The 43rd annual USA Film Festival kicked off this past Wednesday night and continues through the weekend at Angelika Dallas. Visit the official site to download the complete program. (I’m hoping to see John Carpenter’s They Live and Soi Cheang’s Motorway — review for the latter at my sister site A Better Tomorrow.) Other new indie releases and special screenings of note this weekend:

• Mud. The new film by Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter) features Matthew McConaughey. It’s the best American film I’ve seen this year. In limited release. Reviewed here.
• Starbuck. “As his lover announces her pregnancy, a fortysomething slacker receives other life-changing news: 142 people, all of them the result of artificial insemination, have filed a class action lawsuit against him, their biological father.” In French with English subtitles. (Landmark Magnolia).
• Upstream Color, the new film by Shane Carruth, has perplexed and divided critics and audiences since it debuted at Sundance. Continuing in limited release. (Angelika Dallas, Angelika Plano, Texas Theatre)
• Days of Heaven. Presented in 35mm, Terence Malick’s glorious classic should be a perfect companion piece, I would imagine, for Upstream Color. Then go see Mud. (Texas Theatre)

Opening in wide release:

• Pain & Gain, reviewed here.
• The Big Wedding. An ensemble comedy, from the director of Going Greek. Not previewed.