Slackery News Tidbits, July 26
By Jette Kernion on July 26, 2011 - 1:30pm
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Here's the latest Austin film news.
- Filmmaker Magazine has named this year's "25 New Faces of Independent Film," and a couple of those faces are very familiar here in Austin. Local filmmaker Joe Nicolosi is the mastermind behind the very funny bumpers at this year's SXSW Film Festival, and DFW-area filmmaker David Lowery was also at SXSW 2011 this year with his short film Pioneer.
- Speaking of SXSW 2011, local feature Natural Selection (Debbie's review), which won several awards at the fest, has been picked up for U.S. theatrical and DVD distribution by Cinema Guild. The release date is set as "this fall," and I'll let you know when more info is available about an Austin release date.
- And have we mentioned yet that Richard Linklater's latest film, Bernie, has found distribution? Millenium Films picked up the dark comedy, which was shot in Central Texas and stars Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine. No word yet on a release date -- so far, the film has only officially screened at the Los Angeles Film Festival.
- If you're fond of chess and want to see it on the big screen, you'll be happy to hear that filmmaker Andrew Bujalski (SXSW 2010 selection Beeswax) is working on a feature called Computer Chess, which he wants to start shooting in Austin next month. It's about chess players and computer programmers in the 1980s. Bujalski still needs money to use for equipment rental and post-production costs, and has set up a fundraising project. The accompanying video is amusing, especially if you know which local filmmaker is playing the "Hollywood executive."
- Congratulations to local documentary The Eyes of Me, which has played several festivals in town. It's been nominated for a News and Documentary Emmy for Outstanding Graphic Design and Art.
- As a former Cinematical contributor, I'm really pleased to hear that my former editor-in-chief Erik Davis is now officially in charge over at Movies.com as managing editor. Austin film writers Peter Hall and Scott Weinberg (is Weinberg officially an Austinite yet? who knows?) will be assisting Davis in writing and editing for the site, so you know local film news won't be neglected there. (Aside: Yes, that's me in the photo in the IndieWire article. I didn't even notice until I'd read it twice.)
- On the subject of film websites, we at Slackerwood are very sad to learn Texas-based website Gordon and the Whale will be shutting down at the end of August. Obviously we too know about all the hard work as well as the rewards when you are running a website as a labor of love. But I suspect this isn't the last we'll hear from the site's founders and contributors, especially those in Austin and Dallas.
- Finally, an update. You might recall that Jenn Brown and I went to Lockhart earlier this year to visit the set of A Splice of Life, written and directed by Mark Potts and Cole Selix (AFF 2010 selection S&M Lawn Care). Lots of Austin folks are involved, including producers Kelly Williams (formerly AFF Film Programs Director) and Don Swaynos (Pictures of Superheroes), director of photography Clay Liford (Wuss) and actors John Merriman and Chris Doubek (together at last!). A Splice of Life had a work-in-progress screening at the Texas Theatre in Dallas last night, and I can't wait to have the chance to see it in Austin. Fortunately, while we wait, Potts is making tons of shorts available on YouTube. Harry Potter fans should take a look at Mudbloods: It Gets Better (if you don't understand the title, you're not really the audience for this short). My inner six-year-old boy really likes the very silly video embedded below, called LOL! Planking Fail!!, which admittedly was shot in Austin and includes Swaynos in its cast.