AFF

By David Chisholm

If you've never heard of it, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is a 1973 concert documentary directed by D. A. Pennebaker, detailing David Bowie's very last performance in the role of Ziggy Stardust, his extraterrestrial alter ego. A little over a week ago, I had the enjoyable experience of seeing Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars at Austin's own Jo's Hot Coffee as part of the Austin Film Festival "Living Record" series.

The first time I ever saw David Bowie, he was spandex-clad, singing with puppeteered goblins and trying to steal a baby in Labyrinth. Now, as an adult, I have a slightly fuller view of the man. I appreciate the influence he had on Iggy Pop, and I love his acting choices over the years. I truly enjoy almost every period in his musical career (and there have been a lot), but my absolute favorite part of David Bowie and his creative genius is the Ziggy Stardust period. These are my most beloved albums, and this is his most fascinating character.

So, how had I never seen the singular performance from that period caught on video -- especially when it had been captured by the genius of D. A. Pennebaker? I truly don't know. I can be very lazy, and I'm guessing that had something to do with it. Thankfully, Austin Film Festival is here to provide me and anyone else who enjoys free movies the opportunity to correct that mistake.

Arriving just as the colorful credits began running across the projection screen on the back wall of Jo's, I whispered my food order to my wife and left her to snatch up the only remaining table, and began to enjoy the film I had been meaning to see for years.

Opening with backstage footage showing Bowie donning the first of the five elaborate costumes he would wear throughout the evening, and then smoothly moving into a rollicking performance of "Hang On to Yourself," Pennebaker seems to have easily captured the spirit of this phase of Bowie's career. Originally intending to only film a handful of songs, the director was inspired to shoot an entire film after seeing the first of two nights on the tour. What he ended up capturing with that quick decision is a brief glimpse at one of the most important moments in rock ‘n roll history.

My number-one recommendation to anyone interested in screenwriting in Austin is to pay close attention to the Austin Film Festival (AFF) offerings. Not just the mentoring sessions and panels at the festival itself in October, but also throughout the year when AFF hosts "Conversations in Film" screenings and sessions. This series brings veterans of the television and film industry together with fans as well as emerging filmmakers and writers to discuss their works and the medium.

The most recent Conversations in Film session, on Sunday, March 25, at the Harry Ransom Center, featured Academy Award-winning screenwriter Ted Tally (White Palace, The Silence of the Lambs, All the Pretty Horses) and was moderated by Alvaro Rodriguez (From Dusk Til Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter, Machete) -- seen above. Tally has received acclaim for his adaptations of the works of bestselling authors including Cormac McCarthy, Thomas Harris, Rosellen Brown and George Dawes Green. Following the conversation, a special screening of an original 35mm print of Silence of the Lambs -- recently listed on the Library of Congress' National Film Registry as a "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" film -- took place at the Bob Bullock Museum theater.

Find out more about Tally and what he revealed about his transition from playwright to screenwriter as well as his thoughts on director Jonathan Demme after the jump.

Updated November 4, 2011.

Slackerwood has several contributors covering Austin Film Festival this year. Here's all our coverage to date. We'll update this list as we publish more reviews, interviews and features during and after AFF.

Austin Film Festival provides great opportunities to meet and mingle with filmmakers, but the most laid-back social event where new friendships are forged and ideas sprout is the annual Hair of the Dog Brunch. It's great to see seasoned veterans of Austin's local film scene such as Kat Candler (Jumping Off Bridges), seen above with Carla L. Jackson and Kelvin Z. Phillips of A Swingin' Trio -- check out Jenn Brown's interview with Jackson and Phillips and her review of their first feature film. 

See more photos of filmmakers including the Texas Monthly "Where I'm From" film contest finalists after the jump.

If you enjoy watching the National Geography Bee and love the 2002 film Spellbound, but wonder, "Where is the love for kids who do speech and debate?" you will likely enjoy Thank You for Judging. Texan actor Michael Urie (best known for his work on Ugly Betty), one of four credited directors on this movie, took a camera crew to spend a weekend at the Texas Forensic Association's state competition in 2008, resulting in this documentary.

Thank You for Judging follows teens from Plano Senior High School (Urie's alma mater) as well as students from Creekview High in Carrollton as they go through the stages of the tournament in Coppell, Texas. Neither ice nor sleet nor snow will keep these determined teens from competing, althoughwintry weather almost delays the competition. To give the viewer an idea of what they're in for, Plano coach Karen Wilbanks states, "All art is competitive."

A mother's challenge to her abusive husband sends her family into an unsettling journey through the woods in Austin-based first-time filmmaker Jeremiah Jones's feature film Restive. The movie screened to a sold-out audience the first night of AFF. Jones and lead actress Marianna Palka (pictured above) were there too.

A lot has changed for writer/director Jones, who graduated from The University of Texas at Austin where he was a three-year football letterman.

How did Jones transition from football to filmmaking? "It might sound odd, but the skill sets are the same," he said. "Directing is coaching, and casting is recruiting. You try to get everyone on the same page and give them the support that they need to get to a goal. You treat them like family."

AFF 2011 selection Below Zero is almost as much a performance art project as it is a film. Unfortunately, it is not a masterpiece. Writer Signe Olynyk had herself locked inside a meat freezer in an abandoned slaughterhouse in order to write a script about a hack writer who is likewise locked up in the same freezer to write a script. But Below Zero is so meta, it's meta-meta. The writer (Edward Furlong) then spends a week going insane writing a script about a guy trapped in a meat locker.

It's almost as if they were trying to make Inception, except every level of dreaming in this movie is the same (bad) dream. Even better, the film is shot in the very same meat locker. I don't want to be too negative, as the concept is interesting, and the first 80 percent of the movie is well-executed.

The story in Below Zero shifts back and forth between Jack the writer (Furlong) and Frank, the character in the script (also Furlong). Things begin happening in the room while Jack is asleep that mimic his script even as the script anticipates some of those events.

Jake Silverstein, Texas Monthly editor-in-chief, introduced the "Where I'm From" Texas shorts program at Austin Film Festival by explaining how it came to be. This is the first year of the magazine's collaboration with AFF -- in previous years, the shorts contest has been online only. Out of more than 100 reader submissions (Silverstein was unclear on the exact number), there were 18 semifinalists. These were narrowed down to the 11 finalist films which screened at the festival. A panel of judges then picked the three winners, which were announced at the Saturday screening.

First on the program was Will O'Loughlin's film 254 about his travels all over the Lone Star State. While still photographs appear onscreen, O'Loughlin's (somewhat monotone) narration explains how over a span of 15 years, he has driven through every county in Texas, all 254 of them. H-Town Up & Down was the only dramatization in the bunch. A 20-something go-getter's car breaks down in the outskirts of Houston and he has to figure out a way to get to his interview with a firm downtown. Drew Lewis' short has a few funny moments, but the acting leans towards the style of "Hey kids, let's put on a show."

Although out-of-town Austin Film Festival attendees may have had a difficult time attending movie premieres and screenings at the Regal Arbor in north Austin, this local doesn't mind the change of pace. With changes in the parking fees downtown and traffic congestion, I enjoy the alternate venues -- especially since the Arbor is close to home for me.

One of the AFF selections I saw at the Arbor this year was Deep in the Heart, a feature making its world premiere in the fest's Texas Independents category. Starring local festival alum Jon Gries (Natural Selection, Napoleon Dynamite) as Texan Dick Wallrath, this docudrama focuses on a man who went from a deadbeat alcoholic to a self-made millionaire and philanthropist. Wallrath is known for his generosity via the Future Farmers of America (FFA) and 4-H programs that helps fund college educations for students from rural communities. The movie was shot in the greater Austin area.

Dick Wallrath and his wife Patsy (seen above with executive producer Jay Hoffman) attended the Arbor screening, along with several of the film's stars and writer/producer Brian A. Hoffman -- read Jenn Brown's interview with Hoffman here. See more photos from the Deep in the Heart Q&A after the jump.

Austin Film Festival is over for another year. This year I saw fewer films than I have in the past, but I have to say I'm really proud of the way Austin and Texas were represented overall. The newly re-named and expanded Texas Independents program was a big hit. 

I didn't get much of a chance to see films that didn't have a local connection, but thankfully I did get a chance to see the delightfully poignant Harold's Going Stiff (writer/director Keith Wright pictured above with an unknown AFF guest). I was also pleasantly surprised with Sironia, which hopefully will play again in Austin soon, as it was a real crowd pleaser with some outstanding music. You Hurt My Feelings was a surprise because it's such a sneaky little quiet movie, one that may be the breakout film for Steve Collins and John Merriman (pictured below).