Slackery News Tidbits

Use this for general news items.

Slackery News Tidbits, May 7

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Here's the latest Austin film news.

  • Former AFS Artistic Services Director Bryan Poyser's latest feature film The Bounceback began filming in Austin on April 29, according to Joe M. O'Connell's blog. Austin-based cinematographer P.J. Raval and producer Megan Gilbride round out the crew. Little is known about the romantic comedy, set to star Sara Paxton (The Last House on the Left). However, Poyser told Austin Movie Blog that the movie is about the "unique facets" of Austin.
  • Congratulations to Twitchy Dolphin Flix  -- the Austin-based production company's film Turkey Day won the Audience Choice Award and cofounder/writer/director James Christopher won a silver division screenwriting competition award for his script Soldier Dog: Letters From Wolfie, at the Bare Bones International Film Festival. Christopher was covering Texas Frightmare Weekend in Dallas for Slackerwood last weekend; look for his dispatches soon.
  • But wait, there's more: On May 10 at J. Black's, Twitchy Dolphin Flix will host Twitchy-Palooza 2012, a live concert that will feature musicians whose music has been used in the company's films. Twitchy-Palooza coincides with the DVD release party for the company's film Look At Me Again, which won Best Drama at the 2011 Bare Bones festival, among other awards. The production company will also begin filming the new feature References.

Slackery News Tidbits, May 1

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

  • Austin-based director Richard Linklater's latest film Bernie opened on Friday in limited runs in New York, L.A. and Austin (at Violet Crown). The Austin Chronicle reported the result: the best opening weekend ever for a Linklater feature. Needless to say, Bernie killed at the box office with more than $30,000 estimated per screen ($90,400 total).
  • IndieWIRE reported that Dallas filmmaker David Lowery is set to write and direct the Rooney Mara (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Ben Foster, Casey Affleck flick Ain't Them Bodies Saints. Lowery's short film Pioneer (Jette's article) won the Grand Jury Award at SXSW 2011 and his feature debut, St. Nick (Jette's article), was a 2007 Texas Filmmakers Production Fund recipient. Ain't Them Bodies Saints, a project of the 2011 Creative Producing Labs and Creative Producing Summit at Sundance, tells the story of a 1970s outlaw who escapes from prison and sets out across the Texas countryside to reunite with his wife and daughter.
  • The brand-new Oak Cliff Film Festival has announced some of the films and events that will take place from June 14-17 this year: a 35mm screening of the 1994 Central Texas-shot Love and a .45 with cast and crew attending; Fantastic Mr. Fox screening outdoors at the Dallas Zoo; a double-feature of the short The Black Balloon and the feature The Red Balloon; a filmmaking workshop with sometimes-Austinite Bradley Beesley (Okie Noodling, Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo); and more that we don't have room to include -- visit the fest's website for details. Badges go on sale today -- and if you buy a badge today, you can use a Groupon deal for a discount of more than 50 percent.
  • Deadline Hollywood reported the ABC Family Channel Original Series The Lying Game has been renewed for a second season. The second season will begin production this summer at Austin Studios for a winter premiere. The drama follows separated-at-birth teenaged identical twins Emma Becker and Sutton Mercer (Alexandra Chando), who, after swapping lives, try to unravel the mysteries of their past.

Slackery News Tidbits, April 23

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Here's the latest Austin film news, plus some upcoming event information.

  • A free public screening of the award-winning documentary Better This World will take place at 6 pm tonight (Monday, April 23) in room 8500 on the ACC Eastview Campus. The ACC RTF Department will present the film, discussion and Q&A with two of the film's subjects, Bradley Crowder and David McKay (although they will not/cannot be in the room at the same time). Better This World is about two childhood friends from Midland who were arrested on terrorism charges at the 2008 Republican National Convention. Read Don's review from SXSW 2011.
  • Dallas International Film Festivalannounced the fest's 2012 award winners at the annual Dallas Film Society Honors gala on Friday. San Antonio filmmaker Ya'Ke Smith's feature film Wolf (Mike's review), about a family trying to come to terms with the abuse their pastor has inflicted on their teenage son, received a $30,000 camera rental as the recipient of the Panavision Texas Competition Grand Jury Prize. The Texas Competition Jury awarded a Special Mention to Austin filmmakers and brothers David and Nathan Zellner for their second feature film Kid-Thing (Don's review). The movie is about a mischievous 10-year-old in East Texas who stumbles on a mysterious abandoned well in the woods. The grand jury prize for documentary feature went to Tchoupitoulas, which also played SXSW this year, and the prize for narrative feature was awarded to the Bulgarian film Faith, Love and Whiskey.
  • Austin director Jeff Nichols's new drama Mud will screen in competition at the 2012 Cannes International Film Festival in May, Austin Movie Blog reports. The movie stars Matthew McConaughey as a fugitive who is aided by two teenage boys who make a pact to help him escape from an island in the Mississippi River. In addition, University of Texas alumnus Wes Anderson's new drama Moonrise Kingdom will open Cannes this year. The movie, about a pair of 12-year-olds who fall in love and flee their New England town amidst a storm, stars Bill Murray, Bruce Willis and Edward Norton. It is scheduled to open May 25 in the U.S.

Slackery News Tidbits, April 16

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Here's the latest Austin film news.

  • In celebration of the upcoming release of Richard Linklater's film Bernie, AFS will host a screening and party with Linklater, co-writer Skip Hollandsworth and co-star Matthew McConaughey at 7 pm on Thursday, April 26 at Violet Crown Cinema. The screening will be followed by an after-party in the Violet Crown bar and cafe that will include complimentary drinks and barbecue. The event proceeds benefit the Texas Filmmaker Production Fund.
  • Congratulations to Austin documentary Trash Dance (Mike's review), which won the audience award this weekend at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham.
  • Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly has planned to start filming in Corpus Christi and Austin this summer for the aptly-titled movie Corpus Christi, according to Joe M. Connell's blog. The movie is about a mentally unstable Iraq War veteran who becomes friends with his boss and politcially ambitious supermarket chain owner. Variety reported that Edgar Ramirez (Carlos) is set to star in the movie, financed by Robert Rodriguez's Quick Draw Productions.
  • Director Paul Bright's sci-fi drama Goliad Rising will make its world premiere at 7:30 pm on Thursday, June 21 at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum's Texas Spirit Theater. The movie follows Ariel Loner (Shannon Lark) as she leads an underground group intent to stop the Goliad Corporation from taking control of the U.S. government with their latest technology that subversively brainwashes Americans. Bright told AMFM Magazine that his decision to premiere the movie in Austin was a "no brainer" because most of the cast are Austinites and it was filmed in the city.

Slackery News Tidbits, April 9

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Here's the latest Austin (and a little Dallas) movie news, as well as some upcoming events.

  • The Dallas Film Society announced that actress Laura Linney will be honored with a Dallas Star Award at the Dallas Film Society Honors on April 20. "A Conversation with Laura Linney" will follow the awards at 11 am on April 21 at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas. The Dallas International Film Festival will begin Thursday, April 12 with the screening of the movie Liberal Arts, starring Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene), Zac Efron and Josh Radnor. In addition, Austin filmmaker Richard Linklater's latest film, Bernie (Don's review), has been added to the fest's schedule. Jette and J.C. will be at the fest this year watching and writing about Austin and Texas movies.
  • The movie Get the Gringo will have a premiere screening in Austin this month, with the film's star and co-writer Mel Gibson in attendance. Gibson, filmmaker Adrian Grunberg and co-star Kevin Hernandez will be at Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar on Wednesday, April 18, and will participate in a post-screening Q&A moderated by Ain't It Cool News founder Harry Knowles. AICN has details about how you can attend the screening as well as several other previews around the country before the movie is available via DirecTV on May 1.
  • Women In Cinema will host a meeting at 7 pm this Thursday, April 12, followed by an "Austin Film Organizations" panel from 7:30-9 pm in room CMA 3.124 on the UT campus. The panel will feature Kimberly LeBlanc, Texas Film Commission location scout; Maya Perez, Austin Film Festival conference director; Agnes Varnum, Austin Film Society marketing director; Michelle Voss, Femme Film Texas executive director; and H. Cherdon Bedford, Austin Film Meet executive director and Humblebee Media "creative superhero."

Slackery News Tidbits, April 3

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Here's the latest Austin movie news.

  • Production on the indie comedy Zero Charisma starts this week in Austin. The movie, about an obsessive fantasy gamer who struggles to defend his tabletop turf and fellow role players from a neo-nerd hipster, stars Sam Eidson (My Sucky Teen Romance) and Dakin Matthews (True Grit, Desperate Housewives). The production had a successful crowdfunding campaign in Spring 2011, which included the release of a teaser trailer. Last fall, the filmmakers received a $5,000 Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund grant.
  • Speaking of which, the AFS Texas Filmmakers Production Fund is accepting applications until June 1. The awards are granted annually to emerging film and video artists in Texas whose work show promise, skill and creativity. Recipients are chosen by a panel of professional filmmakers from around the nation, who meet in Austin in August to review submissions. Grant disbursements are made in early September.
  • Evan Smith, Texas Tribune CEO and editor-in-chief, is sitting down today (even as this is published) with Austin-based director Richard Linklater at Studio 6A on the UT campus for a taping of Overheard. Austin Movie Blog speculates that Linklater will likely share stories about the making of his new dark comedy, Bernie, which was partially shot in Bastrop (Don's review). Smith may be familiar with the plot of Bernie since it's based on a Skip Hollandsworth article in Texas Monthly, a magazine where Smith was the former president and editor-in-chief.

Slackery News Tidbits, March 24

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Here's the latest Austin news:

  • The 15th Annual Cine Las Americas International Film Festival has announced its opening and closing night movies. The film Alguien Ha Visto Lupita? (Have You Seen Lupita?), which was partially shot in Austin, will open the festival on April 24 at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar. The movie is about a Mexican girl who runs away from home after her family tries to commit her to a family hospital. O Palhaco (The Clown), about a father and son who perform in a traveling circus in Brazil, will close the festival on April 29. (via Austin Movie Blog)

  • Austin-based grocery store Whole Foods Market will stream a collection of films about food and environmental issues for a limited time beginning April 22. The annual Do Something Reel Film Festival kicks off with a theatrical screening of the documentary The Apple Pushers, followed by a panel discussion with the film's writer and director Mary Mazzio and executive producer Laurie Tisch, among others. The event will take place at Alamo Slaughter Lane. Proceeds from the festival will help fund the 2012 Whole Foods Market/AFI- Discovery Channel Silverdocs Festival filmmaker grants.
  • The inaugural Housecore Horror Film Festival will take place October 2013 in Austin, according to the Austin Chronicle. Corey Mitchell, true crime writer and reporter for the horror film blog Bloody Disgusting, and power metal musician Phil Anselmo, whose record label lends its name to the festival, made the announcement during the "Seeing Red: Aesthetics and Visuals of Metal" panel at SXSW 2012.

Slackery News Tidbits, March 19

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Here's the latest Austin film news.

Slackery News Tidbits, March 5

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Here's the latest Austin film news.

  • Austin-based graphic designer and filmmaker Yen Tan (featured on a February cover of the Austin Chronicle) has been awarded a $40,000 grant from the Vilcek Foundation to fund the production of his third film Pit Stop. The movie tells the parallel stories of two gay men living in a small Texas town. Tan is scheduled to begin filming Pit Stop in Texas in May.
  • Have you had difficulty finding seating next to your friends and were unable to discuss an actor's hunkiness? If so, moviegoers, fret no more. The Alamo Drafthouse has been conducting a new theater seating test at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar, which will run through March 6, in hopes of finding the "perfect mix of awesomness." The reservation and seating system will be familiar to attendees of Fantastic Fest -- tickets have numbers on them (like Southwest Airline passes) and eliminate the need for lines. A similar system is also being planned at the new Alamo Slaughter.
  • Austin 360 reports the Third Annual Hill Country Film Festival, which takes place April 26-29 in Fredericksburg, has announced its first three official selections. Actress Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights) stars in the Texas-filmed comedy, Searching for Sonny, about reunited friends whose lives begin to parallel a play they performed in high school (Mike's AFF review); the stop-motion animated short film, The Maker; and the short documentary Randy Parsons: American Luthier, about a Seattle-based guitarmaker. The festival's complete lineup and schedule will be released March 26.

Slackery News Tidbits, February 26

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Here's the latest Austin film news, and a few upcoming events:

  • The 27th Annual Independent Spirit Awards took place night. Although no new awards for Austin or Texas films were announced, last month, Austin-based documentarian Heather Courtney won the Truer Than Fiction Award for her film Where Soldiers Come From. In addition, Sophia Lin received the Piaget Producers Award for the film Take Shelter, written and directed by Austin-based filmmaker Jeff Nichols.
  • The Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards has added one more honoree. Actress Angie Dickinson will accept the Star of Texas Award for the John Wayne film Rio Bravo at this year's ceremonies on March 8 at ACL Live at The Moody Theater.
  • El Rey is no longer just the name of Austin-based director Robert Rodriguez's hero in Planet Terror. Comcast, the nation's largest cable provider will distribute networks owned by Rodriguez, among others. Rodriguez and FactoryMade Ventures executives John Fogelman and Cristina Patwa have joined forces to create El Rey, an English-language general entertainment network aimed at Latino audiences. It is scheduled to launch by January 2014. (via Hollywood Reporter)
  • Production company FilmNation announced the logline for Texas filmmaker Terence Malick's new film Lawless. The logline for describes the plot as following "two intersecting love triangles. It is a story of sexual obsession and betrayal set against the music scene in Austin, Texas." Pre-production for the Ryan Gosling, Rooney Mara, Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale and Natalie Portman flick took place during last year's Austin City Limits Music Festival. (via The Playlist)
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