Two Austin Shorts Are Added to Fantastic Fest Lineup

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AJ Bowen of No Way Out

As the largest genre festival in the U.S. featuring horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action, and "fantastic" movies, Fantastic Fest recently announced the 2011 short film lineup, with 50 shorts from across the world. The stellar programming showcases the best of hundreds of submissions from many countries, including Australia, Norway, Germany, Estonia, Canada, Spain and the U.K. This year's slate of short films also includes 15 from the United States, two of which were shot right here in Austin, Texas.

So far, Austin is represented at Fantastic Fest this year by No Way Out and Family Unit, films that feature Fantastic Fest veterans, including filmmakers, actors and writers. Find out after the jump why the Austin Fire Department paid an unexpected visit to one film's set. 

No Way Out is an entirely Austin-based production, with the exception of Fantastic Fest regular guest and lead actor AJ Bowen (pictured above) and cinematographer Seth Iliff, who both flew in exclusively to work on this project. The film was written by Eric Vespe of Ain't It Cool News and directed by Aaron Morgan. Producers included Paul Gandersman (who has sometimes contributed photos to Slackerwood) and Austin film critic Peter Hall. Fantastic Fest regular Luke Mullen edited the short, with special effects by Doug Field (Machete, Teeth) and Susan Benson (Machete, My Sucky Teen Romance). Elizabeth Avellan of Troublemaker Studios provided the set space for the production.

Peter Hall describes No Way Out as "a pretty contained story that Aaron and Eric envisioned as a horror poem." The film focuses on an isolated man's desperate and futile attempt at escaping from torment from twisted creatures in the dark.

Local film production company Blackmagic Rollercoaster returns this year to Fantastic Fest with Family Unit. Known for their Fantastic Fest Filmmaking Frenzy submissions including Young Van Damme, Beastmaster Jr., and Casper 2, the twisted and talented Blackmagic Rollercoaster fimmakers won't disappoint their fans with their latest creation.

Family Unit centers around a man's intimate picnic in the park with his son, to celebrate the death anniversary of his wife with a very special toast. Joel Barhamand of the Everything Is Terrible crew stars as the father, and his son is portrayed by "The Kid," whom Fantastic Fest and Filmmaking Frenzy fans will recognize as Beastmaster Jr. Watch "The Kid" in my favorite role as Young Van Damme in this Blackmagic Rollercoaster's short film below:

YOUNG VAN DAMME from BLACKMAGIC ROLLERCOASTER on Vimeo.

Thomas Humphreys of Blackmagic Rollercoaster shared the following anecdote about shooting the final picnic scenes for Family Unit:

"While shooting the final picnic scenes, a group of firemen approached us and asked us about the candles we were lighting, if they were safe and if we were planning on burning down the park. I told them everything was fine. The firemen turned towards a shirtless old man hiding behind a nearby tree who started shouting at them, "NO NO NO! I told you on the phone! They're a cult and they're going to sacrifice that little boy and they're burning the forest down!" The firemen took the old man away."

I have to wonder how confused and concerned that man would have been had he witnessed the final scenes of Beastmaster Jr., which included Roman candles and co-star David Roland Strong in Satanic garb.

Fantastic Fest runs from September 22-29, 2011 here in Austin.

[Photo credit: AJ Bowen, courtesy of Peter Hall]