A look at the TFPF winners

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The Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund (TFPF) 2006 winners were announced this week. TFPF annually awards grants and materials to filmmakers who need the money to shoot, complete, or distribute their films: mostly short narratives and documentaries, but often feature-length films too.

If you're not a filmmaker, you may not feel very interested in the list. However, it's a helpful sneak peek at the films that you might hear about in the next year or two, whether they're shown in local venues or manage to make the leap to Sundance or other big festivals.

Many of the names are familiar to me: prolific cinematographer P.J. Raval (Gretchen, The Cassidy Kids) received a grant to finish his documentary Best Kept Secret, Jenn Garrison (Prizewhores) was awarded money for her short doc Greg, and Austin Chronicle film writer Toddy Burton got a grant to film a short The Aviatrix. I went to grad school with Sandra Guardado, although I haven't seen her since, so it was nice to see she received a grant for the documentary Two Trinities.

Local filmmaker Bryan Poyser (Dear Pillow, The Cassidy Kids) knows more about the Austin film scene than I do, so he provided even more details about the grant winners on his blog. Unfortunately, Poyser didn't get a grant for his short Best Birthday Ever, but I'm hoping he's able to finish and publicize it anyway ... and that it'll screen in Austin eventually. The short film stars local actor/filmmaker Rusty Kelley (who was one of the TFPF winners) and Chicago filmmaker Joe Swanberg (Kissing on the Mouth, LOL).