Local Indies

SXSW 2015 Shorts Preview: Short But Sweet

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Melville Publicity StillSXSW Film makes international news with A-list stars and big premieres, but some of the best films come in small packages. Eighty-seven short film titles have been announced -- not counting the music videos -- for this year's fest. Here is just a taste of some of the spectacular shorts from the program.

Animated Shorts (screening info)

All Your Favorite Shows!

This is a stunning and seamless blend of animation, live action and millisecond clips and audio from scores of recognizable hit films that looks like it must have taken decades of work to put together. Not just an amazing visual piece, it includes sound design and storytelling of equal quality. This packs more action into 5 minutes than most features manage in 2 hours.

Butter YaSelf

With a tasty treat that reminds us film folk the root of SXSW has always been music, Julian Petschek takes "Peanut Butter Jelly Time" to the heights of its full hip-hop potential. Flashy and funny, this music video sets a catchy beat against vocals and lyrics by Katrina Recto AKA Kat Knoc, Jacob Gibson AKA C.U.B. and DJ Petroleum Jelly.

Documentary Shorts 1 (screening info)

Every Day

ESPN isn't only just football, basketball, and baseball. This documentary directed by Gabe Spitzer tells the amazing story -- in her own words -- of Joy Johnson, who began running marathons after retirement and ran the New York marathon 25 times. An inspirational, beautiful and lasting legacy.

SXSW 2015 Guides: Austin and Texas Features

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Manglehorn Still PhotoThe number of features and documentaries with Austin and/or Texas connections at SXSW Film Festival, which takes place from March 13-21, is staggering this year. As in the past, many familiar local filmmakers and cast have multiple movies with which they're associated. Here's this year's slate:

Headliners:

Manglehorn (pictured at top) -- During my interview with director David Gordon Green at Dallas IFF last year, he described this film starring Al Pacino as an urban movie "looking through the face of characters, three wandering souls looking for their place on a magical journey. Melancholy but full of hope and life and love." (screening times)

Narrative Spotlight:

7 Chinese Brothers -- Written and directed by Bob Byington (Somebody Up There Likes Me), this film features Jason Schwartzman as despondent and drunk Larry, whose only true companion is his French bulldog, as he pines for his Quick-Lube boss Lupe (Eleanore Pienta). In 2010, Austin Film Society awarded this project a Texas Filmmakers Production Fund grant (now known as the AFS Grant). (screening times)

Austin at SXSW 2015: Director Trey Shults at Home with 'Krisha'

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Still from Krisha

Krisha is a passion project by Austin director Trey Shults set during a fraught family Thanksgiving dinner. The intimate film was shot in his parents' house and stars members of his family, with his aunt Krisha Fairchild playing the lead. Shults based the feature -- premiering at SXSW 2015 -- on his short that played last year at the fest and won a Special Jury Award.

Some familiar faces with Texas ties also participated in the film: Chris Doubek and Alex Dobrenko, along with actress/director Augustine Frizzell (see my interview with her from last year).

Shults answered a few questions I had about the making of Krisha via email interview.

Slackerwood: What was the process like to adapt your short film into this feature?

Trey Shults: We got the ball rolling on the feature pretty soon after the short played SXSW last year. The short seemed to be well received at SX but it wasn't like anyone was coming up offering us money to make the feature version. So we took matters into our own hands.

SXSW Preview: The Jones Family Will Make a Way

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Still from The Jones Family Will Make a Way

If you keep up with Texas gospel music, you have likely heard of the Jones Family Singers. The family, based out of Bay City, has performed together for more than 20 years despite many setbacks.

Austin's own Arts & Labor tells the musical family's story in the documentary feature The Jones Family Will Make a Way, debuting at SXSW. The film will premiere Wednesday, March 18 at the Paramount Theatre [more info] and some of the family members will likely be in attendance.

The Jones Family Will Make a Way includes interviews with Bishop Fred A. Jones (pictured above), the glue that holds the band together, as well as his daughters and sons, who discuss their faith journeys and how involved they are in the group. Music critic Michael Corcoran also plays a large part in the film, as he expresses his love for gospel music and joy in finding this musical group.

Watch Texas Films from Past Sundance Festivals

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Before You Know ItThe Sundance Institute Artist Services program recently announced the availability of 14 independent films through digital video on-demand platforms including iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and Vudu. Launched in 2011, Sundance Institute's Artist Services is designed to connect consumers directly with films associated with the Sundance Film Festival and Institute through partnerships with key online distribution platforms.

Four films in this new collection are from Texas, all of which received support from the Austin Film Society. For details on the additional titles available in this new collection, visit the Sundance Institute's "Now Playing."

Before You Know It -- Three gay seniors (pictured at top) "navigate the adventures, challenges and surprises of life and love in their golden years." Check out Don's SXSW review and Jordan's interview with director PJ Raval. The documentary is available for purchase at this new website featuring bonus extras including Gary and Ose's wedding video and behind-the scenes-material. (on iTunes)

Sundance/Slamdance 2015: Austin and Texas Connections

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Results Still Photo

The Sundance Film Festival begins tomorrow -- Thursday, January 22 -- and runs through Saturday, February 1. Although Texas isn't as heavily represented as the last two years I've attended, I see plenty of Texas-related content to choose from.

Local filmmaker Andrew Bujalski (Computer Chess) wrote and directed Results, which was shot in Austin and stars Cobie Smulders and Guy Pearce. The comedy is about two incompatible personal trainers who experience more challenges than usual from a wealthy client's demands.

Texas actor Tye Sheridan (Mud, Joe) continues his run of Sundance appearances with a pair of movies premiering at the festival this year. Sheridan co-stars in the historical drama Last Days in the Desert, an addition to the trials and tribulations of Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness. Jesus (Ewan McGregor) struggles with the Devil for the fate of a family in crisis that he encounters in the desert.

Sounds Like Film: The Cinematic Legacy of KVRX

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KVRX 20 Years on FM Radio Logo

Last month, current and alumni volunteer staff of 91.7 KVRX, the University of Texas at Austin's student-run radio station, gathered for a reunion to celebrate 20 years the station began broadcasting on the FM dial. Part of Texas Student Media, KVRX streams online 24/7 and is on the air from 7 pm-9 am weekdays and 10 pm-9 am on weekends, sharing the frequency with KOOP community radio.

Over the years, KVRX has provided opportunities for students to receive practical experience in radio news, sports and entertainment programming and in broadcast management, and served as a source of campus information for students, faculty and staff as well as an outlet for alternative programming unavailable in the Austin market. Any UT student can volunteer at the station.

Quite a few KVRX alumni have gone on to careers in television and film industry. The reunion provided the perfect opportunity for me to chat with them about how their student-radio experiences impacted their careers.

Other Worlds Austin Interview: Andrew Olson, 'Blackout'

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 Andrew Olson

Set in a post-apocalyptic world, Austin-based filmmaker Andrew Olson's short movie Blackout made its world premiere at last weekend's inaugural Other Worlds Austin, the city's first dedicated science-fiction movie festival. The horror-thriller screened before the feature Apt 3D

An online cast and crew call for Blackout decribed the Austin-shot short as "Mad Max meets Pitch Black." It takes place in the future, where a survivor in the fight against the monstrous Reapers comes face-to-face with them. 

Olson, a University of Texas at Austin alumnus, said Blackout, still on the festival circuit, was created to help promote a future fundraising campaign for a "feature or episodic version" of the short.

Slackerwood: Did you initially consider Blackout to be science fiction?

Andrew Olson: Yes, I always considered Blackout science fiction and horror.

Ready, Set, Fund: Creepy and Cool November

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found footage 3D crew

Ready, Set, Fund is a column about crowdfunding and fundraising endeavors related to Austin and Texas independent film projects.

It's a busy month for local films in the making, and you have plenty of chances to help your favorite (or future favorite) Texas filmmakers bring their stories to the screen. 

Into fun, artsy horror movies? Slow Creep by Jim Hickcox is about a "rad-as-hell 15-year-old girl" who, in an act of revenge, goes after a monster made of garbage. This project recently received an AFS Kodak Grant but still needs to raise a few thousand dollars so that the filmmaker can properly create the 90s aesthetic and scary details his monster movie requires.

Find out more in this trailer:

AFF Review: The Sideways Light

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Lindsay Burdge in The Sideways Light

Last Sunday, after a day at Austin Film Festival packed with a lackluster panel, a surprisingly well-done foreign shorts program, and the screening of a Reese Witherspoon film I've been keen to see for months, I closed the evening with The Sideways Light at the Alamo Drafthouse Village.  The thriller was a chilling cap to the night.

In her large house, sextuagenarian Ruth (Annalee Jefferies, Ain't Them Bodies Saints, The Girl) putters around and talks to herself (or so we and her daughter assume). Worried about her ailing mother, Lily (Lindsay Burdge, A Teacher, Frances Ha) has moved back home for the interim. Daughter Lily uneasily slips into the role of caretaker as her mom becomes more childlike. She takes breaks offered by her brother Sam (Mark Reeb, Eve of Understanding, Sun Don't Shine) to visit and flirt with bar owner Aidan (Matthew Newton, Queen of the Damned, Farscape).

Ruth has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's, but that's not all she's dealing with. She hates to leave the house because "they look after me." Lily comes to realize who "they" are as the film progresses.

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