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Crystal Wise
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Crystal Wise
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Crystal Wise
Ryan Bijan’s passion for cinema knows no bounds. “Since I was a kid, I was writing, producing, and acting in short films,” he says. Born and raised in Fort Worth, Bijan attended Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts and studied film, TV, and digital media at TCU. “To me, filmmaking is the grand culmination of every artistic medium,” he says. “I love the art form.”
Bijan has worn many hats in the film industry, from writing and directing his own projects to acting in TV shows and movies to working behind the scenes. He was a production assistant on Richard Linklater’s film — “Everybody Wants Some!!” — and played featured roles in “1883” and “12 Mighty Orphans.” “It’s kind of a job-by-job basis,” he says. “I’ve done a lot of stuff in front of the camera and behind the camera throughout the years.”
In 2016, Bijan wrote, directed, and starred in the first episode of his original web series, “Mystery of the Bat-Man: The Lost Serial.” “It was an adaptation of early Batman comics, filmed in black and white in the format of a lost movie serial from the 1930s,” he explains. Bijan initially intended to release only one episode, but when the first chapter amassed over 250,000 views on YouTube, he decided to continue writing the story. From 2017-2020, Bijan released five more episodes, each garnering an impressive number of views.
Since October of 2022, Bijan has hosted Cowtown Movie Classics — a curated, vintage cinema experience — at the historic Downtown Cowtown at the Isis Theater in the Stockyards. “Film preservation and making old Hollywood classics available to the community are very important to me,” he says.
The Isis boasts a rotating menu of over 40 classic films, and during traditional showtimes, the first patron to arrive gets to choose what to watch. Bijan hosts Cowtown Movie Classics during off-hours (Monday nights at 7:30 p.m.) and hand picks exclusive features based on a monthly theme. “Your average patron can pick whatever they want to watch,” says Bijan. “That’s why I curate showings that are more specialized that you’re not necessarily going to find on the main menu.”
Bijan’s work at the Isis is all volunteer-based. He plans, markets, and hosts each event himself and even creates the promotional artwork for each showing. “All the posters and graphics, all the digital stuff, anything you see hanging up — I make all of that,” he says. “It’s fulfilling because it gives me an artistic outlet.”
Through Cowtown Movie Classics, Bijan hopes to challenge preconceived notions of old films. “The movies of old Hollywood are the movies that are continuing to inspire the art and entertainment that we enjoy now,” he says. “If you give them a chance, these movies are just as exciting, entertaining, and emotionally moving as anything we’re going to see in the cinema or on TV today.”
Above all, Bijan wants to cultivate reverence for the art of film. “Because of mainstream accessibility today, people view film as a disposable art form, as background noise,” he says. “I think that’s an unfair bias, and if we look past that as viewers, we’re going to get something very rich and valuable from the film-going experience.”
1. Bijan with a 16mm film reel.
2. Audience at Cowtown Movie Classics watching “The Phantom of the Opera” (1925) on 16mm film.
3. Bijan on the set of “1883” with star Tim McGraw. He played a featured Eastern European immigrant.
4. Bijan painting recreationally.
Greg TeGantvoort
5. Bijan, photographed by Greg TeGantvoort.
6. Bijan standing in front of a hand-painted poster he created for a screening.
7. Bijan and Charlotte Haveron before a screening of “Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger” (1977) with star, Patrick Wayne.
