AFF Photo Essay: Hair of the Dog Brunch 2010

Probably the most eagerly anticipated event at Austin Film Festival each year is the traditional Hair of the Dog Brunch. I'd heard talk of the brunch for years, but didn't attend until last year when I learned what all the fuss was about. Despite crowds spilling out of Ranch 616 and onto the sidewalk to eat, it's a great place to relax and enjoy great food and good company.

Every year there's a couple of people I'll continually encounter during AFF, and this year it has to be Ya'Ke Smith of Katrina's Son. I stopped to say hello and warn him that his mug would be Slackerwood's next AFF Quick Snaps. We talked about his upcoming projects, including a feature-length version of Katrina's Son. Behind him in line were more AFF 2010 award winning filmmakers --  the crew from Adios Mundo Cruel (pictured at top), including Yossy Zagha Kababie, Jack Zagha Kababie and Enrique Chmelnik. Yossy had read my review of their film, and asked me to explain who Jean-Pierre Jeunet is. They are hopeful for Adios Mundo Cruel to be picked up for distribution soon. An encore of Adios Mundo Cruel will screen tonight at the Bob Bullock Museum IMAX Theatre at 9:30pm.

Also at the brunch were some of my favorite women in the Texas film industry -- Texas Film Commission's marketing director Carla Click, another TFC staffer whose name escapes me (sorry!) and Deputy Director Carol Pirie.

Here's Jenna Milly, writer and director of the short film A Peacock-Feathered Blue.

Sadly a pre-screener wasn't available so it's not in my AFF 2010 Preview: Selected Shorts guide and I couldn't make the Shorts 7 program where A Peacock-Feathered Blue was scheduled. The film is about Marcel, a young boy who does poorly in science, but enjoys art and wants to invent a new color. If you saw A Peacock-Feathered Blue, please share your thoughts.

The plot reminds me of a young boy I met over 10 years ago while substitute teaching an art class. He was disruptive and unfocused, and I overhead teachers discussing his poor performance in math. Being a substitute, I was too intimidated to tell them that his still life drawing that day had shocked me -- the artistry and detail of an alstroemeria flower. I often wonder about that child, and the story of A Peacock-Feathered Blue gives me hope that like Marcel of A Peacock-Feathered Blue, that boy I met also managed to believe in himself in and achieved his dreams.

Check out more photos from AFF's Hair of the Dog Brunch on Flickr.

[Photo credits: Adios Mundo Cruel Filmmakers, Austin Film Commission, Jenna Milly of A Peacock-Feathered Blue, by Debbie Cerda, on Flickr]