Slackery News Tidbits, April 29

Here's the latest Austin film-related news.

• Just a reminder that our Crazy Heart DVD contest ends tonight at 11:59 pm. You don't have to write anything fancy, folks, and it's a mighty nice DVD, so head over there and post something, whether it's "I loved Willie Nelson in Wag the Dog" or "I saw A Scanner Darkly, and Graham Reynolds's score was great" or even "I once spotted Lyle Lovett in the audience at an Austin Film Festival panel."
• I couldn't find any Austin movies at Cannes this year, but luckily Charles Ealy at Austin Movie Blog noticed one film with a local connection in the Directors Fortnight. Documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman (La Danse), was here in 2008 to shoot a movie about Richard Lord's Gym, titled Boxing Gym. This is especially interesting to me since I used to work out at Lord's Gym back in -- wow, about eight years ago. I still miss the place and if I had a more flexible schedule would be back there in a minute, literally sweating my butt off (no A/C). Can't wait to see the film.
• If you're looking for a movie-related road trip this weekend, head over to the DFW area this weekend to catch one of the three screenings in the Bengali Association of Dallas/Fort Worth Film Exhibition. The films are being shown in 35mm prints at the Cinemark Webb Chapel, and a couple of the filmmakers will be present. The website also promises hot samosas and tea with your movies.
• The PBS series Independent Lens is showing some Austin-related documentaries next month, available locally through KLRU-TV. On Tuesday, May 4, you can catch Karen Skloss's film Sunshine, about mothers and daughters. The following week, on May 11, The Horse Boy tracks the journey of a Texas family determined to help their son beat autism.
• I started working on an article about local filmmakers using Kickstarter to raise funds for their movies, but Bryan Poyser beat me to it. Check out his article on Texas Film Production Fund recipients using this new way to solicit funding. (Then give the filmmakers some money.)
• The Austin Student Digital Film Festival is accepting entries for this year’s fest through May 7. Films accepted to be judged in the festival this year will be added to the ASDFF YouTube channel, a nice way for us all to get the chance to watch the shorts. 
• If you're not a student but want a chance to show off your short filmmaking skills, Texas Monthly is sponsoring a short film contest with a theme of "Where I'm From." The deadline is June 30.
• In case you hadn't noticed, the feature Tiny Furniture (my review), which premiered at SXSW this year, has been picked up for distribution by IFC. One of the film's stars is local filmmaker Alex Karpovsky. No word yet on a release date.
• Finally, Blackmagic Rollercoaster, the local film production company behind so many of your favorite Fantastic Fest bumpers, brings us a new "Don't Talk at the Alamo" video featuring Troll 2 and Best Worst Movie star Dr. George Hardy. I've embedded it below for your viewing pleasure. If you haven't seen either movie, you may not get the joke, but you still get to watch a nice tour of Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar. Incidentally, Best Worst Movie has been doing so well in Ausitn that it's playing here for another week.

TROLL 2: MAXIMUM HOSPITALITY from BLACKMAGIC ROLLERCOASTER on Vimeo.