You, the Dallas film lover, don't apologize for your passion. Even now, as spring's overly cheerful birds sing of weather reprieve, you smile and flash your laminate, effectively telling them to shove it. It's DIFF time, and that means 11 fake sick days of movies, galas and possible celebrity sightings.

Get hungry for local flavor, because Texas-centric cinema's permeation of the 2013 festival circuit victory-laps here, serving up deep-fried goodness on the big screen. The Dallas International Film Festival, calendar-pinned just after its cinematic brethren, acts as a coming-home party for many -- like Yen Tan's Pit Stop, a film that will break your small-town heart, then softly dab up your tears with an embroidered hankie.