Austin Film Society

Five Questions for Eliza Hittman, 'It Felt Like Love'

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It Felt Like Love

Filmmaker Eliza Hittman comes to Austin on Saturday, September 21 for the Austin Film Society and Cinema East presentation of It Felt Like Love at AFS at the Marchesa.

Hittman's first feature film was an instant critical success when it premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival. Drawing favorable comparisons to films by Catherine Breillat and Larry Clark, the movie was most celebrated for having a cinematic vision all its own of teenage girlhood. Hittman's sublime artistry and masterful knack for storytelling makes It Felt Like Love one of the must-see indies of the year.

In answering my five questions about the film, Hittman discusses the predatory instincts of teenage girls, her own Brooklyn summers at age 14, the one photograph that inspired the feature, and breaking the mold.

Holly Herrick: The movie feels like an anti-coming-of-age story, which is so refreshing. There is no voyage of self-discovery -- the heroine is charging forward towards an idea of her desires, yet they are unclear to her. Can you discuss how you approached this dilemma?

AFS Grants 2013: All the Details We Could Find (Part Two)

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Pit Stop Still Photo

Continuing from Part One, here are detailed descriptions of AFS Grants winners this year -- not just the blurbs from the press release, but any other material I could unearth on the web.

Again, if you have info I don't, feel free to share it in the comments. Or drop us a line if you're involved with one of the films.

Pit Stop (narrative feature)

  • The grant: $3,000 for distribution
  • The blurb: Two men. A small town. A love that isn't quite out of reach.
  • The filmmaker: Yen Tan is a Dallas filmmaker (Ciao, Happy Birthday) who has also designed posters and title sequences for a number of local/indie films, including the short Hellion -- check out a gallery via The Austin Chronicle.

AFS Grants 2013: All the Details We Could Find (Part One)

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Above All Else

Last week, the Austin Film Society announced its 2013 AFS Grants for 2013 --formerly known as the Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund (TFPF). Between the AFS Grants and Travel Grants, AFS is giving away $116,000 to Lone Star filmmakers ... including quite a few from Austin.

I love AFS Grant time. Of course, it's great to see local filmmakers getting needed funds and resources, and so on, but I like it because I get a sneak peek into upcoming Austin features and documentaries. Some of this year's recipients and projects should be very familiar to Slackerwood readers -- others are new to me.

In addition, it's a pleasure to look at the travel grants and realize that previous awardees completed their films, even if they haven't screened in Austin yet -- the grants allow filmmakers to bring Texas movies to film festivals around the world. For example. Russell Bush received grants to bring Vultures of Tibet to $500 to AFI Docs and Edinburgh International Film Festival, and Nathan Duncan was able to bring Ash to Full Frame Film Festival.

AFS Moviemaker Dialogues: Writer/Director Mike White

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Mike White Master Class

While in town to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The School of Rock, writer/director/producer Mike White took the stage with Austin Chronicle managing editor Kimberley Jones to talk about some of his past work. I was surprised at the relatively low turnout -- less than half the Marchesa was filled. Unlike the last Moviemaker Dialogue I attended, there was not much delving into how White (who scripted The School of Rock) started writing, or even his history here in town. Perhaps because there was only a little over an hour to discuss White's career, the conversation touched on only five of his works.

2000's Chuck and Buck, which White wrote and starred in, was nominated for many Independent Spirit Awards and won the award for best feature under $500,000. The clip we watched was the scene of Buck, played by White, presenting a homemade collage to his childhood friend Chuck (Chris Weitz, who would go on to direct About a Boy with his brother Paul).

Asked about choosing tone, White said that somewhere in between drama and comedy "feels right to me."  He commented that movies aren't fully able to depict how complicated people really are, but that they serve as a way for us to realize "there are other experiences other than your own."

A Decade of Rockin' Life Lessons From 'The School of Rock' Reunion

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SOR Premiere (27)

A good part of my day is spent getting schooled, be it from my professors, mother or smart-aleck roommate. Spending another two hours of my life watching the musical development of a group of youngsters on the big screen during Thursday's The School of Rock ten-year reunion at The Paramount (my preview) may not have been the wisest decision, especially because I skipped class (is it still considered skipping when you notify your professors ahead of time?) and have homework due, but it was definitely more fun. 

Some of The School of Rock cast members had similar college woes, like Aleisha Allen, who says she recently graduated from Pace University. Allen played Alicia, one of the band's designated backup singers. Despite a degree in speech pathology and an education minor, the New York native says her musical aspirations haven't waned.

AFS Essential Cinema Brings Back the Banned

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last tango in paris

If you're interested in seeking out cinema known for stirring up controversy over the years, set aside your upcoming Thursday nights to attend the next Austin Film Society Essential Cinema Series. "A Darkened Screen: Films That Were Banned" will feature six films that, for various reasons and subject matter, aroused disapproval from authorities and were not allowed to reach regular theater audiences.

AFS Director of Programming Chale Nafus offers this explanation: "The basis for the series is not just films that have shocked. Rather, they are films that have been banned in various countries for political, religious, social or sexual reasons."

Nafus and AFS programmer Lars Nilsen searched through available titles of once-banned films (censorship can't be enforced forever, after all) to put together a series presenting distinct moments in history spanning different styles, aesthetics, and world views. As Nafus says in his introduction, "We are happy with the six selections we have made, since they exemplify the variety of reasons films might receive the official stamp of 'disapproval.'"

We've Got Tickets (for You) to 'The School of Rock' Reunion

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Bernie red carpet/benefit

Would you like to spend an evening with the two gentlemen above -- Austin filmmaker Richard Linklater and actor Jack Black -- and watch The School of Rock too? Of course you would ... and we're giving away two pairs of tickets to the Austin Film Society-sponsored event. Keep reading.

Linklater, Black, screenwriter/actor Mike White, actress Miranda Cosgrove and other younger cast members from The School of Rock will be at the Paramount next Thursday, August 29 for a special tenth-anniversary screening of the movie. Tickets are available at several levels -- VIP ticketholders also have the chance to attend an afterparty at the Gibson Austin Showroom where the band from the movie will perform.

As if that weren't enough, you can also purchase tickets to a special Moviemaker Dialogue with Mike White, moderated by Kimberley Jones of The Austin Chronicle, on Wednesday, August 28 a the Marchesa. If you're an AFS "Make" or higher-level member, admission is free (although you still want to reserve a ticket online).

Catch 'Spectacular Now' and 'In A World...' with Filmmakers

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The Spectacular Now

Good news for movie lovers who follow film festival news and buzz: Austinites will have the chance to see a couple of Sundance 2013 standouts in the coming days thanks to the Austin Film Society.

On Thursday, Aug. 8, AFS will screen the much talked and tweeted-about The Spectacular Now in advance of its wider opening in a couple of weeks, and director James Ponsoldt will be in attendance. The story follows two high schoolers who fall in love despite their opposite "types" (Shailene Woodley plays good girl Aimee and Miles Teller is popular party boy Sutter), and has won the hearts of many critics.

Experience 'Jazz on a Summer's Day' This Week

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Jazz on a Summer's Day

If you lived in New York City or anywhere else along the East Coast in the 1950s, the place to go to fix your "jazz jones" was the funereal old-money resort town of Newport, Rhode Island. Started in 1954 by socialites Elaine and Louis Lorillard, the Newport Jazz Festival had grown by 1958 into a four-day event attracting 60,000 music lovers ready to snap their fingers and bob their heads to the sounds of America's top jazz artists. Fortunately, that same summer Bert Stern and a small filmmaking crew captured the essence of those performances on 35mm color film accompanied by impeccable sound recordings.

In the 1950s, Bert Stern was best known as the photographer who combined art with advertising, as seen in the recent Austin FIlm Society Doc Nights presentation: Bert Stern: Original Mad Man. The gifted artist also created TV commercials, took fashion photos for Vogue and Harper's Bazaar and uncovered hidden aspects of celebrities in studio portraits. In 1962, he would create the famous "Last Sitting" series of revealing photos of Marilyn Monroe, only a few months before her death.

But on July 4, 1958, Stern was only into the Newport Jazz Festival. He wasn't a filmmaker (other than TV commercials) and he didn't know a lot about jazz, but with his artist's eye for composition, movement, color, and lighting, Stern and his team created the first experimental music documentary, Jazz on a Summer's Day. AFS Avant Cinema is screening the film this Wednesday, July 31 at 7 pm in the AFS screening room (1901 E. 51st St, Gate 2).

Essential Cinema Celebrates Pre-Code Barbara Stanwyck in August

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Barbara Stanwyck and David Manners in The Miracle Woman

I was overjoyed to hear that Austin Film Society has picked one of my favorite actresses as their focus next month. Tuesday evenings in August, four films that Barbara Stanwyck made before the Hays Code was in effect will be shown at AFS at the Marchesa.

These pre-code movies have attention-grabbing storylines. Unlike films produced under the code, there isn't necessarily any punishment for the naughty or driven woman. And, boy, does Stanwyck play the naughty woman well! She also portrays working-class women with aplomb.

I asked AFS programmer Lars Nilsen why he chose Stanwyck for August's theme and he told me, "The idea for the series came to me when I was rewatching Ladies They Talk About. I had seen many other Stanwyck pre-code films, but on this viewing I began just admiring everything about Stanwyck's gifts as an actress and as an especially authentic individual, even in an age that prized personal authenticity in its stars. I could feel the love that contemporaneous viewers must have felt for her in these early films... She's like a female Cagney, a little tough guy, with the advantage of glamour that she can turn on and off as it suits her. Her personal charm and character are all her own. She earned them."

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