AFF

AFF Review: Spring Eddy

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Spring Eddy

If you were to mash up No Country for Old Men with equal parts The Getaway and any romantic comedy, you'd have Spring Eddy. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, mind you, but one can't help but think about that while watching this movie. Making his feature film debut, Spring Eddy was written and directed by George Anson. It's got all the markings of a complex crime dramedy, complete with a lot of notable Texas landmarks and some funny performances.

Eddy (Gabriel Luna), a small-time Chicago criminal who commits some dim-witted schemes, is on the run. He ripped off his boss, and now he's heading to Mexico ... but gets distracted by a pretty hitchhiker on the way. What started as a normal everyday hookup ends with Eddy beaten up, broken down and penniless somewhere in Texas.

AFF Review: Ann Richards' Texas

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Ann RichardsSix years after her death, filmmakers Jack Lofton and Keith Patterson team up to portray the most memorable woman in Texas politics in their directorial debut, Ann Richards' Texas. The documentary reminds me of a happier time when women's rights were championed by formidable progressive supporters in the Lone Star State. The movie screened at AFF after its world premiere at the 2012 AFI SilverDocs Festival, where it won the WGA Documentary Screenplay Award.

Former Texas Governor Richards was an outspoken woman who went from housewife and teacher to a politician who led the state in 1990. It was her keynote speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention in support of presidential candidate Michael Dukakis that moved her into the spotlight and the Governor's Mansion -- a formidable accomplishment for a Democrat in a red state, not to mention for a woman who wasn't a "good old boy" millionaire like her Republican opponent, Clayton Williams.

AFF 2012 Dispatch: Superheroes, Disaster and New Orleans Politics

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Julia Stiles and America Ferrera

I had an excellent Saturday at Austin Film Festival, with three good movies and a bit of a party. I even found downtown parking on a UT home football game day for $7, at St. David's.

I got downtown later than I wanted to see Pictures of Superheroes at Alamo Drafthouse Ritz. I like to get to Ritz super-early during AFF because it's such a popular venue. In fact I'd thought about seeing Hyde Park on Hudson earlier in the day and realized it would draw such a crowd at Ritz that I'd have to get there 90 minutes early, and I was simply too lazy at that hour of the morning.

At any rate, I found my miraculously affordable parking (since I'd be down there until midnight, it was cheaper than a meter) and made it to Ritz in plenty of time to get a good seat for the movie. I ended up next to AFS staffer Ryan Long, but the theater was full of local filmmakers and film community people and I'd have been amazed if I hadn't sat near anyone I knew.

AFF Review: The Sapphires

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Deborah Mailman, Miranda Tapsell, Jessica Mauboy and Shari Sebbens in The Sapphires

Movies about the Aboriginal experience in Australia fascinate me, from the ridiculous Australia -- which I love anyway -- to the far more intense Rabbit-Proof Fence. The Sapphires shares some common themes with Rabbit-Proof Fence (as well as sharing actress Deborah Mailman), but otherwise is different from other Australian films I've seen. Like the 2002 drama, this musical touches on the damage the Australian government did to the Aboriginal communities by removing children (the "stolen generations") from their parents.

Sisters Gail (Deborah Mailman), Julie (Australian Idol Jessica Mauboy) and Cynthia (Miranda Tapsell) used to sing with their cousin Kay (Shari Sebbens) as children until Kay was tragically taken away.  Now it's the late '60s and the adult sisters meet soul-music-loving organ player Dave (the always enjoyable Chris O'Dowd) through a talent contest.  Julie has found an ad asking for performers to entertain troops in Vietnam and the women -- along with their newly recovered cousin -- form a group and try out.

AFF Review: Flatland 2: Sphereland

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Sphereland still photo

 

Austin filmmaker Dano Johnson along with producers Jeffrey Travis and Seth Caplan are the inventors behind the animated family-friendly film Flatland 2: Sphereland. It's a follow-up to Flatland: The Movie -- both take kids on journeys into alternate dimensions with heroine Hex (Kristen Bell) and her trusty and mathematically inclined sidekick Puncto (voiced by Danny Pudi). Based on Edwin A. Abbott's Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, these movies tell the stories of dwellers who live in a two-dimensional world with no knowledge or interest in dimensions behond their own.

In Flatland 2: Sphereland, young scientist Hex encounters more mathematical mysteries as she and her sidekick race to save a mission into Flatland's "outer space" and discover the true shape of the universe. Because Flatland exists in a world where the only dimensions known are length and width, Hex's felllow inhabitants don't believe of the existence of a third dimension. However, it is Puncto who discovers an anomaly and seeks assistance from Hex, who is ostracized for her unorthodox ideas of another dimension.

AFF Review: It's a Disaster

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It's a DisasterIt's a Disaster is the funniest movie I've seen this year.

This isn't hyperbole. As a longtime fan of film comedy -- it's my second-favorite genre, after documentaries that make me hate America -- I don't bestow such lofty praise lightly. And I'm no fan of what usually passes for humor in mainstream American film "comedies," most of which cater to people who think it's funny when Adam Sandler farts. So when I label a film the funniest movie I've seen this year, rest assured that it's damned hilarious -- and damned smart.

If great things come from small beginnings, so it is that great laughs can come from small films. And they don't get much smaller than It's a Disaster, which happens entirely in one Los Angeles house, where eight characters are trapped when a civil emergency forces them to stay indoors. The four young couples gather for what is supposed to be a pleasant Sunday brunch, but the party goes awry almost immediately. The conversations turn awkward and the arguments turn heated even before everyone discovers they've lost Internet, cable and -- the horror! -- cell phone service.

Things only get worse from there, as the couples -- who know little about what's going on -- make farcical attempts to deal with the situation. While waiting to see what happens next, they engage in the sort of fatalistic and bizarre are we all gonna die? conversations and behaviors we would expect in what may (or may not) be their final hours.

I won't describe what traps everyone in the house, but not just to avoid spoilers. I'll skip the details mostly because they aren't really important. What matters is that eight people, most of them longtime friends, are forced to confront not only what's happening in the world outside, but also what's happening in their lives, marriages, relationships and friendships. Above all, they must confront their own mortality. It's a Disaster is an apt and perfect title; it applies to disasters civil and personal, possibly global and entirely intimate.

AFF 2012 Interview: Don Swaynos, 'Pictures of Superheroes'

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Don Swaynos and Chris Doubek

I admit I couldn't help but be excited about a movie that was primarily shot in my neighborhood, although you couldn't tell from watching Pictures of Superheroes. Much of the film takes place in a house where filmmaker Don Swaynos was living at the time, which is several blocks away from my own home. You wouldn't know it without his telling you, though.

I saw Pictures of Superheroes on Saturday at its world premiere, and afterward, emailed Swaynos a few questions about the movie. The answers are below. Don't worry, they're not spoilery. I liked the movie very much and encourage you all to see it at Austin Film Festival tonight at 7 pm at the Texas State Theater in the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum. Swaynos and probably some other cast/crew will be there and you too can ask him questions. Check out Debbie's review for more details.

Slackerwood: Can you give us the 25-word summary/pitch of the film?

Don Swaynos: Maybe. After being fired and broken-up with on the same day, Marie, a maid (Kerri Lendo), ends up being hired by an overworked businessman, Eric (Shannon McCormick), who is so busy he's forgotten he has a roommate, Joe (John Merriman). Things get weirder and weirder from there. It's not about superheroes.

AFF 2012 Dispatch: Activists, Muslims and Looking for Old Friends

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Negin Farsad and Dean Obeidallah in The Muslims Are Coming

I had a somewhat low-key start to my Austin Film Festival as I only attended one movie on opening night. I chose to watch Finding Mercy, which screened at the Bob Bullock Texas Spirit Theatre. I think there were only about 20 of us at the Thursday screening, which was a tad disappointing. 

In this documentary, filmmaker Robyn Paterson, who was raised in Zimbabwe, goes back to the troubled country on a quest to find her best childhood friend.  Considering Mugabe's iron fist rule in the years since she left the country as a child, Paterson almost fears the worst, but is determined. She meets up with other childhood friends in her journey -- the one who is now a wheeler-dealer is quite interesting. She cuts deals with a shady cop, is sent on something of a crazy goosechase and covertly chronicles her search throughout.

Finding Mercy moved me far more than I expected it to (there were tears involved), and I was satisfied in my film choice for the first night. [Facebook page]

AFF Review: Shorts Program 8 ,'The Future Now'

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HENRi still photo

Science fiction is an often under-represented genre in local film festivals, but this year's Austin Film Festival (AFF) has been quite the exception, especially with AFF Shorts Program 8 "The Future Now." This program boasts not only high quality filmmaking, but also features some heavy-hitting new filmmakers and recognizable cast members. I was amazed by the evocative nature of each film, whether the emotional reaction brought forth was laughter, awe or tears.

By far I was most impressed with HENRi, directed by Eli Sasich, which was funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2010 for which Sasich continues to provide updates to his backers. Set in the future, a derelict spaceship controlled by Hybrid Electronic/Neuron Responsive Intelligence -- HENRi for short -- and powered by a human brain, has begun to experience disjointed memories of its original owner. Find out more about this film that pays homage to sci-fi greats such as 2001: Space Odyssey and Isaac Asimov's "Laws of Robotics" after the jump, as well as both local and international short films featured in "The Future Now" program.

AFF 2012 Interview: Elizabeth Mims, 'Only the Young'

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Kevin and Garrison in Only the Young

Stopping at Austin Film Festival on a festival circuit, Only the Young is a look at a relationship between three evangelical teens in suburban Southern California: two skaters who are best pals and their female friend (sometime girlfriend of one of the guys). Austinite Elizabeth Mims is one of the directors of this documentary, and answered a few questions I had before watching the film.

Slackerwood: What is your connection to Austin?

Elizabeth Mims: I grew up in Austin and my family lives here. I even went to Austin High. I adore this town and I'm thrilled the film is playing here.

You co-directed Only the Young with Jason Tippet. How did the two of you meet?

Mims: Jason and I met while going to CalArts. After showing our work to the class it was clear we shared some stylistic choices. Together at CalArts we developed a style first by making a short documentary, Thompson. When embarking on the feature we already had an understanding of what worked from the short.

How did you decide that these Christian skater kids would be good documentary subjects? How much time was spent following these teens?

Mims: We decided that Garrison and Kevin would be good documentary subjects from the moment we met them. While checking out the new skatepark the kids approached us asking if we had lost keys to a Jag. These punk looking kids were making an effort to find the owner rather than just hunting for the car themselves in the parking lot... or throwing the keys over a fence as many of my high school peers would have attempted. It was also clear that Kevin and Garrison had been friends for a long time, speaking to each other in confident unconcerned tones that only come with years of friendship.

Was there ever a period of time when the kids got upset or uncomfortable with you filming them, or were they easygoing throughout the process?

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