AFF Adds 'The Company Men' and 'Boxing Gym' to Lineup
It's been an unusually exciting afternoon here at Slackerwood headquarters, and no, it's not because the Saints won. Austin Film Festival has announced its Centerpiece film for 2010 as well as a TBD selection that I have been waiting to see for months and months and some other additions/changes to the schedule.
The Company Men will be AFF's Centerpiece film, screening on Saturday, Oct. 23 at 6 pm at the Paramount. Writer/director John Wells will attend. He's currently the president of WGA West, and after the movie, former WGA West President Dan Petrie, Jr. will moderate a Q&A with Wells. The Company Men is about three guys working for a company that's seriously downsizing, and the cast is truly stellar: Tommy Lee Jones, Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper and Kevin Costner.
Another new title announced for the festival is Frederick Wiseman's documentary Boxing Gym, which premiered at Cannes this year. The film is a look at Richard Lord's Boxing Gym here in Austin, and I am probably disproportionately excited about this because I used to work out there and miss it very much. (Even now I am trying to rework my schedule in my head to see if I could make time to go back ...) Richard Lord will be at the screening. You can see Boxing Gym on Wednesday, Oct. 27 at 7:30 pm at the Texas Spirit Theater (Bob Bullock Museum) -- yes, you have to decide between this film and Black Swan, and thank goodness Jenn Brown is a huge Darren Aronofsky fan so Slackerwood can cover both.
But wait, there's more. AFF has added a panel, "A Conversation with John Wells," on Saturday at 2:15 pm in the Driskill, giving you another chance to meet and chat with the filmmaker and writer. In addition, the world premiere of Brother's Justice, the directorial debut of actor Dax Shepard, has been moved to the Paramount on Saturday night at 9:30 pm, to follow the screening of Wells's film. Shepard and actor Tom Arnold will be in attendance. Shepard stars as an actor named Dax Shepard who decides to give up his career in comedy roles to become a martial-arts star. It should be quite a double-feature.
Do check the AFF film and conference schedules regularly before -- and during -- the fest, because these last-minute additions sometimes go hand-in-hand with other schedule changes. For example, the screening of Conviction now takes place at the Texas Spirit Theater on Saturday at 7:30 pm. And of course, keep your eye on Slackerwood, where we'll certainly report any other new and exciting additions to the AFF lineup, and where we have some helpful festival guides for you that will be published in the next few days.