The dealers have packed up and Texas 237 has emptied out. On Thursday, November 12, the 3rd Annual Round Top Film Festival opens at the same addresses the antiques crowds just left. Screenings fill the Concert Hall on Jaster Road, a shopping venue on 237, and a honky-tonk on North Washington Street. The opening-night party is at The Compound, which hosts its Winter and Spring Antique & Design Shows in five barns and three farmhouses.
For four days in November, the festival uses the town's antiques-season layout for film. Someone who already knows how to get around Round Top during show season knows how to get around this festival. Getting in also costs less than the $425 pass on the front page suggests.
Same Grounds, Second Season
The festival's lineup announcement, as covered by BroadwayWorld, describes the event as "set against Round Top's distinctive architecture and celebrated design heritage." In practice, that means films play in places locals already know for other things.
| Venue | Address | The rest of the year | November 12–15 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Festival Hill | 248 Jaster Road | Round Top Festival Institute's 210-acre campus, founded in 1971 by concert pianist James Dick | Main screening venue, opening and closing nights, Saturday awards ceremony |
| Market Hill | 1542 TX-237 | Shopping venue and home of Duo Modern | Screenings, including the Texas documentary shorts |
| 550 venue | 550 N. Washington St. | Honky-tonk in the 550 District | Secondary screening room |
| The Compound | 2550 Texas 237 | Antique & Design Shows, twice-yearly Fine Art Festival | Opening Night Party, Thursday 9 p.m. to midnight |
The official pages call the North Washington Street venue two different names, "550 Dance Hall" on the schedule and "550 Market" on the festival details page, which gives the North Washington Street address. The festival's own description calls it "one of Round Top's most beloved honky tonks," reimagined as a screening room "where honky tonk meets Hollywood." A fifth venue, The Halles, hosts one separately ticketed Saturday event, covered below.
Since Festival Hill is the centerpiece, most of the big nights stay on Jaster Road. The festival schedule has Heartland opening the festival there on Thursday, November 12, from 7 to 9 p.m., followed by a conversation with director Shana Feste. The opening party then moves to The Compound for "The Ranch at Round Top." The festival closes Sunday, November 15, from 6 to 8:30 p.m., also at Festival Hill, with the Texas premiere of Louis L'Amour's FLINT. The lineup announcement lists director Ryan Whitaker as an expected guest.
The $20 Way In
The pass page lists the Silver Screen Pass at $425 and the Luminary Pass at $725. Day passes for Friday, Saturday or Sunday cost $225 each, and discounted day passes for students and veterans with qualifying ID cost $80. Tax and service fees are extra.
The festival details page describes a cheaper option that's easy to miss. Here is how rush tickets work:
- Single tickets go on sale at the venue on the day of the screening, 10 minutes before the scheduled start, space permitting.
- Sales open only after every passholder has gone in and been seated.
- Each ticket costs $20, credit card only. Cash and mobile payments are not accepted.
- No single tickets are sold in advance, and rush seats are not guaranteed.
Passholders get the guarantee instead. Anyone with a pass who is in line at least 15 minutes before a screening is promised a seat. Luminary and Founders Circle holders use a priority line, and Silver Screen, media and day-pass holders use the general line.
So rush tickets suit someone who lives a few minutes from Market Hill or the 550 venue far better than someone driving in from Houston. A resident can check the schedule that morning, pick a screening, and leave if the room is full. A visitor who made a long drive for one film has a lot more riding on getting a seat.
What's Worth the Line
The 2026 lineup announcement counts 53 films and special presentations, including 24 premieres and six directorial debuts. For comparison, Deadline reported that the first festival in 2024 screened 48 films, with seven world premieres and 17 Texas premieres. The two years were counted differently, but the program has clearly grown since mother and daughter Shanna and Skylar Schanen co-founded the festival in 2024.
For someone working with $20 tickets and a flexible morning, Friday, November 13, has the most to choose from, with two Texas programs at Market Hill and a music documentary at Festival Hill:
- The Backbone of Texas shorts, Friday morning. This block includes Hope for the Guadalupe by Ben Masters, which follows restoration work after the 2025 Hill Country floods, and the world premiere of The Sounds of Texas Music: Searching For A Home, about an Austin museum's effort to win recognition and a permanent home.
- The Best Little Tiny Park in Texas, Friday at 7 p.m. Margaret Barry's short is part of the Something Worth Keeping documentary block, which is about preserving places and their stories.
- Kenny Loggins: Conviction of the Heart, Friday 9 to 11 a.m. at Festival Hill. The documentary on the songwriter runs in the main hall the same morning.
On Saturday, November 14, the Houston connection is the panel Made in Texas: The Story Behind Mattress Mack. Writer-director Shane Andries, producer Christian Sosa, and actors Billy Magnussen and Dianna Agron discuss bringing the life of Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale to the screen. Other panels cover production design, costume design and stunt work. The Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick comedy Family Movie is the centerpiece film. The jury includes director Catherine Hardwicke, producer Richard Gladstein, producer Martin Jones and actor Theo Rossi. The festival gives both Juried and Audience Awards.
The one event that doesn't fit the rush-ticket approach is the Saturday Singer/Songwriter Series at The Halles, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. It pairs a screening of SONGWRITER: Shane McAnally "Merry Go Round" with a songwriter round featuring McAnally and Josh Osborne. It is ticketed separately from the passes. The festival's special-guests page says a third Grammy-winning songwriter is still to be announced.
The Venues Stay Busy After the Credits
The film festival is the biggest event of the month, but the same few venues are booked on both sides of it, starting Friday, November 6.
Before the festival
- November 6, 6 to 9:30 p.m. Music for Mutts, a benefit for MuttNation with Miranda Lambert and friends, at Junk Gypsy Co., 1215 Texas 237.
- November 6 to 8. Festival Hill's 29th Annual Theatre Forum, "Ever After: Theatre and Fairy Tales," in Festival Concert Hall.
- November 7, 9 a.m. to noon. Gardens & Grounds Service Day at Festival Hill, five days before the film crowds arrive.
After the festival
- November 20, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Round Top Fine Art Festival returns to The Compound. It is a juried show with 75 to 100 artists and makers.
- December 5. Two events share the evening. Festival Hill presents Sounds of the Season in Festival Concert Hall, and the Chamber's Annual Lighted Christmas Parade runs from 6:15 to 7:30 p.m. at the Town Square, 100 Main Street.
- Early December. The Compound's Christkindlmarkt is set for the first weekend of the month, but its calendar lists December 4 to 6 in one place and December 5, 6 and 7 in another. Check with the venue before planning around a specific day.
The Round Top Family Library keeps a steadier, free schedule for children through the same weeks. Its Fall 2026 after-school programs include Taekwondo on November 5 and 19 and December 10, Shakespeare on November 10 and 17 and December 1 and 15, and Chess Club on November 12 and December 3 and 17. Chess Club falls on the festival's opening day.
Laid out together, the calendar shows Round Top's fall is longer than the antiques fair. Festival Hill hosts a theatre forum, a film festival and a holiday concert within a month. The Compound goes from antiques barns to an opening-night party, then an art fair, then a Christmas market. A $20 card and a Friday morning free are enough to get into most of it.
At Bryan Beene, we follow Round Top's calendar closely because it affects how a property here is used and valued through the year. If you own in or near town and want to know where your home stands as the season changes, get in touch for a free home valuation.
