Alamo Drafthouse

February brings us a new film from Japan's Studio Ghibli, internationally known for its animated movies. The Secret World of Arrietty will open in Austin on Feb. 17. But that's not the only treat for Ghibli fans in Austin. Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar will host a Studio Ghibli Retrospective starting later this week and running through early May (with a break for SXSW). The series features new 35mm prints of nine animated films, all subtitled, seven of which are directed by Studio Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki. Each movie will screen once a night for a week-long period.

Here's a list of the films being screened and dates:

• Spirited Away (2001), Feb. 10-16 [tickets/info] -- The Academy Award winner for Best Animated Film follows a young girl in her adventure in a spirit world populated by masked wraiths, a witch with a huge head, a big baby and more.
• Castle in the Sky (1986), Feb. 17-23 [tickets/info] -- I haven't seen this one, but it seems this movie tells the story of a flying city named Laputa, a boy and a girl searching for it, and involves a glowing crystal and sky pirates. 

The Alamo Drafthouse has combined several of their signature events -- a quote-along, a feast, and Sommelier Cinema -- and taken them to a new level with "The Princess Bride Feast," taking place on February 14 and 15 in Drafthouse locations around Texas. In addition, they're also launching yet another business endeavor -- this time involving wine.

If the special sneak preview that Austin press were treated to recently was any indication, the Princess Bride feast is sure to be the hottest ticket item for food, film and wine lovers this Valentine's Day. Tickets for the Feb. 14 event sold out so quickly that additional screenings were added for the following day. Personally, I prefer to avoid the busiest romantic day of the year and recommend you buy tickets for the available February 15 screenings.

Be advised that for this signature event you are not only allowed but encouraged to talk during the screening (if it's related to the film, of course). The Alamo Drafthouse's Action Pack has added subtitles to their favorite Princess Bride lines in key places, but you can quote along for as much or little of the movie as you like. The Action Pack has other special surprises to make the Princess Bride a date night to remember.

A couple of weeks ago, we reported on a special night when two filmmakers from the Gaza Strip, Tarzan and Arab, traveled to Austin to see their first movie in a theater, as well as screen their short film Colorful Journey. Thanks to Alamo Drafthouse, you now can watch video from the event, which we've embedded after the jump.

In addition, Alamo founder Tim League and Ain't It Cool founder Harry Knowles have established a Kickstarter campaign where you can donate to help Tarzan and Arab fund their first feature film. With 20 days left, they have raised more than 25 percent of their goal.

Last Wednesday, October 26, the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz hosted a very special presentation of an incredible pair of Palestinian artists, along with two related films. Above, Drafthouse founder Tim League introduces the show and explains the enormous task of bringing them to Austin.

Twin brothers and filmmakers Tarzan and Arab (Ahmed and Mohammed Abu Nasser) hail from Gaza, where the last movie theater was destroyed in a bombing two years before they were born. The sons of an art teacher, they conceived an art project where they would create movie posters for imaginary films with titles based on codenames for Israeli military operations.

The Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar played host this week to a "secret screening with special guests." The guests turned out to be filmmaker Jason Reitman (Juno, Up in the Air) and actor/comedian Patton Oswalt.

Couldn't get a badge for Fantastic Fest? If you were a Cine Las Americas badgeholder this year, you can see a free movie during the fest anyway, with the director in attendance.

I love it when film festivals collide this way; both fests bring outstanding international programming in a variety of genres to Austin. I also love free. I especially love it when there is free at a festival.

Tomorrow at 2 pm at the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar, Cine Las Americas is hosting a special screening of the Fantastic Fest selection, El Infierno. This is not on the Fantastic Fest schedule, so you don't have to worry about getting in a queue for the online ticketing system. This particularly screening is reserved exclusively for CLA badgeholders, so unless you also happen to have a Fantastic Fest badge, you will probably not be able to see this movie again anytime soon (El Infierno screens twice as part of the regular Fantastic Fest schedule). 

The hitch is that you need to get to the theater on time and bring your badge from Cine Las Americas. If you're like me and attend a lot of festivals, you keep your badges, but then you have to find the right badge. To make it easier to find it, the badge has the 2011 Cine Las Americas poster on it, pictured here.

Just remember to leave plenty of time for parking -- it's only day two of Fantastic Fest so there is probably a full parking lot. 

Last week, I attended a special "Cut Loose with Footloose" advance screening of Footloose hosted by Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar and Paramount Pictures. Actor Kenny Wormald and director Craig Brewer (pictured above) were at the event for a Q&A after the movie. I've posted more photos from the event after the jump.

When we polled filmmakers and film geeks who've attended Fantastic Fests past to contribute to a Fantastic Fest edition of Insider's Guide, little did we know that word would get to Alamo Drafthouse/Fantastic Fest co-founder Tim League (pictured above at right with David Roland Strong). We figured he'd be too busy with last-minute details of the festival along with the very recent arrival of twin daughters.

Not only did Tim League respond, he's gone all out (if you haven't met Tim, this isn't surprising). So we decided to include all his tips in their entirety as a special edition. You'll notice Tim has some advice that mirrors some of the sentiments in yesterday's edition, because they're that important.

What advice would you give to newbies who've never done Fantastic Fest before?

Use the Festival Genius. Create your schedule online, review and rate as many films as possible and check in during the second half of the festival to see what screenings are getting buzz.

Austin film fans were treated to two very special events last week as the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar hosted advance screenings with special guests for both Fright Night and Conan the Barbarian.

At the Fright Night screening, stars Dave Franco, Anton Yelchin and Christopher Mintz-Plasse showed up for a post-movie Q&A, as shown in the above photo.

Mintz-Plasse, who was in Austin for his third Drafthouse premiere (Superbad and Kick-Ass were #1 & #2, respectively) dominated the Q&A with the comfort and confidence born of familiarity with Austin audiences, while Yelchin and Franco were generally more shy and reserved, as you can see in the following picture.

I finally made it to the Alamo Drafthouse Sommelier Cinema last week to see The Seven Year Itch for the first time. Yes, I'm admitting that I'd failed until now to see the Billy Wilder film that inspired the most iconic image of Marilyn Monroe, standing with her dress being blown up by a subway grate. It was interesting to observe that the full-length image did not actually appear in the film. Despite the hype and humor of The Seven Year Itch, the film is my least favorite of Wilder's work. I found the lead character's habit of verbalizing his internal monologue to be rather annoying and unattractive. By far my favorite Wilder movie starring Marilyn Monroe is Some Like It Hot with Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, a rip-roaring funny film that I never tire of watching.

Despite my lack of enthusiasm for The Seven Year Itch, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience thanks to the great program put together by Alamo Drafthouse Sommelier Cinema host Daniel Metz. The guest sommelier was Eric Pelegrin of Travis Heights Beverage World, who paired the wines to the film. Pelegrin was joined by Kendall Antonelli of Antonelli's Cheese Shop, who matched tasty American cheeses to the wines. My favorite pairing of the evening was the Caves de Sancerre "Les Rochettes" 2009 with the Uplands Cheese Company Pleasant Ridge Reserve cheese. The refreshingly light and modestly sweet Selbach Riesling Kabinett 2008 won me over, and I also enjoyed the Central Coast Creamery Seascape, a firm cow/goat cheese. Check out more photos from Sommelier Cinema after the jump.