AFF

Last week, Austin Film Festival (AFF) announced confirmed panelists from the film and television industries, including David Simon, this year’s recipient of the 2010 Outstanding Television Writer award. Simon is the creator of HBO’s The Wire, where he served as executive producer, head writer and showrunner for the duration of the series. Simon brought in local musical favorite and former Texan Steve Earle to play a struggling street musician in his new HBO series Treme. Earle's song "The City" was used in the season finale. I've not seen either series personally, but I'm intrigued enough to watch Treme after reading reviews by residents of New Orleans. General consensus is that Simon has painted a lifelike portrait of what New Orleans life was like post-Katrina -- and a plus is one of my favorite actors, John Goodman, stars.

The AFF Screenwriters Conference offers over 65 panels, craft sessions and roundtable discussions led by more than 100 industry professionals. As I mentioned in my wrap-up of AFF 2009, I enjoy attending panels and gaining insight into the creative processes of film and television writing and production. I think AFF has the most to offer for anyone wanting screenwriting content at a local conference.

The confirmed screenwriter and filmmaker speakers for the 2010 Austin Film Festival will include several writers who've worked on some films connected to Central Texas. John Lee Hancock wrote and directed A Perfect World and The Rookie, which were both filmed in and around Austin. Peter Hedges wrote the screenplay based on the original novel for What's Eating Gilbert Grape. Machete co-writer Alvaro Rodriguez will also speak at this year's conference -- whether co-writer and cousin Robert Rodriguez will make a surprise appearance is anyone's guess at this time. He unexpectedly popped into an AFF screening of Spy Kids yesterday. However, I'm sure Machete  will generate a lively discussion due to recent controversy as reported in a recent Slackery News Tidbits.

We have two winners from last week's Simmons on Vinyl contest. Each winner will be able to pick up two pairs of tickets before the Austin Film Festival-sponsored screening at Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek on Thursday night. Winners, I will be emailing you today with the details.

Congratulations to Cecy Correa and Zack Teibloom. Zack's favorite album on vinyl is Led Zeppelin I, and Cecy's is Saturday Night Fever.

For everyone else, you can still buy tickets for Thursday night's screening and they are quite affordable ($4), so check it out. Here's my review again if you need a refresher on what the movie is about.

Summer is almost officially here with plenty of free summer movies, and there's still time to register for kids' summertime filmmaking camps and workshops in Austin. A few of last summer's offerings are either full or are no longer taking place -- Dougherty Arts Center has no film classes this year -- but kids still have plenty of camps and sessions to choose from.

These affordable camps and workshops provide unique experiences for local youth in various aspects of filmmaking including acting, screenwriting, editing and animation. At the end of many of them, friends and family are invited to attend a screening of the movie campers helped make, or bring home a DVD to hold their own private screening party.

Here's a list of all the summer movie-related camps and classes in the Austin area that we could find. Some of the descriptions are pretty much verbatim from press releases or websites -- although I was the Sierra Cubs Camp director for several years, sadly I've yet to be involved in any kids' film camps. Although they're for kids and not adults, don't be too disappointed -- you'll find a couple of options for grownups at the end of the list.

If I've missed anything, let me know in the comments and I'll add the info to the list.

[Editor's Note: Why yes, I did swap out of the photo accompanying this entry -- apparently some people think a bare butt is NSFW. They are probably correct.]

Last year, I caught the low-budget comedy Simmons on Vinyl at Austin Film Festival. I liked it so much that when I heard AFF was bringing the movie back for an encore screening at Alamo Drafthouse at Lake Creek this month, I asked if Slackerwood could give away a couple of pairs of tickets. The nice AFF folks agreed, so now you have a chance to see this very funny indie for absolutely free.

The film screens on Thursday, May 27 at 7:30 pm at Alamo Lake Creek. Mark Potts, Cole Selix and Brand Rackley -- who between them wrote, directed and acted the three main roles in the film -- will be at the screening. They'll also preview a bit of their new film S&M Lawn Care. They run a pretty funny Q&A, as I recall.

Slackerwood is giving away two pairs of tickets to the May 27 screening. You have two ways to enter the contest -- the fun extroverted way and the easy introverted way:

• The fun way: Post a comment on this entry that tells us what your favorite record (on vinyl) is or was, and why.
• The easy way: Use the Slackerwood content form to send me a message that includes your name, with the subject line "Simmons on Vinyl." I know some of you are shy about posting comments or publicly admitting your favorite record (or that you are too young to have ever owned something on vinyl).

You may recall that in my 2009 in Review article, I named the Austin Film Festival's "Made in Texas" monthly screenings as "Film Series I Most Want to Return in 2010." I'm happy to report that Made in Texas is returning this month -- I'm sure my article had everything to do with it -- and will run through September.

The series kicks off on Wednesday, March 10 with Roadie, the 1980 Alan Rudolph film that was shot on location around Austin. The movie stars Meat Loaf and Art Carney, but the cast also includes Sonny Carl Davis (The Whole Shootin' Match), Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel, and a number of other musicians.

The films will be shown monthly on Wednesdays at 7:30 pm in the Texas Spirit Theater at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. Admission is free for AFF and Texas State History Museum members, and $5 for everyone else.

Last year, Slackerwood featured a Guide to Austin Summer Film Camps that listed local day camps for kids interested in making movies. Although Tuesday's snowfall might make you think that summer's far away, it's never too soon to enroll in these highly sought-after programs.

Here are a couple of Austin summer film camps that have already opened registration for this year ... for kids a bit older than the budding filmmaker pictured at right.

Austin Film Festival Summer Film Camp 

Austin Film Festival's Young Filmmakers Program is proud to present the eighth annual Summer Film Camp. The camp offers students unparalleled access to in-depth, personal instruction on screenwriting, filmmaking and claymation from local industry professionals. This year, the camp's workshops and panels will take place at Austin High School.

Slamdance Film Festival has just released their list of competition features for the 2010 fest, and two titles popped out at me. These are both films that Slackerwood reviewed (and liked) during Austin Film Festival 2009, and both of them have Austin connections.

• Cummings Farm is a comedy about several couples planning an weekend orgy outing on a farm. Actor/screenwriter Ted Beck is from Austin, and actress Yasmine Kittles was also in the Austin-shot 2006 film Gretchen. In her review, Jenn Brown called Cummings Farm "raunchy and insightful" and was impressed with Beck's performance.
• I called The Scenesters a "noir-mumblecore-L.A. homage comedy" in my review. The film is about some would-be auteurs who are shooting crime scenes and stumble across what they think is a serial killer murder mystery. Actor/writer/director Todd Berger and actor Kevin Brennan are both former University of Texas at Austin film students.

One of the most anticipated films at Austin Film Festival this year was Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, a movie that is both a condemnation of "the system"and a tribute to the human spirit.

It's set in 1987, when the AIDS scare is in full swing, and an HIV diagnosis was a death sentence. The epidemic of teen pregancies is being treated with punitive action, and girls like Claireece "Precious" Jones (Gabourey Sidibe) are the epitome of failure of the system. Illiterate, raped, abused and tormented, Precious is a walking ghost with no hope other than a fantasy life where she's loved, and occasionally white, slender, and gorgeous. Precious has sailed through school despite never even doing homework or being able to read, and usually only noticed by bullies.  When she's told by her principal she's being expelled, it seems like that's it for her, but it's just the beginning.

The documentary feature Hockey Night in Texas follows two Austin teams through an entire season as they compete for the championship. The 400 members of this recreational adult hockey league come from all walks of life, from artists to chefs to doctors to execs at major corporations. From all skill and experience levels, what they share in common is the desire to play hockey and drink beer.

The film features footage of the B-Division in action along with behind-the-scenes encounters with the team captains. Also mixed in is commentary from hockey professionals from the Dallas Stars, including assistant coach Mark Lamb and play-by-play announcer Ralph Strangis. Strangis talks about both the beauty and the violence of the game, comparing it to the gladiators of Rome.

Austin filmmaker Tim McCanlies (Secondhand Lions, The Iron Giant) premiered his latest family-friendly film Alabama Moon during Austin Film Festival at the Paramount. Based on the coming-of-age novel by Watt Key, this film's plot tugs at the heartstrings, reminiscent of the Disney film Old Yeller and other family classics.

After the unexpected death of his survivalist father, 11-year-old Moon (Jimmy Bennett ), who was raised in the Alabama wilderness, must learn how to make his way in the modern world. Doing so isn't very easy, with a local law officer (Clint Howard) intent on making sure that Jimmy stays a ward of the state in a reform school. There Moon meets and interacts with other boys, including the bully Hal (Gabriel Basso) and sickly Kit (Uriah Shelton) who become his friends and cohorts on an escape.