AFF

Movie-related Events This Week

I've been hearing about a lot of interesting screenings and events around town this week, so I thought I'd share a list of the highlights. If I'm missing anything, feel free to promote your own movie-related event in the comments section.

  • Tuesday night, Austin Film Festival kicks off their new seminar series, Conversations in Film, with a panel called "Script to Screen: Making the Short Film." Panelists include Steve Collins (who expanded his short Gretchen and the Night Danger into the LAFF-winning Gretchen), Jenn Garrison (Prizewhores), and Scott Rice (Perils in Nude Modeling and the very funny Script Cops shorts that preceded films at AFF last year). The seminar takes place at Coldtowne Theater at 6 pm, and you can buy tickets from the AFF site, or call the AFF office if you're eligible for the member discount. I'm amused that two of these three panelists have directed shorts that feature the acting talents of AFF Membership Director John Merriman. That's coincidence ... or is it?
  • Also on Tuesday, if you are a Filmmaker-level or higher member of Austin Film Society, you can attend the Docs-in-Progress screening of Best Kept Secret, directed by PJ Raval and Jay Hodges. Reserve seats through AFS. Best Kept Secret is about the transformation of Trinidad, Colorado, into the "sex change capital of the world." You might know Raval primarily as a cinematographer, who's photographed a number of local films such as Room, The Cassidy Kids, and the aforementioned Gretchen. Hodges is a book editor who has also worked with the Cinematexas film festival. (I really wish these AFS and AFF events weren't competing with one another -- it would be fabulous to attend both.)

See 'Chalk' at Alamo South Lamar this week

in

I'm always so happy when a movie I liked at a film festival finds distribution and plays in Austin, so I can nudge ­all my friends and acquaintances to go see it. And if the film was shot in Austin, that's even better. Last year at Austin Film Festival, I saw the locally produced film ­Chalk, a mockumentary that focused on a school year from the point of view of teachers and administration. I reviewed the film for Cinematical.­ Chalk won AFF's narrative jury prize as well as the audience award. The film landed a distribution deal this year through Morgan Spurlock's ne­w distribution label. And now you can see it here during a weeklong run at Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar, starting tomorrow, May 18.

For the next week, Chalk has a screen all to itself, with multiple showings per day. Director Mike Akel and co-writer/actor Chris Mass will attend the evening shows on Friday and Saturday along with other cast members and will hold Q&As afterwards. However, the Friday night showings have already sold out (!), as well as the early evening show on Saturday, so you might want to get your ticket now for the late Saturday screening if you want to catch the filmmakers in person.

If you're a teacher, you can show your school ID and get the student discount when you buy a ticket for Chalk at Alamo. If you're not a teacher, I strongly recommend you find one and bring him/her with you to see Chalk. I watched the movie with an audience of Austin teachers who laughed until they cried at school-related in-jokes. So find as many teachers as you can. If you attend an evening show on Thursday, May 24, the filmmakers will be giving away shirts and other stuff to honor Teacher Appreciation Day. Alamo often offers themed menu items to go along with special screenings, but I'm glad that's not happening for Chalk -- would anyone really want to order school cafeteria food? Be glad you can drink a beer and eat pizza while watching these teachers.

AFF brings Trading Places writer to Austin

in

Austin Film Festival (AFF) is starting a monthly film series at Alamo Lake Creek, which kicks off Thursday night at 7:30 pm with a screening of Trading Places. It's a great chance to see Oscar-nominated Eddie Murphy in one of his early film appearances ... not to mention Dan Ackroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis in a fabulous wig, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, and the usual complement of odd cameos that you find in comedies directed by John Landis.

Plus, Trading Places writer Herschel Weingrod will be in attendance and will hold a Q&A after the movie. Alamo Lake Creek will offer a "prince and pauper" style menu, and I'm wondering what in the world that even means. Caviar and ramen? I'm not sure I'll be able to go, so if you do, report back and give us the scoop on the evening. Admission is only $4 (free if you're an AFF member).

AFF hosts Anne Rapp script reading

in

Hearing someone's script read is a lot more fun than it might sound. At least, it is if you have a number of actors taking all the parts, as opposed to a very nervous screenwriting student muttering dialogue in a monotone. I went to a script reading at Austin Film Festival (AFF) a few years ago, for that year's winner in the comedy screenplay category, and had a great time.

So I would definitely recommend the script reading that AFF is hosting for Anne Rapp's latest screenplay, Double Wide. Rapp, who lives in Austin, previously wrote two scripts for films directed by the late Robert Altman: Cookie's Fortune and Dr. T and the Women.

The actors reading Double Wide include Johnny Hardwick, the writer/actor from King of the Hill that all the female writers were crushing on at AFF one year (he does not look or sound like Dale Gribble in person); local disc jockey Dale Dudley, whom I think was reading at the AFF script reading I mentioned above; actress Kit Gwin; and Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel.

The script reading will take place at Capitol City Comedy Club on Sunday, Jan. 28, and admission is free.

Congrats to Chalk!

in
The Indie Spirit Award nominations were announced today. I found one Austin-related surprise: Chalk is nominated for the John Cassavetes award, which is given to the best feature made for under $500K. Chalk, a feature film about an average school year from the point of view of the teachers, was shot in Austin. The movie was directed by Mike Akel and co-written by Akel and Chris Mass. It's been winning awards left and right at film festivals this year, including the narrative feature audience award at Austin Film Festival. I saw Chalk at AFF this year (review here) and thought it was a lot of fun to watch, especially in an audience full of teachers. Let's hope this nomination helps the film secure distribution.

Austin Film Festival announces Audience Award winners

in

If you've been to the Austin Film Festival, you're familiar with the little ballots they hand out after each screening. Those ballots get counted up by hand when the Festival's done, and the result is the AFF Audience Awards. (Sponsored this year by Time Warner/IFC, yo. I worked for the Festival this year so I feel obligated to shout out to the sponsors.)

I'll list them after the jump, but you can also click straight over to the AFF site to see a nice list with links to the individual film pages.

Austin Film Festival wrap-up

in

Opening night at AFFAustin Film Festival's closing night was on Thursday, although to be honest, I didn't get to see any films after Tuesday night. I had a conflicting event on Wednesday, and then on Thursday I decided I would wait and see the Tenacious D movie with my husband, because this seems to be a time of the year when we have difficulty finding light-hearted movies we'd both like to see in theaters.

A couple of notes on this year's festival:

  • Film festival in-house ads can be terribly annoying -- if not on the first day, than certainly by the end of the festival. However, the "Script Cops" shorts at AFF were pretty funny, and there were enough of them that I never got irritated ... except for one thing. The tagline of the ads was "Write good." Any writer who knows her grammar had to find that a little grating.
  • I just realized I had a postcard for "Script Cops" in my purse, which a nice man dressed as a police officer gave me while I was waiting in line for Catch and Release. Turns out the trailers were co-written and directed by Scott Rice, whose shorts The Adventures of Mad Matt, Pillowtalk, and Perils of Nude Modeling I've thoroughly enjoyed. Also, you can watch all the "Script Cops" trailers online.
  • While the "Script Cops" trailers were fun, AFF made the mistake of using the same sponsor reel background images and music from last year. That music is a terrible earworm and it showed up in my dreams on multiple nights. Please, guys, find a way to create a new sponsor reel next year. I don't think I can stand to hear it one more time (and now that I'm writing about it, it's stuck in my head again ... gaaaaah).
  • Question for Austin filmgoers: Where do you go to eat before seeing an evening movie at the Paramount (or for that matter, The Hideout)? Many of the restaurants along that section of Congress close at 6 pm. I can only eat Wiki Wiki Teriyaki so many times. Some friends have recommended the bar at McCormick and Schmick's, which has a cheap happy-hour menu, but that doesn't work well if you're eating alone. If you've got other suggestions, please post them in the comments.

AFF screens Death of a President tonight

in

Death of a PresidentThe "TBA screening #2" on Austin Film Festival's schedule has been revealed: the controversial feature Death of a President. The BBC-produced movie uses existing news footage to create a fake documentary in which Bush is assassinated. The movie is having its first U.S. public screening right here in the capital of Texas.

You can see the movie tonight at 7 pm at the IMAX theater -- yes, the one inside the Texas State History Museum, interestingly enough. After festival badgeholders and passholders have been admitted, anyone can buy tickets for the remaining seats. I'm probably going to see Werner Herzog's Rescue Dawn myself (Paramount, 7:30 pm) -- it's a tough choice.

Last night I watched Special, which so far is my favorite film of the festival. Michael Rapoport plays a mild-mannered meter maid who participates in a trial experiment for a new antidepressant, with bizarre results. The movie plays again on Wednesday night at Alamo Lake Creek, and I'd recommend it to festivalgoers. I also caught the midnight screening of Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror, which I thought would be good cheesy late-night fun, but which didn't quite deliver.

AFF is underway!

in

It's the second night of the Austin Film Festival, and the first night I've had time to post. Yesterday I saw The TV Set and Pirate Radio USA, and tonight I watched Catch and Release. I keep running into people I know and having a great time. Even the in-house festival trailers are making me laugh.

Chris probably won't be posting much this week, since he actually works for AFF and every time I've seen him, he's been busy snapping pictures, collecting audience award ballots, or doing other important festival stuff. It's nice to know people involved with the festival because I get the latest scoop on schedule changes, and then I can pass them on to you.

For example, two movies that are premiering at AFF on Saturday had to move their time and venue: Run Robot Run will play at the Dobie at 3 pm, and Military Intelligence and You will play at the Texas Spirit theater (part of the TX History Museum) at 4:45 pm. Run Robot Run sounds like lots of fun and I'm looking forward to seeing it.

Other movies I'm hoping to catch: Rescue Dawn, the latest from Werner Herzog; Special, which stars Michael Rapaport; Snoop Dogg's House of Horror, which will have actor Danny Trejo in attendance; the documentary Third Monday in October; and other stuff I'm too tired to remember right now. Attendance seems to be quite good but I am noticing a few empty seats in theaters, so it's probably easy to buy tickets at the door for any of these films.

Austin Film Festival: getting closer

in

Have you checked out the Austin Film Festival film schedule? The lineup includes a bunch of marquee films (Tenacious D!), some super-secret sneak previews, and an interesting variety of independent narrative and documentary shorts and features. Filmmakers/actors from some of the movies are scheduled to do Q&As, such as Sydney Pollack, Shane Black, Janine Turner, and Kevin Smith. (Imagine them all involved with the same film.) The AFF News blog has the most current details on last-minute changes and additions.

I haven't yet decided which films I'm going to see and/or review -- I keep changing my mind every time I look at the schedule. Being from Louisiana, I'm drawn towards anything shot or set there, like Little Chenier and A Place to Dance. Whatever I pick, I will be covering AFF both here and at Cinematical, just like Fantastic Fest.

The film festival takes place from Oct. 19-26, and venues include The Hideout, Dobie, Paramount, IMAX ... and outside of downtown, the Arbor and Alamo Lake Creek. I'm hoping I don't have to find out how long it takes to drive from Dobie to Alamo Lake Creek. Yeesh. Film passes are only $35 for eight days of movies.

Syndicate content