Special Screenings and Events

Snakes on a Day ... liveblogged!

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Snakes on a DayLast week, I posted a news item at Cinematical about the Snakes on a Day event in Austin. Shannon McCormick announced his intention to watch the movie continually for 24 hours, and invited others to join him in this crazy film marathon.

I didn't realize until this morning that Shannon is liveblogging the event, as much as possible, on the Snakes on a Day site. Not only that, but Brian of Brian's Movie Blog (aka "that guy I see at damn near every Alamo event I go to") is joining Shannon and also liveblogging the event. According to Brian, there are about a dozen people taking the Snakes on a Day challenge, and they had the theater to themselves overnight between the public screenings.

Go read the liveblogging, it's a hoot. My guess is that Brian will make it through all 24 hours -- I've seen him pull all-nighters at Alamo and QT Fest movie marathons, and he's done the Butt-Numb-a-Thon a few times, so he's in good shape for that kind of event. (Me, I'd try BNAT once, but I can't imagine watching the same film for 24 hours in a theater, even if food is available.)

One more SoaP note: this morning's edition of the Austin American-Statesman included a color cut-out of a paper airplane that you can assemble. I don't need to tell you that the paper airplane has snakes on it. You can find and print an electronic version here.

UPDATE: Micah at Dumb Distraction is posting a cleaned-up version of Brian's liveblogging attempt, which is slightly easier to read. (By "cleaned up" I mean that he's edited punctuation and marked which post is for which screening, not that he's eliminated any profanity.)

I did it ... and I'm not in traction

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Due to peer pressure and inner film-geek guilt, I saw not only Ball of Fire last night, but the Weird Wednesday midnight screening of TNT Jackson. No celebrity sightings (unless you count Lars, who programs and hosts Weird Wednesdays), but a fun time watching amazingly bad kung fu and the adorable Jeannie Bell. I'm still waking up this morning, so more details (and photos) later.

Live music and A Scanner Darkly

On Thursday night (Aug. 3), Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar is reprising its special screening of A Scanner Darkly with a live performance of excerpts from the score beforehand. Graham Reynolds, the film's composer, isn't just sitting in a dark corner with a guitar or keyboard. When I attended the previous sold-out event a couple of weeks ago, Reynolds was part of an nine-piece band that included a number of stringed instruments, guitars, a keyboard and a xylophone. I wish I'd taken pictures, but it was too dark in the theater even when the movie wasn't playing -- Chris Garcia managed to snap one and posted it to Austin Movie Blog.

The half-hour set took place before the movie and included four longish pieces: the "bug" music during the opening credits; what Reynolds called the "hallway" music (noting that the movie contains many scenes where people walk down hallways) and the background music from the diner scene; music from the scene in Donna's apartment and the subsequent scene in Arctor's bedroom; and what Reynolds called the "Room 203" and "freeway" music. He was very good about describing where the music fit in without giving away any key plot elements.

Cavite in Austin: Special screenings with John Pierson

The thriller Cavite opens in Austin this Friday as part of the ongoing AFS@Dobie collaboration, in which little-known films get a week-long (or longer) run at Dobie Theatre. Check the Austin Film Society site for more information about the film.

John Pierson, who wrote Spike, Mike, Slackers & Dykes and now teaches at UT, will be discussing the indie film's distribution before the Friday and Saturday night screenings. Pierson and his producing class at UT worked to get distribution for Cavite. Pierson is never a dull speaker and has excellent insights about independent film distribution and other aspects of the film industry. If you're planning to see Cavite, go when he'll be there.

Updated: This week's Austin Chronicle includes an essay by Brian Clark, a member of Pierson's class, describing the way the class worked on securing distribution for Cavite.

[via Austin Movie Blog]

Luke Savisky show at HRC

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If you're not going to the big Clerks II premiere at the Paramount on Thursday night, a fun alternative might be visual artist Luke Savisky's presentation at the Harry Ransom Center. Savisky will show D/x, billed as a "live projection piece using multiple projectors," as well as some of his other experimental film work, and will hold a short Q and A. Matt Dentler has posted a description of the event directly from Savisky. The event starts at 7 pm and appears to have free admission. (Thanks to Matt for the heads-up!)

Jumping Off Bridges in San Marcos

Kat Candler's film Jumping Off Bridges, which premiered at SXSW this year, will screen at Texas State University in San Marcos this Friday, April 21. The university's newspaper, The University Star, includes a good profile of Candler.

The screening is part of the new Chatauqua Film Festival, which I didn't know about until I read the above-mentioned profile. The two-day festival starts today (Thursday) and includes panels and short films as well as Jumping off Bridges, Rescue Me, and Alas! Poor Yorick. Refer to the University Star article for specific times and locations.

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