Festival.

Also on the list are Alex Gibney’s Casino Jack and the United States of Money; the environmental doc Climate Refugees; the Italian film I Am Love, starring Tilda Swinton; Sin Ella from Mexico; the war drama Snow and Ashes; and the music doc Thunder Soul.

The festival runs April 8-18; keep reading for the full news release:

Dallas, TX, February 10, 2010—The DALLAS International Film Festival announces ten films that will screen at this year’s festival (April 8 – 18) including films starring Michael Douglas, Jesse Eisenberg, John Goodman and Tilda Swinton, and films directed by returning DALLAS Intl Film Fest filmmakers Alex Gibney, Steve James and Tim McCanlies.

SOLITARY MAN, which stars Michael Douglas and Jesse Eisenberg, as well as Swinton’s Italian love story, I AM LOVE both come to Dallas after recently debuting at the Toronto Film Festival.

Gibney returns to Dallas with his documentary, CASINO JACK AND THE UNITED STATES OF MONEY following its debut at the Sundance Film Festival two years after screening GONZO: THE LIFE AND WORK OF DR. HUNTER S. THOMPSON at AFI DALLAS. James brings his documentary NO CROSSOVER: THE TRIAL OF ALLEN IVERSON after also screening AT DEATH HOUSE DOOR in 2008’s edition of the film festival.  McCanlies returns one year later with his children’s adventure film, ALABAMA MOON, after attending with his comedy THE 2 BOBS in 2009.

The list also includes two recent film festival award winners: Tom Huckabee’s CARRIED AWAY, starring John Goodman, which just won Best Feature Film at the Oxford Film Festival and Charles-Olivier Michaud’s SNOW AND ASHES which received the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Film at the recently concluded Slamdance Film Festival.

The ten official selections include:
ALABAMA MOON (USA)
Director: Tim McCanlies
Cast: John Goodman
Based on the novel by Watt Key, Tim McCanlies’ ALABAMA MOON is a children’s story of adventure and survival that follows the journey a young boy takes from Alabama to Alaska after being orphaned by the death of his anti-government radical father.

CARRIED AWAY (USA)
Director: Tom Huckabee
Directed by Tom Huckabee, CARRIED AWAY is a drama about a young man who, upon returning home to Fort Worth to find a fractured family, sets off on a cross-country pursuit after rescuing his beloved Granny from a nursing home.

CASINO JACK AND THE UNITED STATES OF MONEY (USA)
Director: Alex Gibney
The latest film by Academy Award winning documentary director Alex Gibney, CASINO JACK AND THE UNITED STATES OF MONEY, is a probing investigation into the lies, greed and corruption surrounding D.C. super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his cronies.

CLIMATE REFUGEES (USA)

Directed by: Michael Nash
Michael Nash directs CLIMATE REFUGEES, a documentary that uncovers the unbelievable plight of people around the world displaced by climatically induced environmental disasters, illuminating the human face of climate change and the collision that civilization now finds itself at between over population, lack of resources and our changing climate.

I AM LOVE (Io sono l’amore) (Italy)
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Cast: Tilda Swinton, Flavio Parenti
Starring Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton and directed by Luca Guadagnino, I AM LOVE is a tragic love story set at the turn of the millennium in Milan. The film follows the fall of the haute bourgeoisie due to the forces of passion and unconditional love.

NO CROSSOVER: THE TRIAL OF ALLEN IVERSON (USA)
Director: Steve James
Academy Award nominee Steve James (HOOP DREAMS), explores the fallout from a racially inspired incident and the handling of the subsequent trial which landed a young Allen Iverson in jail and sharply divided his hometown along racial lines.

SIN ELLA (Mexico)
Director: Jorge Colon

Directed by Jorge Colon, SIN ELLA is a drama about a successful reality show producer whose life and relationship with his children is turned upside down following the tragic death of his wife. When she appears in his thoughts to tell him what she would have done in each situation, the two begin to relive their love story.
SNOW AND ASHES (Canada)

Director: Charles-Olivier Michaud
Directed by Charles-Olivier Michaud, SNOW AND ASHES is a war-based drama where a war journalist attempts to piece together the events that landed him in the hospital after he awakens from a coma to discover that his long time collaborator and photographer has not come back with him from the war zone.

SOLITARY MAN (USA)
Directors: Brian Koppelman, David Levien
Cast: Michael Douglas, Jesse Eisenberg, Susan Sarandon, Danny DeVito, Jenna Fischer, Mary-Louise Parker
Directed by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, SOLITARY MAN stars Academy Award winner Michael Douglas as a former car dealership mogul dealing with a string of business problems and issues in his personal life through a number of relationships with women – many women.

THUNDER SOUL (USA)

Director: Mark Landsman
Directed by Mark Landsman, THUNDER SOUL is a documentary which turns the camera on a reunion of the 1970’s Kashmere High School band and its director, Conrad Johnson, which became an international funk sensation at the time. Thirty years later, his students return to pay tribute to the man who changed their lives.

“These first 10 selections are indicative of the great variety of films we will offer Dallas audiences at this year’s film festival. They represent the latest work from Academy Award winners, inspiring films that we have found at the latest film festivals, and a return to Dallas by some of our favorite filmmakers like Alex Gibney, Steve James and Tim McCanlies that we consider to be part of the DALLAS Film Festival family,” said James Faust, DALLAS International Film Festival Artistic Director.

The DALLAS International Film festival will run April 8 – 18, 2010. Passes are currently on sale, tickets go on sale March 18. Passes and tickets will be made available via online (www.dallasfilm.org), and phone (214.720.0663).