Slackery News Tidbits

Use this for general news items.

Slackery News Tidbits: July 8, 2013

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Here's the latest Austin and Texas film news. 

Slackery News Tidbits: July 1, 2013

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Here's the latest Austin and Texas film news.

  • The SXSW Film PanelPicker goes live today. Participants have until July 26 to complete an online application for 2014 film conference content, including which panels, workshops and conversations, as well as speakers they would like to see. Proposals will then be made viewable to the public for voting and commenting from Aug. 19 through Sept. 6. 
  • Former Austinite Jacob Vaughan's SXSW 2013 feature Milo (Mike's review) has been renamed Bad Milo! and given an August 29 On Demand release and Oct. 4 theatrical release by distributor Magnet Releasing. Fellow former Austinites Jay and Mark Duplass serve as executive producers on the horror comedy about a man (Ken Marino) who, after experiencing intense stomach pains, discovers a creature inside of him. Vaughan previously worked with the Duplass brothers as an editor on Jeff, Who Lives at Home. His previous filmmaking experience includes collaborations with Bryan Poyser on the locally shot features Dear Pillow and The Cassidy Kids.
  • The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently announced that Austinite Jeff Nichols (Mud), Texas Film Hall of Famer Catherine Hardwicke and Longview, Texas native John Lee Hancock are among its 276 new members, according to IndieWire
  • Nearly seven years after its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Austin-shot horror film All the Boys Love Mandy Lane may see U.S. theaters. Film School Rejects reports the Weinstein Company has announced a September 6 VOD release and an October 11 theatrical release date for Jonathan Levine's first feature (he's made three since then). The cast includes Amber Heard, Anson Mount (my interview) and musician Robert Earl Keen.

Slackery News Tidbits: June 24, 2013

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Here's the latest Austin and Texas film news.

  • Austinite Nicolas Gonda, co-founder and CEO of Tugg, is one of 40 people and companies from North America featured in this year's Indiewire Influencers, a list of those who are changing independent film. Tugg, a web platform that allows audiences to choose which films play in their local theaters, launched in 2011 and now has more than 1,000 titles in its catalog. 
  • Alamo Drafthouse founder and CEO Tim League may be in a league of his own... creation. The Austinite and UT alum made the Indiewire list not only because he's slated to open 50 more Drafthouse locations across the nation by 2017, but has expanded the brand to include a distribution arm (Drafthouse Films), genre-celebrating film festival (Fantastic Fest) and a poster and apparel company (Mondo Gallery). 
  • League's collaborator on Fantastic Market/Mercado Fantastico collaborator (an international co-production market for genre films set to at this year's Fantastic Fest), Robert Rodriguez, made the list for his move to the small screen with the upcoming launch of El Rey, an English-language, Latino-centric TV network he co-created. Rodriguez and his Austin-based Troublemaker Studios are also gearing up for the theatrical release of Machete Kills in September and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, which Austin Movie Blog reports has delayed its release to 2014.
  • Indiewire also highlighted the careers of sometimes Austinites and UT alums Jay and Mark Duplass (The Puffy Chair). The duo recently completed the HBO pilot for their original series Togetherness and played midwifing specialists on the TV sitcom The Mindy Project. And if that's not keeping the duo busy, Mark has a recurring role on F/X's The League and can next be seen on the big screen in Tammy.

Slackery News Tidbits: June 17, 2013

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Here's the latest Austin and Texas film news.

  • Texas is set to offer $95 million in incentives to bring film productions to the state over the next two fiscal years, Austin Business Journal reports. The money's in the state budget that's yet to be signed by Gov. Rick Perry. 
  • An attic in Pflugerville caught fire last week during filming of the as-yet-untitled fourth Transformers movie, according to Austin Movie Blog. The minor blaze was ruled as an accident by the Pflugerville Fire Department Lieutenant Tim Wallace. It started while the crew was filming a scene outside and caused significant damage to the attic, which is now back in the hands of the owners.
  • The latest Transformers flick also transformed small town Taylor, Texas. KXAN reported that parts of the city's West Second Street were shutdown for production. Mark Wahlberg and a silver Dodge Challenger spottings ensued.
  • Only God Forgives, the latest movie to receive the "Drafthouse Recommends" title by the Alamo Drafthouse, will have a pair of advance screenings on June 19 at Alamo Slaughter with director Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive) and composer Cliff Martinez in attendance. Ryan Gosling fronts this film about a drug smuggler in Bangkok whose life is further complicated when his mother asks him to kill the person responsible for his brother's recent death. Only God Forgives opens in theaters July 19.

Slackery News Tidbits: June 10, 2013

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Here's the latest Austin and Texas film news.

  • Maggie Carey's screenplay, which was performed as a table reading at Austin Film Festival 2010 under the working title The Hand Job (Jette's article), will hit U.S. theaters July 26 as The To Do List (watch the trailer). Carey's husband, Bill Hader of SNL fame, co-stars in this ensemble comedy about a recent high-school graduate named Brandy (Aubrey Plaza) who, with the help of her friends (Alia Shawkat of Arrested Development and Sarah Steele of Spanglish), makes a list of sexually explicit acts to accomplish before college. Friday Night Lights alum Connie Britton and Scott Porter also star as Brandy's mother and love interest respectively.
  • Austinite Robert Rodriguez's El Rey English-language cable television station, aimed at young Latinos, is scheduled to launch in December or early next year, IndieWire reports. The network's lineup includes two scripted shows: an adaptation of Rodriguez's 1996 film From Dusk Till Dawn, which he will write, produce and direct; and a 13-episode "Latino James Bond-type" action adventure series he's slated to direct.
  • Universal has acquired the rights to comedy spec Don't Mess With Texas, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Reese Witherspoon, who most recently starred in Austinite Jeff Nichols' Mud, and Sofia Vergara (Machete Kills) are attached to star in this female-centered buddy pic about a police officer and a prisoner on the run.
  • Austin School of Film is offering free summer movie choices with its new "Pesadillas Calidas, Horror Films from Mexico" series, which showcases B-classics made below the border from the 1950s-1980s (with English subtitles) at 9 pm every second and fourth Saturday of the month through August at 1634 E. Cesar Chavez. For more free and cheap movies in Austin, don't forget to check out Slackerwood's annual guide.

Slackery News Tidbits: June 3, 2013

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Here's the latest Austin film news. 

  • Austin Film Society recently announced the participants in its inaugural Artist Intensive, a program designed to mentor narrative feature writers/directors in the development stages of their projects. Last weekend, Austin and New York-based independent bigwigs, like Amy Hobby (producer of Gayby) and Austinite Jeff Nichols (Mud), mentored six filmmakers, which included Austinites Mallory Culbert and Carlyn Hudson with The Big Spoon; 2012 Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund recipients Andy Irvine and Mark Smoot with Lovers Crossing; 2011 TFPF recipient Daniel Laabs with an untitled project about the aftermath of a fatal car accident in Pennsylvania; and the Texas revenge thriller Seize The Body by James M. Johnston and Todd Connelly. 
  • The Houston Film Commission has announced this year's Texas Filmmaker's Showcase, a selection of short films representing the Lone Star State. The showcase will be screened in Los Angeles on June 30 for producers, agents and studio reps. It includes several films from Austinites: Kat Candler's short Hellion; Russell O. Bush's documentary Vultures of Tibet (which won TFPF grants in 2011 and 2012); Craig Whitney's The Garden and the Wilderness; and Tony Costello's Little Lions. Other selections include Cork's Cattlebaron by Dallas filmmaker Eric Steele (watch online) and documentary Vincent Valdez, Excerpts for John, by San Antonio filmmakers Angela and Mark Walley (watch online).
  • Fantastic Fest will host an 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. The market will premiere in conjunction with this year's Fantastic Fest. Austinite Robert Rodriguez's El Rey network will collaborate with Mexican production and distribution outlet Canana Films to produce the Fantastic Market. Film submissions will be accepted until July 15. Representatives from the projects, selected by industry insiders mid-August, will be invited to make pitches to a jury that will include Rodriguez and Fantastic Fest/Alamo Drafthouse co-founder Tim League, who will select and award the top three.

Slackery News Tidbits: May 27, 2013

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Here's the latest film news.

  • A "spiritual" follow-up to the 1993 Richard Linklater comedy Dazed and Confused may begin filming this fall, according to Flixist. Linklater discussed the film, which he describes as a college comedy with a large ensemble cast, during a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) last week.
  • Get your questions ready for Alamo Drafthouse co-founder and CEO Tim League, who will participate in an AMA on Reddit along with other representatives from the local theater chain from 1-4 pm CDT Thursday.
  • Speaking of the Alamo Drafthouse, its distribution arm Drafthouse Films has acquired the U.S. rights to the German drama Nothing Bad Can Happen, which premiered at this year's Cannes Film Festival. It's about a young Christian who begins to live with a family after a chance encounter and becomes the target of a violent game to test his faith. Writer/director Katrin Gebbe's first feature is also the first feature in the Drafthouse Films library to be directed by a woman.
  • Chef du Cinema will be offering a new cooking class for a four-course meal inspired by Terry Gilliam's fantasy/adventure Time Bandits on Saturday, June 8 at Central Market North Lamar.

Slackery News Tidbits: May 20, 2013

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Here's the latest Austin film news. 

  • The New York Times profiled the Austin film scene in Sunday's edition and interviewed locally based industry heavy hitters like Richard Linklater, Elizabeth Avellan, Bryan Poyser (Elizabeth's interview) and Andrew Bujalski (Jordan's interview), among others. Worth a look for the photos alone.
  • Speaking of Linklater, he has now filed suit against his insurance company, alleging breach of contract, The Austin Chronicle reports. His Paige, Texas property, near Bastrop, which housed scripts, production materials, publicity information, among other movie memorabilia, was damaged in 2011's wildfires.
  • More more Linklater: Filmmaker Gabe Klinger has created a Kickstarter campaign for his documentary about the Austin filmmaker and director James Benning, according to Filmmaker Magazine. The project will only be funded if at least $25,000 is pledged by June 8. More than $8,000 has been raised so far.
  • More than 65 research fellowships have been awarded by The University of Texas Harry Ransom Center for the 2013-2014 academic year to support humanities projects that require substantial onsite use of HRC collections of manuscripts, art, films, and other resources. Austin author Alison Macor (Chainsaws, Slackers, and Spy Kids) has received a research fellowship for her work about the life and career of HRC.

Slackery News Tidbits: May 13, 2013

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Here's the latest Austin film news.

  • Austin filmmaker Jeff Nichols is slated to write and direct Midnight Special, described as a "contemporary science-fiction chase film," for Warner Bros, Deadline announced. Fellow Austinites Sarah Green and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones (Sinister) will serve as the movie's producers. The project, currently in development, will re-team Nichols and actor Michael Shannon, who has been in all Nichols' features to date.
  • The Alamo Drafthouse is scheduled to open its largest theater yet, with 10 screens, in north (very north) Austin. The theater will open sometime this July in the new Lakeline Market Shopping Center adjacent to Lakeline Mall. Nearby theater Alamo Lake Creek will remain in business this summer until after the new Drafthouse opens.
  • In more Drafthouse news, the company’s film distribution arm has acquired the North American rights to British director Ben Wheatley’s latest movie, A Field in England, according to IndieWire. The horror film, which is scheduled for a theatrical and VOD release later this year, follows a group of soldiers during the English Civil War in the 17th century. They're captured by an alchemist to assist in his search for treasures hidden in a giant mushroom field.
  • London-based Eureka Entertainment's Masters of Cinema Series has bought the UK distribution rights to Austinite Andrew Bujalski's (Jordan's interview) comedy Computer Chess (Jette's review), Bleeding Cool reports. Bujalski's feature revolves around chess players and computer programmers at a computer chess tournament in the 1980s. The Austin-shot film premiered at Sundance 2013, then screened at SXSW. Kino Lorber is distributing the movie in the U.S.

Slackery News Tidbits: May 6, 2013

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Here's the latest Austin film news:

  • The Paramount Theatre kicks off its Summer Classic Film Series with an opening-nght party and a double feature on Friday, May 23. Traditional Paramount opener Casablanca and Woody Allen's romantic dramedy Annie Hall will screen. The complete summer lineup will be announced on May 16.
  • Texas filmmaker Amy Seimetz's (our interview) dramatic thriller Sun Don't Shine (Don's review), which premiered at SXSW 2012, is out now on VOD, iTunes and Amazon, among other digital platforms, according to the film's distributor. Factory 25. Sun Don't Shine, about a couple who takes a mysterious road trip through central Florida, stars Austin-based actors AJ Bowen (Grow Up, Tony Phillips) and Mark Reeb, as well as Houston-based actress Kit Gwen.
  • The Austin-shot film blacktino (Chip's review) is now available to rent as a Vimeo download. The dark teen comedy, about an overweight nerd trying to find his place in the world, premiered at SXSW 2011 and is the feature debut by local filmmaker Aaron Burns.
  • No summer plans? Why not go on a scavenger hunt for some of Austin's most famous movie locations that are open to the public. Citysearch has made it easier with its guide, which includes the Texas School for the Deaf, forever immortalized as Herrington High in Austin filmmaker Robert Rodriguez's late-'90s teen horror flick The Faculty. Alien teachers may no longer run amok, but the beautiful campus still stands intact.
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