Slackery News Tidbits, April 22

Here's the latest Austin movie news and a few upcoming special events:

• Violet Crown Cinema downtown is gearing up to open April 29. If you can't wait that long, Austin Film Society is holding a fundraiser preview at the new theater on Wednesday, April 27. AFS founder Richard Linklater has selected eight titles from the Criterion Collection to screen in the theaters that night; you can pick a single or double-feature ... and the ticket prices include garage parking downtown. I'm very tempted to slip down there for Paris, Texas myself. Look for my interview with VCC manager Elizabeth Skerrett next week.
• Speaking of Linklater, local actor/artist Wiley Wiggins will be drinking and live-tweeting during a broadcast of Dazed and Confused tonight at 6 pm on cable TV network Current. Read this A.V. Club interview with Wiggins for all the details.
• If you prefer your movies in a theater and Twitter-free, you can always head over to the AFS Screening Room for a special screening of The Whole Shootin' Match at 7:30 pm with Sonny Carl Davis in attendance.
• Since the Dobie Theater closed last year, Austin no longer has a Landmark-owned theater in town, but it's still interesting to hear that Mark Cuban is putting the theater chain up for sale, along with Magnolia Pictures. Also interesting and slightly related: One of Magnolia's co-founders was Bill Banowsky, owner of Violet Crown Cinema here in Austin.
• One more on Austin theaters: Devin Feraci at Badass Digest asks Tim League what he thinks about the new "premium VOD releases" plan and how it might affect Alamo Drafthouse. The answer is exactly what you might guess.
• Do you know about Chef du Cinema? Local film lover/cook Ron Deutsch blogs about movies and food, often sharing the perfect recipe for a certain film. Recently I enjoyed learning that the "Texas Wienie" is an actual food item, not just something referenced in The Palm Beach Story. Deutsch also holds cooking classes/screenings regularly at Central Market; tickets are now on sale for a tapas class on May 22 in conjunction with Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. (Of course there is gazpacho.)
• Finally, if you're going to San Francisco, be sure to ... catch the some Austin filmmaking. San Francisco International Film Festival is hosting a retrospective of David and Nathan Zellner's short films called "From A to Zellner" on Sunday night -- the perfect way to finish off Easter, I'm sure. The blog Culture Feed has more details for you Bay Area folks. For the rest of us, here's Redemptitude, one of their shorts available online.

Redemptitude from Zellner Bros. on Vimeo.