Richard Linklater

The Austin Film Critics Association announced their annual awards on Tuesday. The best movie of the year honor went to director Kathyrn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker, a drama about a bomb disposal unit based in Baghdad, Iraq. Bigelow was also awarded Best Director, and the film, which played SXSW 2009, won the Best Cinematography category for Barry Ackroyd's work.

The Austin Film Award, given to a movie directed by a local filmmaker or shot in Austin, went to Richard Linklater's Me and Orson Welles. The film, which Jette reviewed, also won an award for Best Breakthrough Performance by Christian McKay, who played Welles.

The local critics' group awarded Best Original Screenplay to Austin favorite writer/director Quentin Tarantino's WWII-era movie Inglourious Basterds. Best Actress went to Melanie Laurent for her performance in the film, which we reviewed, with my personal favorite Christoph Waltz winning Best Supporting Actor.

Best Actor went to Colin Firth for his role in A Single Man, which has not yet had an Austin release, and Anna Kendrick received the honor of Best Supporting Actress for Up in the Air, which opens Friday in Austin.

The Austin Film Critics Association, of which Slackerwood editor Jette Kernion is a member, also voted on the top movies of the decade, a list headed by the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

You can read the full list of awards after the jump, including Top Films of 2009 and the Decade.

I am not only a sucker for 1930s comedies, but I also love movies that are set in the 1930s. The dialogue! The costumes! The music! And especially the hats. I love a good hat in a movie, right up there with a well-written script and a lack of treacly sentiment.

Fortunately for me, Me and Orson Welles has a well-written script, no treacle, and lovely Thirties period costumes, including a few sharp hats. The latest film from Austin filmmaker Richard Linklater is set in New York City in 1937, when Orson Welles decided to stage Julius Caesar at the newly dubbed Mercury Theater. Local screenwriters Holly Gent Palmo and Vincent Palmo, Jr. adapted the novel by Robert Kaplow.

Austin filmmaker Richard Linklater and actor Christian McKay were recently in town for the regional premiere of Me and Orson Welles. This is McKay's first major film role -- he plays Welles, staging his now-famous version of Julius Caesar in 1937. Zac Efron plays a teenager who is pulled into the whirlwind of the stage production.

I managed to catch up with Linklater and McKay before the red carpet and talk about the film. Here's what they had to say.

Christian, you've done Orson Welles on stage, and now on film -- how do the two feel to you?

Christian McKay: They are completely different characters. On stage, I played him up to the age of 70  with a fat suit -- my dad used to say you don't need that -- and the stick-on beard. To play him right at the beginning of his career, at 22 starting out with the Mercury Theatre -- it's extraordinary, it's a brave time. To make such an astonishing success of it, that it is still considered one of the greatest Shakespearean performances in North American theatre history. It's just amazing and this is of course before War of the Worlds and Kane, to do all that by the time you are 26.

The 25th Annual Film Independent Spirit Awards were announced on Tuesday, and two Austin-related projects were honored with nominations:

• Christian McKay was nominated in the Best Supporting Male category for his portrayal of Orson Welles in local filmmaker Richard Linklater's latest feature, Me and Orson Welles. You can see photos of McKay and Linklater in our photo essay from the Me and Orson Welles red carpet in Austin.
• Dia Sokol, producer of Beeswax, was nominated for the Piaget Producers Award. Beeswax was filmed locally and starred many local filmmakers in acting roles. Jette reviewed the movie at SXSW this year; the above photo, with Sokol in the middle, was taken at the SXSW Q&A for Beeswax.

Austinites may recognize many other titles on the list, which you can read in full after the jump. A number of the nominated films played at SXSW or at Austin Film Festival this year. Beeswax director/editor Andrew Bujalski now lives in Austin, and can be seen below with SXSW Film Director Janet Pierson, who was also featured in the film.

Austin filmmaker Richard Linklater premiered his latest film Me and Orson Welles at the Paramount Theater on Monday. Linklater joined stars Christian McKay and Zac Efron at the event, as shown above. The screening was a benefit for the Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund, which Linklater started in 1996 to assist emerging Texas filmmakers, and which has awarded over $1 million since then.

Zac Efron's presence created quite a commotion at the premiere. Even more exciting news regarding Me and Orson Welles -- Christian McKay has been nominated for his portrayal of Orson Welles in the "Best Supporting Male" category of this year's Spirit Awards.

Here are a few news items related to Austin films and filmmaking from this week. Well, I say "a few," but once I started digging them up, it's actually been a pretty busy week! The news includes updates on local filmmakers' projects, awards, casting news, and other useful info.

• Austin company B-Side Entertainment has just announced that Sundance Film Festival will use the company's scheduling engine for its 2010 online film guide. If you're going to Sundance next year, you'll get to use the very helpful Schedule Genius program to fit all the movies you want to see into the most efficient time possible. B-Side also powers the film guides for local festivals Fantastic Fest, Austin Film Festival, Austin Asian American Film Festival and aGLIFF, and provides an unofficial guide for SXSW.
• Bad news for local filmmaker Richard Linklater (pictured at right): As part of Miramax's big cost-cutting drive this month, they have put his romantic comedy Liars (A to E) on hold. Movieline reports that Linklater doesn't have another project currently in the works yet, although we suspect it won't be long before he's his usual busy self. [via Austin Movie Blog]
• Speaking of Linklater, Austin Film Society would like you to know that tickets are still available to the Austin gala screening of his latest film, Me and Orson Welles, on Monday, November 30 at the Paramount. Linklater will be in attendance along with two of the film's stars, Zac Efron and Christian McKay.

I've got plenty of Austin film news to share today, from premieres to DVD news to some articles you won't want to miss. Here we go:

• Slackerwood is sponsoring a special preview screening of The Men Who Stare at Goats (pictured at right) on Thursday night. Follow our Twitter feed to find out how you can get free passes.
• The general release date for Richard Linklater's latest film, Me and Orson Welles, has been pushed back to December 11. No word yet on whether that's the date when the film will open in Austin.
• However, if you live in Austin, you can see Me and Orson Welles at the Austin Film Society gala premiere on Monday, November 30 at the Paramount. Tickets are on sale now for AFS members, and will go on sale for the general public on Nov. 9. Linklater will be at the event along with actors Zac Efron and Christian McKay. Proceeds from the screening benefit the Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund.

Over the past week, an amazing number of news items have rolled in about distribution for Austin movies or movies that have played in local fests. Check out this list to see if any of the movies you've liked at recent fests will be getting a wider release and a second chance to grab audiences.

• Richard Linklater's most recent films are both in the news this week. First of all, Me and Orson Welles, which played at SXSW this year, now has U.S. distribution through Cinemax. As Linklater told us during the Extract red carpet, the movie will hit theaters around Thanksgiving. Jette thinks it's the best Zac Efron movie she's seen to date.
• In addition, Linklater's documentary about Longhorn baseball and coach Augie Garrido, Inning by Inning, is now available on iTunes. The movie was released on DVD in May. Jette doesn't like baseball much, but liked this movie a lot anyway.
• Speaking of movies you can watch from a computer or other device, the locally shot feature For Love & Stacie, written and directed by Raymond Schlogel, is now available for viewing online at Underground Planet. 

There's a lot going on in Austin for movie fans this weekend. Two big films opening, including Pixar's latest success, Up, which has been wowing audiences at sneak-peek screenings, and Sam Raimi's return to form in Drag Me to Hell. But there are others out there that you might want to check out.

Raimi brought Drag Me to Hell as a work-in-progress to SXSW this March, and wowed the audience at the single sold-out midnight show. The advance screening hosted by AICN proved that the SXSW screening wasn't a fluke. Raimi, best known for the Evil Dead franchise, returns to the style of filmmaking that made him famous, complete with body humor, gross-outs, ridiculousness, and likable characters stuck in impossible situations. If you don't like the style of the Evil Dead franchise, you probably won't like this, either. But Raimi's films are fun, and he's the master of horror comedy. Just don't bring a PETA supporter with you.

It's been about a year since Austin Film Society premiered Inning by Inning, Richard Linklater's documentary about Texas Longhorns baseball coach Augie Garrido, at the Paramount. I wrote about the movie for Cinematical. I'm not a baseball fan, but the profile of Garrido was fascinating. The film played on ESPN a few times, but we haven't heard much about it since.

Fortunately, Inning by Inning will be released on DVD on June 2. To promote the DVD release, Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar will show the film on Monday, June 1. Linklater will be at the screening and will hold a Q&A afterwards. The tickets aren't yet on sale. I hope this is the non-bleeped-out-for-TV version, because some of Garrido's cussing is almost lyrical.

The DVD apparently includes not only Inning by Inning, but a separate documentary about the Longhorn team's 2006 season called A Game of Adversity. I believe this documentary is directed by Inning by Inning producer Brian Franklin, shown above with Linklater. The DVD also has a 60-minute "feature" called Extra Innings with Augie. This is going to be a real treat for Longhorn baseball fans.

[Photo credit: Austin Film Society. Used with permission.]