The Lone Star International Film Festival concluded its third edition on Sunday, and by most estimations it was a success. </p><p>The organizers did a solid job with marketing and getting the word out about the fest -- a challenge they've struggled with in year's past. (There were reports of sold out screenings throughout the festival's five days.) The film schedule offered any number of nice surprises -- including the romantic comedy <em>Spooner</em> and the Irish ghost story <em>The Eclipse</em> -- that have screened virtually nowhere else in the United States. </p><p>Perhaps most significantly, at least for the long-term health of the event, this year’s edition attracted a wide range of movie buffs: On Friday night, for instance, I journeyed from a screening of a ballet documentary by Anne Bass at the Modern, where I was one of the younger people in the theater, to a lively festival party at the Norris Conference Center hosted by local filmmaker Andrew Disney, where I was one of the oldest. </p><p>And yet, the festival never seemed to achieve a kind of critical mass -- that moment where <em>everyone</em> felt as if they were part of a singular experience. I suspect that’s because the schedule is still a bit too diffuse and unfocused. With multiple screenings and tributes taking place simultaneously in venues throughout the city, both the energy and the audiences are apt to get spread thin. </p><p>Take the tribute to the late screenwriter and playwright Horton Foote at the Modern Art Museum on Thursday night. Foote's son told stories about his father and presented a screening of the Oscar-winning film <em>Tender Mercies</em>. I couldn’t attend, but I heard from a number of people that it was a highlight of the festival -- it offered precisely the mixture of down-home charm and artistic sophistication that makes Fort Worth so unique. </p><p>The only problem, my friends reported, was that the auditorium was barely half full. </p><p>I was similarly disappointed to see the festival’s closing night film, <em>The Messenger,</em> only about three-quarters full. Granted, Lone Star was competing with arguably the biggest show of the year (the TCU football team's showdown against Utah) but the crowd still seemed puny, especially for a movie that just earned <a href="http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/movies/13messenger.html">a rave review in The New York Times</a> and is being talked up as a potential Oscar nominee. </p><p>The real problem may have been an embarrassment of riches: At the same time <em>The Messenger</em> was beginning, a shorts programs was wrapping up at Four Day Weekend Theater, and a German film was unspooling in a theater next door. That’s simply more alternatives that the still relatively small Fort Worth film community can probably support. </p><p>My other concern: I’m not sure the festival's numerous events were integrated into a cohesive whole. Legendary singer-actor Kris Kristoferson was honored with the inaugural Stephen Bruton award, for artists who contribute to music and film worlds. (Bruton is the beloved Fort Worth musician who died earlier this year.) </p><p>Our pop music critic, Preston Jones <a href= “http://www.dfw.com/170/story/200751.html”>covered the event,</a> at Lola's in the Stockyards and reported that it was emotionally charged and memorable. But the tribute seemed, both geographically and spiritually, at a remove from the rest of the festival. Indeed, I think the organizers missed a real opportunity in not screening a couple of Kristoferson’s films downtown. It would have given those of us who couldn’t make it to the tribute to feel as if Kristoferson had a larger connection to the festival. </p><p>The good news is that these are all easily correctable problems: As Lone Star starts looking toward its fourth edition next year, the organizers should remember to maintain focus and precision in their programming; and they should consider limiting the number of film alternatives they offer at any given time. </p><p>The even better news is that this festival seems here for the duration. The year-round programming, which last year included a children’s film series at the Modern and encore performances of a number of favorites from the festival, has been terrific. A number of ambitious initiatives announced at this year’s festival -- organizers hope to use the Stephen Bruton award as a springboard to develop a music component to the festival, a la South by Southwest in Austin -- should ultimately help broaden the audience. </p><p>Indeed, a few inevitable growing pains aside, this year's Lone Star International Film Festival mostly left one hopeful: This event has the potential become another crown jewel of Fort Worth’s arts scene.