With a VHS camcorder, Caleb Straus and Dustin Johnson tried to change the world by remaking scenes from popular movies as children in Abilene. As adults, they are working to conquer it with The Storybook, the sequel to the apocalyptic thriller It's Over, through the Austin-based multimedia production company they've founded, Snout Productions.

"I don't know how many action figures we set on fire (as children)," Straus said.

Straus and Johnson plan a May release for The Storybook ... but that's only part of what Snout Productions is working on these days.

Snout Productions grew from a Snout Recordings label logo Johnson created, where he scanned his nose against a Xerox machine, for a Texas State Technical College class project. He received an associate's degree in graphic design from the college. He said the advice from Straus and the professional actors he has worked with through Snout Productions has replaced his need for a bachelor's degree.

Last week, SXSW announced the feature film lineup for the 2012 Film Festival, and today we've heard word about the short films and midnight screenings that will be headed our way this March. In recent years, some of my favorite finds at SXSW have been short films, and here's hoping this year is no different.  

Two of the programs will especially focus on films by Texans: Texas Shorts and Texas High School Shorts. A large slate of music videos is also in the lineup, including one by Austinite PJ Raval for Christeene ("African Mayonnaise"). Among the 135 shorts screening at the festival:

• Kat Candler's Hellion is part of the Texas Shorts program. The Austin filmmaker's short premiered at Sundance earlier this year. In his Sundance preview, Don calls it "an unexpected twist on how fathers, sons and brothers deal with other."
• Using stop-motion animation, Abuelas reflects on the past violence in Argentina through a grandmother's narration. I caught this beautifully haunting short at AFF. It returns to Austin through the SX Global Shorts program. 
• Remember how 12 Monkeys was a long-form remake of the 1962 short La Jetee? Well, Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke takes the French short to modern-day Miami and throws in 2 Live Crew's Uncle Luke. What say you, Terry Gilliam?

The Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards event is just around the corner -- Thursday, March 8, the night before SXSW begins. Austin Film Society has recently announced some of the 2012 recipients as well as new innovations to the gala.

Three honorees have been named so far: actor Barry Corbin, orignally from Lamesa (between Midland and Lubbock); filmmaker Douglas McGrath (Infamous, Emma), who was born in Midland; and actor/musician Marvin Lee Aday, a native of Dallas. Wait, you don't know who Aday is? You've probably heard of him as Meat Loaf.

The Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards event moves downtown to the ACL Live Theater at the Moody Center this year, away from its traditional Austin Studios venue. The evening will include more live music than in previous years, with a lineup including Grupo Fantasma, Nakia, and Suzanna Choffel. Actor/comedian Wyatt Cenac (The Daily Show, Medicine for Melancholy) returns to emcee the evening.

February brings us a new film from Japan's Studio Ghibli, internationally known for its animated movies. The Secret World of Arrietty will open in Austin on Feb. 17. But that's not the only treat for Ghibli fans in Austin. Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar will host a Studio Ghibli Retrospective starting later this week and running through early May (with a break for SXSW). The series features new 35mm prints of nine animated films, all subtitled, seven of which are directed by Studio Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki. Each movie will screen once a night for a week-long period.

Here's a list of the films being screened and dates:

• Spirited Away (2001), Feb. 10-16 [tickets/info] -- The Academy Award winner for Best Animated Film follows a young girl in her adventure in a spirit world populated by masked wraiths, a witch with a huge head, a big baby and more.
• Castle in the Sky (1986), Feb. 17-23 [tickets/info] -- I haven't seen this one, but it seems this movie tells the story of a flying city named Laputa, a boy and a girl searching for it, and involves a glowing crystal and sky pirates. 

The Alamo Drafthouse has combined several of their signature events -- a quote-along, a feast, and Sommelier Cinema -- and taken them to a new level with "The Princess Bride Feast," taking place on February 14 and 15 in Drafthouse locations around Texas. In addition, they're also launching yet another business endeavor -- this time involving wine.

If the special sneak preview that Austin press were treated to recently was any indication, the Princess Bride feast is sure to be the hottest ticket item for food, film and wine lovers this Valentine's Day. Tickets for the Feb. 14 event sold out so quickly that additional screenings were added for the following day. Personally, I prefer to avoid the busiest romantic day of the year and recommend you buy tickets for the available February 15 screenings.

Be advised that for this signature event you are not only allowed but encouraged to talk during the screening (if it's related to the film, of course). The Alamo Drafthouse's Action Pack has added subtitles to their favorite Princess Bride lines in key places, but you can quote along for as much or little of the movie as you like. The Action Pack has other special surprises to make the Princess Bride a date night to remember.

Actor and filmmaker/producer Zalman King died last week. Judging from reactions on social media, it appears many people remember him for producing the popular Showtime erotic TV series Red Shoe Diaries. But me, when I heard he had died, my first thought was, "Chickensh*t bingo." Here's why.

The first SXSW Film Festival I covered professionally was in 2006, and although I was writing for Cinematical -- a website with national readership -- I was still interested in the Austin-shot movies. My attention was caught by a documentary about musician Dale Watson called Crazy Again, which screened at the Dobie. I was on a festival press email list for the first time and was even invited to the film's after-party at Ginny's Little Longhorn Saloon on Burnet Road. (I didn't go. I didn't want to stop watching all the movies. This is often my problem at film fests.)

Dale Watson used to perform regularly at Ginny's, which is also notorious for its weekly game of "Chickensh*t Bingo," in which patrons predict which square at the bottom of a chicken coop is the one that the bird will poop upon. The game is included in the documentary, and I found out there really is a Ginny, too, who runs the establishment. She was at the screening, along with Dale Watson. (I believe that's Ginny Kalmbach on the left in the above photo.)

Here's the latest Austin film news, with a great short film at the end.

• Production company Parts and Labor, founded by former Austinites Jay Van Hoy and Lars Knudsen, has signed an output and development deal with German-UK sales and production group K5. The agreement covers all current productions in development, such as Red Light Winter, set to star Kirsten Dunst, and The Womb. Parts and Labor produced the movie Beginners, for which Christopher Plummer has received a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination. (Before being known as Parts and Labor, Van Hoy and Knudsen also produced local films Gretchen and I'll Come Running.)
• The Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program, a Texas Film Commission production incentive, distributed $25 million in state funds to 177 film, television, commercial, and video game projects last year, such as Friday Night Lights and Predators, according to an Austin American-Statesman article. To qualify for incentives, production companies must submit documentation of spending and meet eligibility standards. The Texas Legislature approved $30 million to use toward the incentive program this year and next, down from $60 million in the previous session.
• The local hip-hop musical feature Camp Kickitoo won the Best Comedy award at the recent San Diego Black Film Festival. Shot in Central Texas and starring an Austin-area cast and crew, the movie centers around Alvin, a young man who takes a job as a summer camp counselor when he can't find a job. No word yet on when the movie will screen in Austin; you might keep an eye on the film's official website.

If there's one trend in Hollywood that has worn out its welcome pretty quickly, it's the "found-footage" genre of filmmaking. Since The Blair Witch Project in 1999, Wikipedia lists 79 other film projects in the genre. In the grand scheme of things, 79 films in 13 years may not seem like that many, but when you consider that the biggest problem with the genre is that the movies are on some level all the same, therein lies the issue. We need something different, and we need it badly.

Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity deviated from the formula a little bit but at the heart, they weren't that different. Chronicle promises something different, but can it deliver on that promise? Director Josh Trank and writer Max Landis certainly have had a hard task before them.

The plot of Chronicle is pretty simple. Andrew (Dane DeHaan), an unpopular loner, decides to document everything in his life as a way of opening up. Naturally, everyone thinks it's weird, including his cousin Matt (Alex Russell). One day while at a party in an abandoned part of town, Andrew, Matt and their friend -- the popular Steve Montgomery (Michael B. Jordan) -- discover a weird hole in the middle of a field. Of course, in abandonment of all sensible logic, they go down the hole and discover something mysterious. The next day after their discovery, they've figured out that they have the ability to move things with their mind, and that they're getting stronger by the day.

The KLRU co-sponsored Community Cinema Series at APL Windsor Park Branch is showing More Than A Month on Tuesday. This free series features light refreshments and post-film discussions with relevant organizations. But if you're looking for some classic sci-fi, you can see Blade Runner for free over at the APL Milwood Branch. 

Normally we keep Movies This Week focused on what's playing in the coming week, but since that dreaded sappy holiday is nearly upon us, I thought I should mention that the Blue Starlite Drive-In is showing a special double feature of The Princess Bride and Breakfast at Tiffany's -- and if you're at all inclined to do something on Valentine's Day and see a movie, you might want to book your reservation now. Especially since the highlight of Alamo Drafthouse's romantic fare for Feb. 14 -- also The Princess Bride, with a quote-along/feast -- unsurprisingly sold out  already (there are non-feast versions later that week).

Movies We've Seen:

We Need to Talk About Kevin -- Bleak and relentless and starring the always-mesmerizing Tilda Swinton, one of the few actors out there who can deliver a provocative performance that's equally sympathetic and repulsive, although as Elizabeth points out, "The viewer has to piece together why she's now living alone in a town full of people who detest her so strongly."  Read Elizabeth's review for more. (Alamo Lamar, Arbor)

The Woman in Black -- Life after Harry Potter for Daniel Radcliffe includes the legend of a vengeful spirit terrorizing a remote village. Debbie found that Radcliffe's omnipresence left her "a bit de-sensitized." Read Debbie's review for more. (wide)