Slackery News Tidbits: September 8, 2014

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Here's a roundup of the Austin film news from the past week or so:

  • On Tuesday, the Harry Ransom Center at UT opens its latest exhibit, "The Making of Gone with the Wind." The Austin Chronicle has some background about why the HRC has the materials to make it a strong exhibit. Back in the day, I read everything I could get my hands on about the movie and while I no longer adore Margaret Mitchell's novel or Selznick's cinematic epic, I still can't wait to get to the HRC.
  • Fantastic Fest update: There are so many Fantastic Fest news updates that I can't keep up with them. Check out the film fest's news feed for the latest info. (Yes, I'm lazy. Look at the name of the website. Truth in advertising.)
  • Hollywood Reporter tries to untangle and sort the as-yet-unreleased Terrence Malick projects and figure out what we might get to see soon.
  • Speaking of Fantastic Fest: If you have a short or feature screening at the fest and you live in Austin or Texas -- or you shot here, or your lead actor/actress is from here -- drop me a line so we remember to write about your movie. Thanks!
  • In 2013, I caught the goofily insane Lone Star horror film Buck Wild at the Hill Country Film Festival (it premiered at Dallas IFF earlier that year). Now Tugg is hosting an Austin screening of the movie on Thursday 9/18 at Alamo Drafthouse Village. As I'm writing this,13 more people still need to buy tickets by this Thursday (9/11) for the screening to occur.
  • Drafthouse Films now has many of its offerings available online for rent via Vimeo.
  • The Alcalde (published by the Texas Exes at UT) has a delightful interview with Austin filmmaker Tim McCanlies -- who is also a co-founder of Fantastic Fest -- about how the local genre film festival began back in 2005.
  • Finally, voting is now open for Fantastic Fest 2014 bumper submissions (the short shorts promoting the fest that screen before each movie). Normally I would not be biased and would tell you to go vote on whatever catches your fancy. However, this year I feel compelled to point you at Robo-Ape ... because I appear in it as a ninja. (My last film role was Frumpy Housewife. It's definitely a step up.) I've embedded it below for your viewing pleasure ... clicking the blue Like button on the voting page is up to you. Let's hope it makes the cut and screens at the fest.