Slackery News Tidbits

Use this for general news items.

Slackery News Tidbits, February 3

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Here's some of the latest news from the Austin film community. Don't forget to check the Austin Film News Mega-Feed for even more news from a variety of sources.

  • Reel Women has put out a call for entries for its annual SXSW showcase. The deadline for members to submit short films is February 10, 2010.
  • The Austin-shot feature Red White & Blue premiered this week at the Rotterdam film festival. Reviews of Simon Rumley's horror/suspense movie are starting to come in from Variety and Time Out ("Rumley is too fond of blood"), and IndieWire has a profile of the film.

Local Restaurant Owner Scores Oscar Nomination

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Sandra BullockLocal restaurant owner Sandra Bullock (Bess Bistro) scored an Oscar nomination this morning for her performance in the sports drama The Blind Side. Bullock has already won a Golden Globe, a Broadcast Film Critics Award, and several other critics' group awards for her performance as Leigh Anne Tuohy. The Austin Film Critics Association gave their Best Actress award to Melanie Laurent (Inglourious Basterds), who is not nominated for an Oscar ... well, I suspect our demographic makeup is different than the Academy's. The Blind Side, written and directed by Longview native John Lee Hancock, also received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. I reviewed the movie for Cinematical last year.

Bullock isn't the only Austin representative in the Oscar nominees today. Local musician Ryan Bingham teamed up with T-Bone Burnett on the song "The Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart, which received a nomination for Best Original Song. I'm not seeing any other local connections but if I missed something, please let me know. ETA: Victor Diaz reminds me that Wes Anderson is a UT grad and Houston native, and his fantastic movie Fantastic Mr. Fox is up for Best Animated Feature. The Academy Award ceremony takes place on March 7.

Slackery News Tidbits, January 25

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Here's the current Austin film news, some of which is inevitably tied to the Sundance Film Festival:

  • According to Deadline Hollywood, Fox has bought the U.S. distribution rights to Robert Rodriguez's latest film, Machete, shot here in Austin last year. Review the photos we posted from the Machete shoot if you want to refresh your memory about the film. No word on a release date yet, but we'll keep you posted.
  • Austin Film Festival's Film Program Director, Kelly Williams, is covering Sundance this year for Austin Movie Blog over at Austin 360. Check out his first entry about the films he hopes to see.
  • IndieWire has a nice profile of Austin filmmaker Anthony Burns, bringing his first feature as director, Skateland, to Sundance this year.

Slackery News Tidbits, January 21

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Here's the Austin film-related news for today:

  • Sundance starts tonight, and as we've mentioned before, Austin is well represented this year. Filmmaker Bryan Poyser has been getting ready for his Lovers of Hate premiere with a poster (tagline is catchy, but I'm not sure I like it) and a very cool little comic/booklet with illustrations of the filmmakers and cast. 
  • Another Austin-related addition to Sundance this year: Mr. Okra, a doc about a New Orleans produce vendor, which won the Austin Film Festival's audience award for a short documentary in 2009. NOLA.com has a profile of filmmaker T.G. Herrington and his title subject.
  • Still more on Austin at Sundance: some KUT interviews; an article about Thompson, a short that played SXSW last year before heading to Park City this week; and an Austin American-Statesman profile of the Zellner brothers, who are taking Fiddlestixx to the fest.

Slackery News Tidbits, January 18

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Ryan Bingham in Crazy HeartHere's the latest Austin film-related news:

  • Congratulations to local musician Ryan Bingham (pictured at right) for winning a Golden Globe with T-Bone Burnett for their song "The Weary Kind" from the movie Crazy Heart. Bingham also appears in the movie. Sometimes-Austinite Sandra Bullock also took home a Best Actress (Drama) award for her role in The Blind Side.
  • Local filmmaker/Austin Film Society staffer Bryan Poyser heads to Sundance this week to premiere his film Lovers of Hate, shot in Austin and in Park City, Utah. Chris Garcia of the Austin American-Statesman grabbed him for an interview beforehand. If only we could jet up to Utah this weekend and check it out ...
  • Speaking of AFS, their Texas Documentary Tour selection this month is Tattooed Under Fire, which plays on Wednesday night at Alamo Ritz. Austin Chronicle writer Kimberley Jones interviewed filmmaker Nancy Schiesari, who is also a professor at The University of Texas, and who shot the movie in Killeen.

Slackery News Tidbits, January 13

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Today's Austin-related movie news:

  • Fantastic Fest 2009 award-winner Down Terrace is having a red-letter week. Magnet has just picked up the British comedy for worldwide distribution, before the film plays Slamdance this month. It may start hitting theaters this summer. Down Terrace won the Best Picture and Best Screenplay awards in the Next Wave category at Fantastic Fest. In addition, last month it took home the Raindance Award at the British Independent Film Awards.
  • The Harry Ransom Center is accepting applications for its Research Fellowship program for 2010-11. The fellowships support scholarly research in the arts, which includes film. The research must include on-site use of the center's collections, but that's a pretty fabulous opportunity, considering the film collections at the HRC. The application deadline is Feb. 1.
  • Speaking of deadlines, you have until Friday, Jan. 15 to buy your SXSW 2010 badges at the current price.

Slackery News Tidbits, January 11

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Alison Macor's bookThese intros to the news tidbits are always a bit dull, so let's cut to the chase and find out what's going on with Austin film news:

  • Over at Cinematical, Eric Snider profiled Sundance 2010 film Skateland. What he didn't mention -- and we found out from austin360movies -- is that Skateland director/co-writer Anthony Burns lives in Austin. Parts of the film were shot in Marshall, Texas.
  • We're excited to hear (again through austin360movies, a new Twitter feed you might want to start following) that local writer Alison Macor's book Chainsaws, Slackers, and Spy Kids will become available in March. If you didn't guess from the title, the book is a history of Austin filmmaking.
  • The Austin Chronicle has an interview with local musician Ryan Bingham about his big-screen debut in the film Crazy Heart (Debbie's review).
  • Just a reminder that Chris Smith's film Collapse is at Alamo Ritz for its last local screening tonight. The documentary from the director of American Movie and The Pool focuses on Michael Ruppert and his often-dire predictions of the future of our country. If you miss the Ritz screening, the movie is also available on Time Warner's VOD here in Austin.

Slackery News Tidbits, January 4

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The RetellingIt's a new year and already the Austin film news is pouring in! This morning we have some news about Austin films, film series and websites as well as a few end-of-decade retrospectives we found and want to share.

  • Austinites finally have another chance to check out Bob Byington's latest film, Harmony and Me (my review). The locally shot feature played a number of film fests around the country before hitting Austin Film Festival for one showing in October, and now it's back for a five-night run at Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar. Byington will be there on Sunday, Jan. 10, but you can catch the movie nightly through Jan. 14.
  • Good news for another Austin filmmaker: Emily Hagins's new horror movie The Retelling (pictured at right) will have its world premiere in February in Dallas, at the Pretty Scary Blood Bath Film Festival. Hagins, who is in high school but has made two feature films -- and is also the subject of the documentary Zombie Girl -- will be at the screening. The cast includes local film writer/artist John Gholson and filmmakers Kat Candler and Kristopher Aaron Morgan, with a score by Brian Satterwhite (Artois the Goat).

Slackery News Tidbits, December 29

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Austin has a few film-related news items to close out the end of the year. Here we go:

  • Artois the Goat, which premiered at SXSW 2009, is still going strong on the film-fest circuit. Next stop: The Palm Springs International Film Festival, where it will screen on Jan. 14-15, 2010. The locally shot comedy is in competition for the festival's John Schlesinger Award for best first feature.
  • Oxford Film Festival in Mississippi has announced its lineup of free children's films and one more Austin film will play the festival this year: Zombie Girl, the documentary about young local filmmaker Emily Hagins. One or both of the filmmakers may be there. The fest describes the film as "appropriate for age 8 and above," which is probably true, although I've never thought of it that way.
  • It's that list-making time of the year -- we may have some for you soon. In the meantime, enjoy this excellent list from The Onion's Austin AV Club of the Top Overlooked Austin Movies of the Decade

Slackery News Tidbits, December 23

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Danny Trejo at Cinemapocalypse, by Debbie Cerda'Twas the day before the night before Christmas, and all through the town ... oh, never mind. I'm lousy at those kinds of parodies. What I'm trying to say is that Austin has a rather surprising quantity of film news this week. Let's see what we've got for today:

  • Fantastic Fest 2010 is now accepting submissions for short and feature films. Let's get lots of local films in the running (and hopefully in the lineup)!
  • Next year The Domain will open a gift that keeps on giving -- a new movie theater. The LA Times has a story about the upscale Gold Class Cinema chain, which has only a few locations so far. Will Austinites shell out nearly $30 for a first-run movie ticket plus extra cash for fancy food, or will we stick with lower prices and food options at local Alamo Drafthouse theaters? Maybe the new theater will attract Domain regulars as opposed to film geeks.
  • The latest Predator movie, produced by Robert Rodriguez, has been shooting in Austin recently. Apparently there was a press day/set visit (pssst: please invite us next time!), which means we're seeing a wealth of interviews with Rodriguez and one of the film's stars, Danny Trejo (pictured above). IESB has a nice interview with Trejo about Machete. Collider talks with Rodriguez about upcoming projects, including Sin City 2 and the possibility of another Spy Kids movie.
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