Triple-Digit Slackery News Tidbits

in

Funniest Filmmaker in AustinIt's too hot for film news, isn't it? It's too hot for just about anything except sitting in the air conditioning and watching movies. And yet, some of you have the energy to make movies in this weather, which brings us to some of this week's local movie news:

  • Austin Film Festival is co-sponsoring the Funniest Filmmaker in Austin series for the fourth year. Send them your short film (under 5 minutes) by August 10, and all films will be screened the following week. The winning film will be screened at AFF this year, and the winner also receives two AFF producers badges for the 2009 fest. There's no entrance fee, so why not take a chance?
  • Another great chance: SXSW is still accepting panel submissions for the 2010 Film, Interactive, and Music conferences until 11:59 pm tomorrow night.
  • BookPeople is hosting a book signing next Wednesday, July 15 at 7 pm for stuntman Gary Kent's book Shadows & Light: Journeys With Outlaws in Revolutionary Hollywood. As if that's not cool enough, special guests that evening include "entrepreneur/philanthropist/stuntman Rex Cumming (Walker, Texas Ranger); actor/stuntman Bob Ivy (Bubba Ho-Tep, Phantasm); writer/director Don Jones (Lethal Pursuit, The Forest); producer/author Michael MacFarland (The Pyramid, The Ultimate Joy); and iconic director/actor/stunt legend Chuck Bail (The Stuntman, Freebie and The Bean, Beastmaster)." (Thanks to Lars for the heads-up.)
  • Speaking of Gary Kent, you can watch a YouTube video of him and Lars discussing last night's Weird Wednesday film, Psych-Out, as well as his new book.
  • One of my favorite films at SXSW this year was David Lowery's slow-paced but satisfying St. Nick, which was filmed in the Forth Worth area. Lowery has now posted a blog entry containing the first nine minutes of the film as well as the webisode on which it was based. Want more? Read my interview with Lowery pre-SXSW.
  • If you're in the mood for a road trip, head to Dallas next weekend for the Asian Film Festival of Dallas, which takes place July 17-23 at the Magnolia Theatre. (You want to see the cool things Landmark does with theaters that aren't in Austin? Check out the Magnolia.) Check out Peter Martin's recommendations at Twitch for good films to catch at AFFD this year.
  • The Hero Complex blog at the LA Times has a good interview with local filmmaker Robert Rodriguez about his plans for Predators, the next entry in the Predator series that he's written and producing.
  • Finally, if you want something fun to watch this afternoon, check out these claymation shorts from the AFF Summer Film Camp. Snowmen, ninjas, penguins, sheep, cupcakes, Mr. T ... all in under 6 minutes total.