Thin Line Fest, the longest-running film festival in Texas, returned to downtown Denton for its 17th year, hosting a city-wide range of performances and events from April 24-28. Five days of activities from two photography galleries, over 60 films and 85 bands were at the event. General admission to all events was free, but special bundles were also available at many price ranges.

The first day was welcomed with an opening reception at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at the UNT CoLab, showcasing submitted photography in categories “Site/Unseen“ and “Still life.“

Photography freshman Ryan Bigley had four photos on display at the CoLab.

“I heard about Thin Line from my professor.” Bigley said. “I decided to submit a couple of photos that I’ve taken over the past year in Denton, just exploring every little nook and cranny of this town.“

Just down the street from the CoLab, the music section of Thin Line started at the same time at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios, bands playing until midnight that night. Different genres like metal and indie rock filled the venue, setting the tone of what type of bands would be playing. Over 150 people attended the first night of concerts.

The Campus Theatre also showed two feature films, each touching on current trending issues. The first film discussed the stigma around abortion across the country, and the second film discussed women and LGBTQ+ journalists in media coverage, both with Q&As at the end.

The second day of the festival started with another photo gallery at the Patterson-Appleton Arts Center at 4 p.m., showing photography in the categories “Time/space” and “Macro/micro.” In total, there were over 100 photographs submitted.

Filmmaker and photographer Erin Nicole Parisi said although she has been attending Thin Line for six years now, this is her first time having her work displayed at the photo contest. 

“Film is so collaborative,” said Parisi. “It’s really fun to celebrate everybody’s voice when you make a movie, but when it’s just your own piece of artwork, it’s so much of you and baring your soul.”

Parisi had more than five photos that made it into both galleries, her most well-known being a portrait of Frank Moka, the current drummer for Erykah Badu. 

Thursday had more concerts at more venues. Along with Rubber Gloves, Dan’s Silverleaf, Andy’s Bar and Steve’s Wine Bar. Friday and Saturday would also include performances at Harvest House.

Rock band Nip Slip had their performance Thursday night at Andy’s Bar. Lead singer and frontman Bowie Brae said they were excited to perform at Thin Line for the first time. 

“Thin Line was a blast, and the people putting it on were super helpful and very organized,” Brae said. “This is one of the best festivals we’ve performed for, and we hope to be part of it every year.” 

Nip Slip has performed at other festivals, like the Trans Pride Festival back in October, and performed at the Fry Street Festival.

The following days of the festival were even grander, with hundreds of people attending all the events. A worker at Rubber Gloves predicted around 500 people would be at their venue alone on Saturday. 

University alumna and Denton resident Miriam Perveen, who has been coming to Thin Line for four years, said she looks forward to the music at the festival.

“I am really looking forward to seeing the band Chat Pile on Friday night,” said Perveen. “Tonight [Wednesday], my friends are playing here at Rubber Gloves. They’re in a band called Skimp, and the band Strays. This is a good way to support local musicians, by coming out to these concerts.”

Thin Line’s goal is to combine different aspects of art and creativity, and they do this by hosting multiple events for various niches. They call the music portion the soundtrack to the festival, and the photographs fill the gaps in between.

There are also opportunities for creators to win awards with a ceremony held on Friday evening. People who had their films shown can win prizes from different categories, including Best Feature Documentary, Best Cinematic Vision, Best Student Documentary, Best Music Video and more. Photographers who had their work shown at the galleries also had a chance to win from each category. 

“I have all these friends who are amazing musicians, and we have such an incredible music scene in North Texas,” Parisi said. “This was a chance to support my friends, take photos of them performing and even have my own photos here. It brought me great joy to participate and be a part of this.”