‘Saturday Night Live’ alum stars in winning selection at Oak Cliff Film Festival

Comedian Aristotle Athari and NBC’s Saturday Night Live parted ways last year, but the Plano native is continuing his career on the big screen.

Athari co-starred with Zosia Mamet in Molli and Max In The Future (2023), selected as this year’s best narrative feature at the recent Oak Cliff Film Festival.

Other winners:

• Best documentary feature: Long Live My Happy Head. Special jury mention: Don’t Fall In Love With Yourself.
• Best narrative short: The Sidewalk Artist. Special jury mention: Dream Carriers.
• Best documentary short: Breaking Silence. Special jury mention: 4DWN.
• Best student short: Comadre. Special jury mention: Cats Don’t Sleep at Night.

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The 12th edition of the regional film festival spotlighted 26 feature films and 35 short films with the event taking place at seven venues, including the Texas Theatre in Oak Cliff on June 22-25.

Athari was a featured player in his only season on SNL, but he was among three cast members who were revealed in September to be departing before the program’s 48th season.

In Molli and Max in the Future, Athari shares top billing with Mamet in a science-fiction romance comedy that Variety described as a futuristic remake of When Harry Met Sally. Michael Lukk Litwak makes his writing and directorial debut in the movie, which premiered at South By Southwest in Austin.

The Brooklyn-based Litwak accompanied his film to Dallas and praised the film festival.

“They do a fantastic job of creating community and their programming is first-rate,” Litwak said in a statement.

The Sidewalk Artist is directed by Brandon Rivera and David Velez, who started making movies together as undergraduates at the University of North Texas.

The 20-minute film tells a fictional story about Manuel Portillo, a Cedar Hill concrete worker and artist who draws in the wet concrete he’s poured at jobs across the area.

Long Live My Happy Head tells the story of a Scottish comic book artist with an inoperable brain tumor who uses his art to chronicle his cancer experiences.

Breaking Silence explores the relationship between a deaf father and his hearing daughter, reflecting on how imprisonment has shaped their relationship and their advocacy.

4DWN uses the 4DWN skatepark in South Dallas as a backdrop. The film follows the story of Zion Carr, a young skateboarder whose positive energy stays consistent as he works on teaching his brother the basics of skateboarding.

Comadre is about Marielitos, a Mexican immigrant nanny struggling with the last days of her current nanny job, and trying to find a new one.

Cats Don’t Sleep at Night is a story of a woman tries to navigate through her life with depression, but her cat is making things difficult.

The film festival is presented by the Oak Cliff Film Society, a nonprofit organization that aims to discover independent and archival films and share them with new audiences via screenings and educational programs.

“This was our biggest OCFF to date with more attendees, more badges, and tickets sold and more filmmakers in attendance than ever before,” said Christopher Gardner, who handled the festival’s public relations.