A Night of Texas Filmmakers' Early Shorts

Richard Linklater, Robert Rodriguez and other famed Texas filmmakers may be household names now. But like most filmmakers, they launched their careers with low-budget, largely unseen short films.

Despite the later success of these Texas cinematic giants, their early works remain relatively obscure and are rarely screened. So, if you're a Texas movie buff like me, you won't want to miss the upcoming "Texas Legends, Before They Were Legends" program, which presents a collection of first short films from some of Texas' most successful and cherished filmmakers. Presented by the Texas Independent Film Network, Austin Film Society and Screen Door Film, the program includes the following films:

• Bottle Rocket (1992), by Wes Anderson. This short (pictured at right) is the basis for the full-length feature version of Bottle Rocket, released four years later.
• Styx (1976), by Jan Krawitz. This documentary is an impressionistic view of the Philadelphia subway system.
• Woodshock (1985), by Richard Linklater. This documentary captures the mayhem of the 1985 Woodshock Music Festival in Dripping Springs.
• Speed of Light (1981), by Brian Hansen. This film's creators describe it as "a screaming red piece of time crash landing in the backwash of the American Gothic."
• The Heisters (1965), by Tobe Hooper. Hooper calls this film "a Gothic mod comedy." I saw it last year at a screening of Hooper's first feature, Eggshells, and found it a very amusing film that shares many themes with the director's later works.
• Bedhead (1991), by Robert Rodriguez. Rodriguez shot this film with his family and friends as cast and crew, and used the money it won at film festivals to produce El Mariachi.

"Texas Legends, Before They Were Legends" screens Friday, February 18 at 7:30 pm at the AFS Screening Room. Refer to the event web page for tickets and more information.