Slackery News Tidbits, December 23

'Twas the day before the night before Christmas, and all through the town ... oh, never mind. I'm lousy at those kinds of parodies. What I'm trying to say is that Austin has a rather surprising quantity of film news this week. Let's see what we've got for today:

• Fantastic Fest 2010 is now accepting submissions for short and feature films. Let's get lots of local films in the running (and hopefully in the lineup)!
• Next year The Domain will open a gift that keeps on giving -- a new movie theater. The LA Times has a story about the upscale Gold Class Cinema chain, which has only a few locations so far. Will Austinites shell out nearly $30 for a first-run movie ticket plus extra cash for fancy food, or will we stick with lower prices and food options at local Alamo Drafthouse theaters? Maybe the new theater will attract Domain regulars as opposed to film geeks.
• The latest Predator movie, produced by Robert Rodriguez, has been shooting in Austin recently. Apparently there was a press day/set visit (pssst: please invite us next time!), which means we're seeing a wealth of interviews with Rodriguez and one of the film's stars, Danny Trejo (pictured above). IESB has a nice interview with Trejo about Machete. Collider talks with Rodriguez about upcoming projects, including Sin City 2 and the possibility of another Spy Kids movie.
• Film School Rejects also read the Rodriguez interviews (pssst: invite the FSR guys to local set visits too!), which inspired a column opining that Rodriguez often tantalizes us with news about possible upcoming projects, then picks the least interesting ones. I agree I'd rather see Rodriguez work on new material than on sequels or "reboots" -- we don't need another Spy Kids sequel or Predator installment, and I'm not even interested in another Sin City flick. But I think this speculation on upcoming projects is something we see from many filmmakers.
• IFC published a list of "The Best Films to Go Direct to DVD in 2009," which includes a favorite of mine: the Austin-shot feature Gretchen. I reviewed the DVD after its release this fall, more than three years after the movie played SXSW. The list also includes Sita Sings the Blues, which played Austin Film Festival 2008 and Austin Asian American Film Festival; and My Effortless Brilliance, the film Lynn Shelton made before Humpday, which premiered at SXSW 2008.
• Oxford Film Festival, over in Mississippi, just announced competition films for the 2010 fest, from Feb. 4-7. The lineup includes a few films with Austin or Texas connections: the Fort Worth feature Carried Away; AFF selection The Scenesters, which includes two UT grads in cast/crew (my review); local filmmaker Tate English's short The Ballad of Friday and June; and Austin animator Lucas Martell's sidesplitting Pigeon: Impossible (which you can watch online). In addition, AFF attendees who loved the Japanese film Happy Ending (like Jenn Brown and myself) may want to make a road trip to see the film again.
• And now, as a little gift to contributor Chris Holland, I'd like to share a fun video by Singletree Productions -- the guys who brought Simmons on Vinyl to Austin Film Festival this year. The video is a promo for Holland's book Film Festival Secrets, and it's just plain funny, especially if you've met the guys or seen their movies.

[Photo credit: "Danny Trejo at Cinemapocalypse" by Debbie Cerda.]