Slackery News Tidbits: August 18

So much movie news is going on in Austin that we need a second Slackery News Tidbits this week to handle it all. And I suspect more news will break right after we post this.

• Fantastic Fest has announced its 2010 opening-night film: Let Me In, the American remake of the Swedish film Let the Right One In, which was very popular at Fantastic Fest in 2008. Director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) and as-yet-unannounced cast members will be at the fest screening, which is the movie's U.S. premiere. I must admit I thought festgoers would not be thrilled about an American remake of a film they loved so much (I loved it too), but apparently the footage and trailers that have been released so far are generating a lot of good buzz, not to mention that a lot of Kick-Ass fans are excited about Chloe Moretz in one of the lead roles.
• Austin Film Festival also has some news: The fest's Distinguished Screenwriter Award recipient for 2010 is David Peoples. His writing credits include Blade Runner, Twelve Monkeys and Unforgiven. Peoples will be in Austin for AFF in October and will participate in several of the AFF screenwriter conference panels.
• Let's not forget aGLIFF, which is coming up fast on September 7. The festival's full lineup is now available on the aGLIFF website. The fest has also announced that for the first time, it will include juried film awards. [Aside: Whoever designed the fest's Quick Guide this year should get an award of some kind, it's beautiful and functional.]
• While you're waiting for these great local festivals, Austin has some excellent events occurring in the next week. Austin Film Society is co-sponsoring a benefit screening on Thursday, Aug. 26 of Amy Grappell's excellent short documentary Quadrangle, for which she received a Texas Filmmakers Production Fund award in 2009. I caught this short at SXSW and it was amazing -- I've heard Grappell wants to expand it to feature-length, which could be great, but the short stands on its own two feet and doesn't feel like a pitch for something longer. It is a personal story about Grappell's parents and their neighbors in the 1970s. Grappell is trying to get an Academy Award-qualifying run for Quadrangle, and the proceeds from this screening will help her get to LA for the qualifying release.
• But wait, there's more. Speaking of the Texas Filmmakers Production Fund, AFS is hosting screenings next week of films from this year's TFPF judges. On Monday, you can see Sam Green's documentary The Weather Underground and Alex Rivera's feature The Sleep Dealer, and on Tuesday, Emily Hubley's partially animated feature The Toe Tactic. The movies are free for AFS members.
• I haven't even mentioned the extravaganza sneak peek on Sept. 2 of Machete, the latest Troublemaker Studios film, based on Robert Rodriguez's fake trailer from Grindhouse. The screening and Q&A will take place at the Paramount, and your ticket also gets you into an after-party at Austin Studios. No word yet on who will be there, but there will be a red carpet beforehand, and we'll be there taking picture. The event is a fundraiser for the TFPF as well as the Texas Motion Picture Alliance (TXMPA). I've heard people fussing over the high ticket prices when the movie opens in release the next day -- it helps me to think of the ticket price as a donation to these film-related causes, and the movie/party as my premium for donating, like the coffee mugs and tote bags you sometimes get when you give money to public radio or TV.
• Deal of the Day: Buy a ticket to see Bob Byington's locally shot comedy RSO [Registered Sex Offender] on Sunday night at Alamo Ritz, and if you're one of the first 50 to do so, you get a free DVD of Harmony and Me! AFS members presenting a card also get a free DVD. Damn, just from the events on this list, you can see the value of an AFS membership. (No, they don't bribe me to say that.)
• Finally, please excuse my shamelessness, but I have to link to this News 8 Austin story on the Dobie Theatre closing. That's because Slackerwood (and I) are in it. Now you see why I went into print journalism instead of broadcast.