Movie-related Events This Week

I've been hearing about a lot of interesting screenings and events around town this week, so I thought I'd share a list of the highlights. If I'm missing anything, feel free to promote your own movie-related event in the comments section.

  • Tuesday night, Austin Film Festival kicks off their new seminar series, Conversations in Film, with a panel called "Script to Screen: Making the Short Film." Panelists include Steve Collins (who expanded his short Gretchen and the Night Danger into the LAFF-winning Gretchen), Jenn Garrison (Prizewhores), and Scott Rice (Perils in Nude Modeling and the very funny Script Cops shorts that preceded films at AFF last year). The seminar takes place at Coldtowne Theater at 6 pm, and you can buy tickets from the AFF site, or call the AFF office if you're eligible for the member discount. I'm amused that two of these three panelists have directed shorts that feature the acting talents of AFF Membership Director John Merriman. That's coincidence ... or is it?
  • Also on Tuesday, if you are a Filmmaker-level or higher member of Austin Film Society, you can attend the Docs-in-Progress screening of Best Kept Secret, directed by PJ Raval and Jay Hodges. Reserve seats through AFS. Best Kept Secret is about the transformation of Trinidad, Colorado, into the "sex change capital of the world." You might know Raval primarily as a cinematographer, who's photographed a number of local films such as Room, The Cassidy Kids, and the aforementioned Gretchen. Hodges is a book editor who has also worked with the Cinematexas film festival. (I really wish these AFS and AFF events weren't competing with one another -- it would be fabulous to attend both.)
  • Nueva Onda's free monthly summer shorts series continues on Thursday night with a theme of "Unrequited." The restaurant opens for dinner at 6:30 (usually it is breakfast/lunch only), and movies are shown outdoors on the patio starting at around 8 pm. Incidentally, if you've got a short that you'd enjoy having other people watch, definitely submit it to Nueva Onda -- I was a programmer for the series last year and the audiences were always receptive and appreciative.
  • More shorts! Screen Door Film is now holding weekly film nights on Wednesdays at Salvage Vanguard Theater. This Wednesday at 7:30, you can watch a collection of shorts including a few from local filmmakers: the Zellner brothers' Aftermath on Meadowlark Lane and the doc The Next Tim Day from Ben Steinbauer. You can buy tickets at the door. (And in case I forget to tell you later, they're showing The Last Days of the San Jose on July 25, which is practically a must-see if you live in Austin.)
  • If you like vegan fare, Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek is offering a "vegan feast" to accompany a screening of Supersize Me on Thursday night. The five-course meal sounds yummy even for meat-eaters, and each course will be paired with an organic wheat beer. Tickets are available online.
  • If you aren't working during the day and don't mind watching movies with lots of kids, Alamo South Lamar's Summer Kids Club is showing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Depp, not Wilder) for free, Monday through Thurs. at 11 am. The kids' movie offering at Lakeline Starport this week is Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit, at 10 am Tuesday through Thursday and also free.