Film and Politics

As I noted last week, filmmaker Eric Byler was in Austin to promote 9500 Liberty, currently playing at the Dobie (Don's review). The documentary depicts the battleground in Virginia and on the Internet over an anti-immigration policy, the "Immigration Resolution," that the Prince William County board of supervisors adopted in 2008. To counteract the racial divisions that occurred in their community, county residents formed a resistance using YouTube videos and virtual town halls. The inflammatory showdown between the groups had profound and devastating social and economic impacts in their community.

Byler and Annabel Park not only co-directed 9500 Liberty, but co-founded the political action group Coffee Party USA in response to the politics that enabled the Virginia anti-immigration law to pass. Byler is the YouTube/Online Media Coordinator for the group, and has created a number of videos about political issues.

As he mentions in his interview, Byler screened two of his feature narrative films at SXSW: Charlotte Sometimes in 2002, which won an audience award; and Americanese in 2006, which won the Best Narrative Feature award and a special jury prize for Outstanding Ensemble Cast. I caught up with Byler before last week's 9500 Liberty special screening at the Texas History Museum and asked him a few questions.

I started poking around the web this week to see if details on any summer film series were up yet, and look what I came across ... the Whole Foods Let's Retake Our Plates Film Series. 

Apparently this isn't just a local event; Whole Foods is sponsoring screenings around the country. But unlike in the other cities, the movies in Austin are free. This is a perfect time to put thought into what you put on your plate, with the warmer weather making people crave fresher food.

The local schedule features three nights of provocative documentaries: 

The Austin film community news this week is dominated by the Austin Studios/Soundcheck Austin issue (see below), but a few other interesting bits of news are out there as well. If I missed anything, feel free to post news in the comments.

• KXAN has a story about the Austin Studios lease for Soundcheck Austin, which is going before the Austin City Council on Thursday. Michael Corcoran also has a good thorough article in the Statesman. In addition, Austin Film Society has posted a Soundcheck Austin sublease fact sheet. The City Council meeting on Thursday should be interesting.
• Check out Victor Diaz's story for News 8 Austin about the Texas Filmmaker Production Fund awards, which includes an interview with local filmmaker David Modigliani about his upcoming documentary, 61 Bullets.
• The first official stills from Austin-shot horror film Red, White and Blue are now available on Fangoria. Debbie, were any of those pictures set in your house?
• The South Austin Trailer Park and Eatery is now showing movies outdoors on selected evenings at 8:30 pm. Their schedule of upcoming movies includes a time-travel series: Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (Thurs. 8/27), the Back to the Future trilogy (8/28-30), 12 Monkeys (8/31), Time Bandits (9/1) and Groundhog Day (9/2). [via Austin360]

On Saturday, many Texas Motion Picture Association (TXMPA) members braved the heat to network and do some committee brainstorming after local caucuses voted for new local representatives earlier this month. The Central Region, which includes Austin, voted for Paul Alvarado-Dykstra as the regional board representative and Shelley Schriber as the alternate. Alvarado-Dykstra is a film producer, vice-president of Villa Muse, and a co-founder of Fantastic Fest.

TXMPA initiated an online election system for last week to allow all members in good standing to vote for At-Large board members, regardless of whether they would attend the meeting in San Marcos on Saturday. In previous years, members had to be present at the annual meeting to vote, which took up most of the general member meeting time.

It's Monday morning and we've got your hot exciting local film-related news for you! It's also too damn early for exclamation points and excitement. But, you know, some of this news is almost as energizing as coffee.

• Austin Chronicle writer Marc Savlov asked Tim League exactly what in the world is going on with Alamo Drafthouse these days, and got some happy news. The Leagues are turning the old Salvation Army space near Alamo South into a bowling alley/private karaoke/fun space where you can wait to see a movie at Alamo or chat about one afterwards. I admit I got a little misty when I read that the bowling lanes are from the old Rock'n'Bowl in New Orleans. I assume this space will be ready in time for Fantastic Fest. Yay!