Upcoming Special Screenings You Shouldn't Miss

Austin has a number of special screenings and events coming up in the next week or two, so I thought I'd list some of them here. I also recommend checking the Austin Chronicle's weekly Special Screenings listing (updated online on Friday mornings) as well as Austin Creative Alliance's Now Playing Austin site (which I wish would make film event listings as prominent as the other arts, hint hint).

Don't forget to check our Guide to Free (and Cheap) Summer Movies in Austin for a great listing of film series that will fit your budget.

• It's a Very Joe Swanberg weekend here in Austin. The Chicago indie filmmaker will participate in an AFS Moviemaker Dialogue on Saturday night at Austin Studios. On Sunday, Alamo Drafthouse Ritz hosts two Swanberg movies, Art History and Uncle Kent (both featuring actor Kent Osborne), with Swanberg attending. And on Monday night, he'll stick around when AFS Best of the Fests brings back SXSW 2011 selection Silver Bullets, also at Ritz.
• The Paramount is going all John Hughes on us this weekend with a double-feature of Sixteen Candles and Some Kind of Wonderful on Sunday. If you're one of the first 100 people admitted to the 2 pm screening of Sixteen Candles, you get a free birthday cupcake. On Wednesday night, June 8, the theater is showing a Marlon Brando double of Last Tango in Paris and Burn! ... and no, they are not having any related promotions (would you really want them to?).
• The free Texas Rolling Roadshow starts tomorrow night in Fort Parker with The Searchers. If you don't feel like a long drive, Austinites can see The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in nearby Kingsland on June 4 and Blood Simple in Dessau Hall on June 5. If you want to spend a little money, VIP packages are available for the Chain Saw screening, and an after-party with The Derailers will take place after the Blood Simple screening. Finally, check out the gorgeous posters Jason Munn created for the tour; I really want the Giant one myself.
• Austin Film Society starts a new Essential Cinema series on Tuesday, June 7: "Auteurs Sans Frontieres: Directors Without Borders." The series focuses on films from directors who were working in countries that were not their own. Selections include Rififi, Black Orpheus, The Double Life of Veronique and Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno, a documentary about a director unable to complete a film shot in a country foreign to him. Essential Cinema screenings often sell out so I recommend getting your tickets ahead of time online ... and remember admission is free for AFS members.
• This year, aGLIFF has renamed its summer fundraiser -- it's no longer Bloom but is now BOOM. Tickets are on sale now for the gala event on Saturday, June 18 at East Side Stages on E. Cesar Chavez. BOOM will include an art auction, DJ sets, food from Frank, and an open bar.
• Also on Saturday, June 18, Emancipet is hosting a "Doggy Drive-In" fundraiser to support its low-cost spay and neuter services. They're showing the documentary Worst in Show, about four pets and their owners competing in the World's Ugliest Dog event. Filmmakers Don R. Lewis and John T. Beck will be at the outdoor screening.