Slackery News Tidbits

Use this for general news items.

Slackery News Tidbits: September 9, 2013

in

Here's the latest Austin and Texas film news:

  • The Houston Film Commission's Texas Filmmaker's Showcase will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 8 pm at The Marchesa. The 90-minute screening will include six of Texas-made short films selected by a jury panel, including Austin filmmakers Craig Whitney (Jordan's interview) and Kat Candler. Some of the filmmakers will be in attendance for a Q&A. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Austin Film Society Grant.
  • Drafthouse Films, the distribution arm of Alamo Drafthouse, announced its partnership with fellow distribution company Cinedigm for home-entertainment releases, beginning next year.
  • In more Drafthouse news, Fantastic Fest lead features programmer Rodney Perkins selected the Austin-shot short The Quiet Girl's Guide to Violence for Fangoria's latest installment of its "Screamers" series, available to watch online. The dark comedy premiered at Fantastic Fest 2012.

Slackery News Tidbits: September 2, 2013

in

Here's the latest Austin film news.

  • Austin Film Festival announced more panels and panelists for this year's conference: writer Ron Nyswaner, whose credits include Philadelphia and The Painted Veil; producer Ben Blacker, who will moderate The Nerdist Writers Panel; Daniel Schechter, writer/director of Goodbye Baby; and David Shore, the creator of the TV series House, M.D., as well as a writer for The Practice and Law and Order. The full AFF Conference lineup will be announced later this month.
  • University of Texas in Austin alumnus Glen Powell is slated to appear in The Expendables 3 alongside Sylvester Stallone, Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson and Antonio Banderas, reports Austin Movie Blog. Powell got his start in movies with 2003's Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over and has appeared in more than a dozen TV and shows and movies, including Austinite Kat Candler's Jumping Off Bridges.
  • The Austin-made horror-comedy Saturday Morning Massacre (Jette's review) has received distribution under two different names in some markets, reports Austin 360. Fans can find the film under its original title at Redbox outlets around the country beginning Tuesday. According to the film's producers, Best Buy and iTunes are selling the film under the title Saturday Morning Mystery because of the school shooting in Newton, Connecticut. The movie, which screened at AFF 2012, is about a group of down-on-their-luck paranormal investigators and their beloved pooch, who embark on an adventure to debunk the ghost stories surrounding an abandoned mansion. 
  • The Tom Hanks-produced film Parkland (Ryan's dispatch), about the going-ons at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, has released its first theatrical trailer. The film is adapted from author and former prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi's book Reclaiming History: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy. It stars Paul Giamatti, Billy Bob Thornton and University of Texas alumna Marcia Gay Harden, among others. Parkland is scheduled for a Sept. 20 U.S. release, according to Deadline.

Slackery News Tidbits: August 26, 2013

in

Here's the latest Austin and Texas film news.

  • Fantastic Fest's international co-production market for genre films called Fantastic Market/Mercado Fantastico, which aims to connect international genre film projects with potential production partners, sales agents and distributors, has announced 16 projects for its inaugural edition. Selected films includes The Wrong Place by director Alejandro Brugues, whose film Juan of the Dead, which marked Cuba's first entry into Fantastic Fest, screened at the festival in 2011. The market will premiere in conjunction with this year's Fantastic Fest from Sept. 19-21. Austinite Robert Rodriguez's El Rey network will collaborate with Mexican production and distribution outlet Canana Films to produce the Fantastic Market.
  • In more festival news, Cine Las Americas will hold a season launch party on Wednesday, Sept. 4 from 6-10 pm at Malverde (400-B, W. 2nd St.) to celebrate the festival, which is in its 17th year, and hear announcements about its 2014 season. There will be complimentary beverages for members and donors.
  • Austinites and University of Texas alums Jason Cortlund's and Julia Halperin's film Now, Forager (Jordan's interview) will be released on iTunes Tuesday, with releases on other digital platforms slated for next month. The ode to food and fungi was a 2013 Texas Independent Film Network Selection, having previously been recipients of the Austin Film Society Grant (formerly called the Texas Filmmakers Production Fund).

Slackery News Tidbits: August 19, 2013

in

Here's the latest Austin film news.

  • Alamo Drafthouse CEO Tim League is looking to hire an apprentice, reports The Austin Chronicle. If you think you have what it takes to join the "big leagues," review the job's description via League's Facebook post and apply. 
  • In more Drafthouse news, Austin-based screenwriter and Alamo programmer Owen Egerton directed the music video for Austin-based musician Bob Schneider's latest single, "Wish the Wind Would Blow Me," on location at The Highball. The Drafthouse-owned bar and event venue is being renovated next to the theater chain's South Lamar location. 
  • The Drafthouse news continues with the announcement of this year's Fantastic Fest Bumper Contest, which invites the public to create the most outrageous and entertaining 15-45 second video possible that represents the festival and its current theme, "Intergalactic Fantastic." Deadline to submit entries is 11:59 pm on Tuesday, Sept. 10. The selected bumpers will play before Fantastic Fest screenings. Find out more here about how you can get involved. 
  • Butcher Boys, originally titled Boneboys, which was filmed in Austin and Taylor, is scheduled for a limited theatrical release on Sept. 6, followed by a VOD and DVD release beginning Oct. 8, according to JoBlo. Writer/producer Kim Henkel, who co-wrote the 1974 horror classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, teamed up with two former Texas A&M University- Kingsville students, co-directors Duane Graves and Justin Meeks, on the low-budget horror comedy about a family of cannibals. The film previously screened here during Austin Film Festival 2012.

Slackery News Tidbits: August 12, 2013

in

Here's the latest Austin and Texas film news.

  • The Austin Film Society announced the three jurors who will determine the recipients of this year's $116,000 AFS Grant, formerly the Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund. Jacqueline Lyanga, director of the L.A.-based American Film Institute Fest; filmmaker Ry Russo-Young, whose latest feature Nobody Walks won a special grand jury prize at last year's Sundance Film Festival; and 2010 Guggenheim Fellow Matt Wolf, who was named one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film by Filmmaker Magazine, will be in charge of selecting the recipients of the funds, which can be used toward production, post-production and distribution of independent films. 
  • Renaissance man Ron Deutsch announced that he will teach his 20th Chef du Cinema class on Saturday, Sept. 14 at Central Market North. Students will learn to prepare a three-course menu inspired by the Oscar-nominated film, O, Brother, Where Art Thou? The adventure-comedy will be screened -- and food will be eaten- -- after the demonstration, which includes jailbird barbeque, Pappy O'Daniel's buttermilk biscuits and honey butter, and strawberry-rhubarb pie.
  • Alamo Drafthouse CEO and founder Tim League may be entering the ring during this year's Fantastic Fest Debates, oral arguments that lead to physical boxing with gloves and headgear, Austin Movie Blog reports. This is all in the name of defending the movie-theater protocol that has made the Drafthouse famous (talk, text and social media-free), which recently came under fire with website The Wrap's article and blogger Hunter Walk's post suggesting that it's time to reinvent the moviegoing experience. Last week, Austinite David Delgado tweeted that League should consider fighting Walk in one of the festival's annual debates. League's response came in the form of a tweet to Slackerwood contributor J.C. DeLeon, where he accepted the challenge. 

Slackery News Tidbits: August 5, 2013

in

Here's the latest Austin and Texas film news.

  • A bevy of movies about Austin cyclist Lance Armstrong are slated for theatrical releases in the next year or so, Austin Business Journal reports. Paramount Pictures has hired J.J. Abrams to direct a Bradley Cooper-fronted flick, while Warner Bros. is moving ahead with a project from the perspective of Armstrong's former teammate Tyler Hamilton. Stephen Frears (High Fidelity) is also set to direct a biopic starring Ben Foster, with a documentary by Sony Pictures Classics rounding out the front.
  • The full soundtrack for SXSW 2013 feature Prince Avalanche (Elizabeth's review) is available online, according to Entertainment Weekly. Post-rockers Explosions in the Sky teamed up with fellow Austinite David Wingo to score the Bastrop-shot film, written and directed by Austinite David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express). The Prince Avalanche soundtrack will be available for purchase Tuesday, in anticipation of the movie's theatrical release this Friday. 
  • Film producer and Houston native Ryan A. Brooks was profiled in Your Houston News. The UT baseball alum went on to produce his first independent film, Happy Hour, a 2002 Austin Film Festival selection. After moving to L.A., Brooks established his production company, Gold Gloves Productions, which distributed the SXSW 2004 Audience Choice Award-winner Slam Planet. His film Inocente, about a young, homeless artist in San Diego, won an Oscar for Best Documentary Short this year. 
  • Fellow SXSW alum Rewind This! (Mike's review), which traces the cultural and historical impact of VHS, will be released on iTunes Aug. 27, with pre-orders being taken now. Beginning Sept. 10, the Austin-made documentary will also be available on other VOD/streaming platforms including Amazon Instant Video, YouTube, Xbox, Playstation, Cinemanow and Vudu. 

Slackery News Tidbits: July 29, 2013

in

Here's the latest Austin film news. 

  • Investors are suing Central Texas filmmaker Terrence Malick's Sycamore Pictures over disputes on a contract to produce two 45-minute IMAX films and a 90-150-minute feature film titled Voyage of Time, about the history of the universe, Austin Business Journal reports. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, alleges that Malick didn't devote the time needed to complete the films and says his production company has spent $3.3 million of funds from investor Seven Seas Partnerships Ltd. The filmmaker hasn't commented on the lawsuit, but according to reports, a Sycamore Pictures representative says the investor's claims are groundless. 
  • In festival news, many films with Austin ties will screen at both the Venice International Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival, according to Austin Movie Blog. The movies include Alex Gibney's documentary The Armstrong Lie, which follows the Austin cyclist as he trains for his eighth Tour de France; the JFK assassination drama Parkland; the Matthew McConaughey-fronted Dallas Buyers Club; Austinite David Gordon Green's Joe, about an ex-con, played by Nicolas Cage, and his relationship with a 15-year-old boy; and the astronaut drama Gravity, starring sometimes-Austinite Sandra Bullock
  • Fantastic Fest news continues with the announcement of its first films, which includes the Keanu Reeves-fronted and directorial debut Man of Tai Chi, which tells the story of young martial artist whose skills land him in a lucrative underground fight club. Reeves is scheduled to make an in-person appearance.
  • Fantastic Fest Audience Award-winner I Declare War, about a deadly summer game among neighborhood kids, will open in select theaters Aug. 30. The film is currently available on VOD, iTunes and digital download.

Slackery News Tidbits: July 22, 2013

in

Here's the latest Austin and Texas film news.

  • More Machete film incentives news: Austin director Robert Rodriguez says he doesn't support the lawsuit filed by producers of his 2010 film against the Texas Film Commission, Joe M. O'Connell's blog reports. Rodriguez appears in the recent commercial Gov. Rick Perry is promoting that urges businesses to move to Texas. Perry signed film-incentive legislation at Rodriguez's Troublemaker Studios in 2009. Incentives potentially would have provided the action/thriller with $8 million to produce the movie in Texas, but incentives were denied in late 2010 (Jette's recap) after the commission determined that the Austin-shot film contained "inappropriate" content that disqualified it from the funds. 
  • Do you have no game? Neither does Scott, the overweight and overbearing fantasy role-playing gamer in the Austin-shot movie Zero Charisma (Jette's review), starring Sam Eidson (Mike's interview) as the titular character. At San Diego Comic Con last week, Tribeca Film and Nerdist Industries announced they will distribute the comedy from filmmakers Katie Graham and Andrew Matthews Zero Charisma, which made its world premiere at this year's SXSW Film Festival, will be released Oct. 8 on cable and satellite VOD platforms and most major online streaming outlets, followed by a theatrical release on Oct. 11 theatrical release. 
  • In production news, HBO has ordered a new half-hour comedy series from former Austinites Jay and Mark Duplass, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The filmmakers will write, direct and executive produce Togetherness, their first small-screen writing gig, with former Austinite Steve Zissis. Zissis will co-star, write and serve as consulting producer. The actor has appeared in a number of the Duplass brothers' films, including Baghead and Jeff, Who Lives at Home. Production on Togetherness, about a woman who's considering moving to L.A. from Houston to be closer to her sister and an aging aspiring actor (Zissis) who has recently been left homeless, is scheduled to begin early next year. 

Extra Slackery News Tidbits (Plus Shameless Plug): July 17, 2013

Klown

It's a heavy Austin film news week, so here are some other news tidbits, courtesy of Mike and Jette.

  • Right on the heels of Jette's Cinematic Guide to Texas Politics, news hit yesterday that the producers of the Austin-shot film Machete (Jette's review) have filed suit in Travis County District Court against the Texas Film Commission. After being awarded $8 million in incentives to produce the film in Texas, the budget of Robert Rodriguez's film was increased, but the funds were pulled after the commission determined that "inappropriate" content of the film disqualified it from the grant. A sequel to the film, Machete Kills, also filmed in Texas, is opening Fantastic Fest this year. [MS]
  • Drafthouse Films announced its acquisition of the North American rights to the Danish hit comedy series Klown. The complete 60-episode TV series, which ran from 2005-2009, is now available on Hulu and Hulu Plus, and will be downloadable from www.klown.tv starting Tuesday, July 23. Drafthouse Films also has distribution rights to the film Klown (J.C.'s review), based on the series, which premiered at Fantastic Fest in 2011. Warner Brothers is  planning an English-language remake. [MS]
  • Violet Crown Cinema will host a benefit screening of Prince Avalanche (Elizabeth's SXSW review), David Gordon Green's film shot in Central Texas. The event will take place on Thursday, July 25 and will include a cocktail party and post-film Q&A with Green and local composer David Wingo. Fittingly, the proceeds will go to the Heart of Pines Volunteer Fire Association, which still needs help after the Bastrop wildfires in 2011. Tickets are available through Violet Crown. [JK]
  • On Thursday night, Austin short filmmakers Umar Riaz, Brian Scofield and Tomas Vengris will screen several of their short films at Alamo Drafthouse Village. The lineup includes two Student Academy Award finalist films, Last Remarks and Kalifornija. You can buy tickets through Tugg. [JK]

Finally, a reminder from Jette: The Austin Chronicle 2013 "Best of Austin" poll is open for you to vote through Monday, July 22. Please do vote, and remember Slackerwood when you are considering the categories of Film Critic, Local Non-Chronicle Publication, News Website and Local Blog. (Or any other category where you think we might fit.)

Slackery News Tidbits: July 15, 2013

in

Dominic Monaghan and Elijah Wood

Here's the latest Austin and Texas film news.

  • The Austin Film Society's "AFS at the Marchesa" campaign was a success, raising 104% of the goal amount. The donated funds will soon be put toward improvements at the Marchesa venue, such as a digital projector, a 35mm changeover system, and setting up the theatre for Dolby 5.1 surround sound.  Donations are still welcome if you haven't pitched in yet.
  • In other AFS news, Carol Pirie has joined the staff as Executive Administrator. Pirie comes with decades of experience from her work at the Texas Film Commission. Stephanie Baker, Austin Film Society's Marketing Director, says, "As we go to expand Austin Studios with the acquisition of the former National Guard Armory, using $5.4 million from the 2012 bond election, we'll be doubling, at least, the number of tenants at Austin Studios. Carol will be instrumental in the many transactions and details involved in the expansion. We created this position to prepare for the expansion, and Carol, with her 23 years of experience at the Texas Film Commission, is the first person who came to mind. Carol brings many relationships along with her that will be beneficial as we grow. Her position will also play a key role in all matters that keep the Film Society going, including strategic planning, fundraising and stakeholder relations."
  • Locally-made movie Zero Charisma is set to have its international premiere at Fantasia Fest. The narrative feature (Jette's SXSW review), about Dungeons and Dragons player Scott who doesn't deal well with change, will screen July 20 and 27 in Montreal.
Syndicate content