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Julie Taymor wowed the audience on screen and off to open the Houston Cinema Arts Festival at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Her “Midsummer Night’s Dream” is Shakespeare for the 21st century, yet timelessly magical; perhaps the best bard film ever made. After the screening, the director charmed the VIP audience with her good humor and down-to-earth spirit in a chat with Alley Theatre director Gregory Boyd before mingling freely with everyone at the after-party.

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Here’s the dirty little secret of the 2014 Houston Cinema Arts Festival: Unless you possess a time machine with hovercraft capabilities, you can’t see everything. With five days, eight venues and over 50 films, live performances and events, you’re going to have to miss a gem here or there.

The only solution is to treat these films as you would a date search or messy closet: Assess, organize, then prioritize.

Take stock of what kind of movie-goer you are. Ask yourself, “What am I looking for in my ideal film?” Then ruthless toss aside those films that just won’t get you. Finally, check our cheat sheet to find the perfect film for whatever your movie-going needs.

(Note: If not otherwise noted, click on links to find where and where each designated film will be shown. The festival runs from today through Sunday.)

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The sixth annual Houston Cinema Arts Festival is ready to roll, with an eclectic array of programming that includes live performances, a street photography exhibition, and the Houston premieres of at least two major Academy Award contenders.

And while the star power this year may not be quite as incandescent as it was during the five previous fests, when luminaries such as Robert Redford, Ethan Hawke, and Shirley MacLaine were on the guest lists, HCAF 2014 can boast appearances by the likes of Julie Taymor, who will introduce her new film A Midsummer Night’s Dream on the festival’s opening night; Oscar-nominated director James Ivory, who’ll be honored with the festival’s Levantine Cinema Arts Award and a mini-retrospective of his films; experimental filmmaker Ken Jacobs, who will present a “film performance” titled Time Squared on Friday at the Aurora Picture Show; and Brazilian writer-director Marcelo Gomes, who will present regional premieres of his two most recent films – Once Upon a Time Was I, Verônica (2012) and The Man of the Crowd (2013). You can find the complete schedule at the HCAF website.

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The Houston Cinema Arts Festival — which runs Nov. 12-16 at various locations — is the brainchild of former Mayor Bill White, who wanted to stimulate film culture in the Bayou City.

He asked Franci Neely Crane to head a task force to see how the city could accomplish this goal, and the Houston Cinema Arts Society was born in 2008 with Crane as co-founder and chairwoman.

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On November 16, 2014, Houston Cinema Arts Festival 2014 and Houston Ballet will present the American premiere of the documentary dance performance film Sons de L’âme (“Sounds of the Soul”) choreographed by Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch and set to piano pieces by Frédéric Chopin performed by Lang Lang on Sunday, November 16 at 6:30 pm in a FREE performance at Miller Outdoor Theatre at 6000 Hermann Park Drive.

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While Houston is not a walking city, it’s rich in street scenes. Now anyone with a cell phone camera and an inquisitive nature can capture street life in the Bayou City and win a chance to attend the upcoming Houston Cinema Arts Festival for free.

The festival is highlighting street scenes in an exhibition highlighting adventurous media works and installations by experimental artists called Cinema on the Verge. The theme of this year’s exhibition is “Street Scenes,” with photographic and video works shown by four noted visual artists. The series begins with the exhibition opening and screening of street photographer Cheryl Dunn‘s film Everybody Street at The Brandon Gallery on Nov. 12.

To highlight the exhibition, organizers are asking Houstonians to participate in a street photography contest on Instagram. Photos can contain images of people, street art, objects or any scene which occurs in a street setting.

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The sixth annual Houston Cinema Arts Festival will start this year’s festivities with a screening of Julie Taymor’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream complete with The Lion King (Broadway version) creator herself.

Another highpoint will be director James Ivory (known for A Room With a View, Howard’s End and The Remains of the Day) here to present this most recent film City of Your Final Destination (2009) as well as Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990) and The Remains of the Day (1993).He’ll also be receiving the Levantine Awards from Levantine Films, previously awarded to Isabella Rossellini, Ethan Hawke, Robert Redford and Richard Linklater.

In the area of visual art, the festival is presenting an exhibit entitled “Street Scenes: Street Photography and the Moving Image.”

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Filmmaker James Ivory and Tony-winning theater director Julie Taymor will be featured guests at the 2014 Houston Cinema Arts Festival, which runs Nov. 12-16.

“One of the most distinctive qualities of this film festival is it’s not just film. It’s a cinema arts festival, and we focus on film in relation to all the other arts,” Richard Herskowitz, the event’s artistic director, said at a kick-off event Tuesday night at the Sam Houston Hotel. “Every year we have live cinema performances, in which cinema interacts with other art forms.”

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Two acclaimed directors with contrasting styles will headline the sixth annual Houston Cinema Arts Festival, organizers announced at a launch party at the Sam Houston Hotel Tuesday night.

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More

A much-buzzed-about film that could garner Reese Witherspoon her second Oscar and an insider look at the first Dior collection under wunderkind designer Raf Simons are among 10 offerings that will have their regional premieres at the Sixth Annual Houston Cinema Arts Festival next month.

The Houston Cinema Arts Society released a list of the first batch of films that will shown at the festival Nov. 12-16 and it’s an eclectic compilation that touches on dance, photography, literature and theater, along with two films presented by Brazilian director Marcelo Gomes. The lineup includes:

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