Movies This Week: Early Works, Troma, and SF at the Paramount

Let's see what Austin has to offer in terms of special screenings and free movies this week. If I missed something, please let me know in the comments section.

  • Thursday night, Austin Film Festival is hosting "Very Early Works," a collection of short films from local filmmakers who have gone on to bigger and better things. The evening includes short films from Steve Collins (Gretchen), Scott Rice (Perils in Nude Modeling and those funny, funny Script Cops shorts that served as AFF in-house trailers last year), the Zellner brothers (Redemptitude), Mike Akel (Chalk), Jeffrey Travis (Flatland). Plus there are shorts from filmmakers who aren't yet quite so well-known, like Toddy Burton and John Merriman. Some of the filmmakers will be around to discuss their shorts. "Very Early Works" is being held at Alamo Lake Creek, and you can buy tickets at the door.

    If you don't live in Austin, check out the "Eat My Shorts" posting on Cinematical Indie a while ago where I found early shorts online from some of these filmmakers as well as others from the "Mumblecore" movement (I also explain what I think that means). Read the entry and see those shorts for free.

  • Alamo Lake Creek is starting a new weekly film series called Tromatic Thursdays, in which the theater brings us films from the prestigious Troma studios. This week's classic offering is Tromeo and Juliet, a timeless love story. The movie screens at 10 pm and admission is free. (More events after the jump.)
  • Tickets are still available for one of the Simpsons Feast screenings -- Alamo Village on Tuesday at 9:55 pm. Homer eats a big meal that late at night, why shouldn't you?
  • At The Paramount this week: a delightfully cheesy horror double-bill of Them! and The Thing from Another World tonight and Tuesday; a bleaker sf lineup of Fahrenheit 451 and Slaughterhouse Five on Wed. and Friday; and a Spielberg-rific screening of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. (both of which will look fabulous on the Paramount's big screen) on Saturday and Sunday. But wait, there's more: They're also showing Metropolis on Saturday and Sunday. Ooh.
  • More science fiction: Austin Film Society is showing To the Stars by Hard Ways on Tuesday night at Alamo South as part of its Global Sci-Fi Cinema series.
  • Weird Wednesday (currently at Alamo South Lamar) is offering a Joe Don Baker movie this week, and I'm a sucker for him: Mitchell, a crime movie from 1975. WW movies are at midnight and they're free.