Slackery News Tidbits, October 1

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Here's the latest in Austin and Texas film news.

  • Heather Page has been named the new Texas Film Commission director, Austin Movie Blog reports. She's worked as a camera operator on a number of locally shot movies and TV shows, is a former Texas Film Commission staff member and is on the board of the Society of Camera Operators.
  • Magnolia Pictures has acquired the U.S. rights to Texas filmmaker Terence Malick's new film To The Wonder. The film, starring Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams, tells the story of a man who reconnects with his childhood sweetheart after his marriage to a European woman fails.
  • Do you have no game? Neither does Scott, the overweight and overbearing fantasy role-playing gamer in the Austin-shot movie film Zero Charisma, from filmmakers Katie Graham, Andrew Matthew and Thomas Fernandes, which will screen as part of the AFS Narratives-In-Progress series at 7 pm tonight in the AFS Screening Room. The feature received a Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund grant in 2011.
  • In more AFS news, a newly restored digital print of the 1979 Academy Award-winning German film, The Tin Drum, will screen 7 pm Thursday at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar in collaboration with AFS. The film is about Oskar, who on his third birthday, refuses to grow older. As the world marches onward to the madness of WWII, Oskar pounds his tin drum in a baffling state of perpetual childhood.
  • The Fourth Annual Hill Country Film Festival is now accepting entries in all categories for short and feature-length films as well as short screenplays, until the Feb. 20 extended deadline. The festival, which takes place May 2-4, 2012 in Fredericksburg, has welcomed the likes of Texas-filmed comedy, Searching for Sonny (Mike's review), and drama Satellite of Love (Jette's review). 
  • Relive the Fantastic Fest 2012 experience Oct. 8 at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar as an extra for director Nacho Vigalondo's (Extraterrestrial) new film. Vigalondo is looking for people to portray Fantastic Fest attendees during the 12-hour overnight shoot. For more information, contact fantasticfestfans [at] gmail [dot] com.
  • In more Fantastic Fest news, Mayor of Austin Lee Leffingwell declared last week Fantastic Fest Week during the event's opening ceremony. Watch the video below to see Alamo co-founder Tim League make the request of the mayor.