AFF 2011: Planning Your Casual Celebrity Encounters
As much as we all like to think we're above celebrity watching, it's part of the fun at film festivals. And this year's Austin Film Festival has an eclectic mix of celebrities, both local and national. Below are the big names in attendance, and by no means a complete list of all guests in attendance at AFF this year.
Local filmmaker Mike Judge will be at AFF to present a special preview screening of a new edition of Beavis and Butt-Head on Sunday; the screening is open to the public (although badges and passes get priority seating). There will also be an exclusive premiere party for Producers Badge holders after the screening. If you were paying attention to TBA slots in the AFF Program Guide, that takes up one of the three slots; one is still unnnnounced and The Artist, a previously announced film, is taking the Tuesday, October 25 at 7 pm Paramount slot.
James Franco (pictured above from a previous Austin visit) will be back in town, attending a special regional premiere for his new film Sal on October 23. With only two premieres of this movie before AFF (including Venice Film Festival), this is a highly anticipated event at this year’s festival.
David Boreanaz will be in Austin to present the award for Outstanding Television Writer to Bones creator Hart Hanson at the annual AFF Awards Luncheon. He'll also participate in a special presentation of an episode of Bones. Those are fun with great Q&As, so don't overlook them on your schedule.
Academy Award winner Mira Sorvino will be onsite for a screening of Nancy Savoca's film Union Square, in which Sorvino stars, which will be closing AFF this year.
Jason Dohring (Veronica Mars) will be attendance for the world premiere of the Texas-shot Searching for Sonny. It's unknown if he'll also be attending the Rob Thomas "Veronica Mars Script to Screen" panel, but we can always hope.
Thomas Jane (Hung, Stander) will participate in an exclusive staged reading of the script The Nice Guys, written by Shane Black and Anthony Bagarozzi. We don't need to tell you Shane Black will also be here, right? And at last year's script readings some big names participated, so who knows who else on this list will appear at the event?
Alexis Bledel (Sin City, The Gilmore Girls) will be attend with writer/director Ryan Piers Williams (The Dry Land) as honorary co-chairs of this year's annual Film and Food Gala on Wednesday night.
For more information on the 18th annual Austin Film Festival including all screenings, panels and special events, visit their website, and connect with the fest via Facebook and Twitter. You can plan your schedule at Festival Genius.
[Photo credit: James Franco and Seth Rogen at the Pineapple Express premiere at Alamo Drafthouse, by Marie Catrett Photography. Used with permission from Alamo Drafthouse.]