John Merriman (left) and Mark Potts star in Cinema Six.

After last night’s opening night film, Liberal Arts, the Dallas International Film Festival gets going in earnest today. For a little help in planning your moviegoing, I’ll be offering picks during the festival. Here’s what’s caught my eye for Friday:

Cinema Six

The comedy was shot in Lockhart and features a lot of Texas talent in front of and behind the camera. It follows Gabe, Dennis and Mason, three slackers who work at a movie theater. They spend their days profanely mocking the customers and each other and generally treading water in their comfortable jobs. But when life outside the theater intervenes, each has to figure out if he can hack it outside the cozy confines of the theater.

This is the kind of self-reflexive movie that film festivals are built on – a movie about the movies. It’s not the most original film I’ve seen, but many of the zingers between the co-workers are hilariously vile. This is a little love letter to movie theaters, and you can tell Mark Potts and Cole Selix – who co-wrote and co-directed the film – have spent plenty of nights hanging out in them.

Cinema Six screens at 4:30 p.m. at the Magnolia.

Also looking good: Under African Skies, Texas Black Film Festival 2012 winners.