SXSW 2010: The Austin Features

SXSW may have a lot of splashy marquee films from all around the globe, but some of us here in Austin want to see what our hometown is bringing to the film festival this year. I'd say it's a good year for Austin and Texas at SXSW but I say that every single year.

Here's the annual Slackerwood list of features playing SXSW 2010 that have Austin connections of one kind or another. The list begins with films shot in Austin, then moves onto other local ties. If we left your film off the list and it was shot here or includes local cast or crew, post a comment or drop us a line and we'll be happy to include it.

• Dance with the One -- This feature was produced by the University of Texas Film Institute (UTFI). Director Michael Dolan and many cast/crew members are from Austin. It's set in Texas, but I don't know yet if/how much it's set here in town.
• The Happy Poet -- I don't know much about this film by Paul Gordon, except that more than one filmmaker going to SXSW this year has told me to see it. But many of the film's stills (like the one pictured above) show recognizable local spots, and a movie about a poet who opens his own organic food trailer sounds very Austin-ish to me.
• Lovers of Hate -- The latest film from local filmmaker and AFS staffer Bryan Poyser was shot in Austin and Park City. Many of the cast and crew are also from Austin. The film's executive producers are former Austinites Jay and Mark Duplass and local filmmaker Marcy Garriott.
• Mars -- Geoff Marslett's full-length animated feature was filmed here, but contains no recognizable local spots -- it was shot almost entirely with green-screen backgrounds. Look for Jenn Brown's interview with Marslett on Slackerwood later this week. The cast includes former Austinite Mark Duplass, local filmmakers Michael Dolan (Dance with the One) and Paul Gordon (The Happy Poet), Jeremy Pollet, and Kinky Friedman as the President of the United States.
• Red White & Blue -- Directed by Simon Rumsley, the British filmmaker who brought us The Living and the Dead, this film was shot on location in Austin in places such as the Broken Spoke and Debbie's house. One of the executive producers is local theater owner Tim League.
• Richard Garriott: Man on a Mission -- This documentary about local entrepreneur Richard Garriott is directed by Mike Woolf and Andrew Yates from Beef and Pie Productions here in town. One of the composers is Brian Satterwhite (Artois the Goat).
• When I Rise -- Local filmmaker Mat Hames made this documentary about Barbara Smith Conrad, a music student at The University of Texas at Austin in the late 1950s who fought racial discrimination. The film is produced by UT's Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.
• Earthling -- Writer/director Clay Liford is a UT Austin alum currently living in Dallas and shot this film there. Some Austin cast and crew were involved, and the film had a work-in-progress screening at AFS earlier this year.
• Cyrus -- The writing and directing team of brothers Jay and Mark Duplass started their filmmaking careers in Austin. Their latest film is a relationship comedy starring Marisa Tomei, John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill ... as well as Steve Zissis, who has been in several Austin-made films including The Overbrook Brothers and Baghead.
• Skateland -- This film about a young skating-rink manager in the 1980s is set in small-town Texas, although a lot of it was shot in Shreveport, La. Director Anthony Burns is a former Austinite.
• Tiny Furniture -- The cast for this film by Lena Dunham includes now-Austin actor/filmmaker Alex Karpovsky ... who is also in Lovers of Hate.
• American: The Bill Hicks Story -- This British documentary uses animation to tell the story of comedian Bill Hicks, who lived in Houston and Austin at different times of his life.
• Audrey the Trainwreck -- This film from Frank Ross includes some Austin actors and crew members.

A few interesting tidbits:

• Three of the movie on the above list have local actor Chris Doubek in them: He stars in Lovers of Hate but is also in The Happy Poet and Earthling.
• Last year, we interviewed David Hartstein, who was bringing his documentary Along Came Kinky to SXSW. This year, the Austin filmmaker is producing two local films at SXSW: Mars and Earthling.
• We also interviewed David Lowery, a sometimes-Austinite who made the beautiful film St. Nick (one of my favorites of 2009 ... on which Earthling director Clay Liford was director of photography, incidentally). Lowery was director of photography for two features at SXSW this year: Lovers of Hate and Audrey the Trainwreck.