Slackery News Tidbits, December 28
By Jordan Gass-Poore' on December 28, 2011 - 11:30am
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Here's the latest Austin film news.
- Austin Film Critics Association has just announced its 2011 awards. Martin Scorsese's movie Hugo was chosen for Best Picture; the gritty film Drive also won several awards. Take Shelter, written and directed by Austin filmmaker Jeff Nichols, won not only Best Austin Film but also a Best Actor award for Michael Shannon.
- This year's list of 25 movies selected to be added to the National Film Registry includes one with Austin ties: Robert Rodriguez's 1992 indie flick El Mariachi.
- Independent video rental and music store Encore Records, Video & Apparel, located at 1745 West Anderson Lane, is closing after more than 23 years of business in Austin. Encore President Chuck Lokey announced a final store clearance is in effect.
- UT alumni take a walk down Holiday Road: The comic anthology film Holiday Road will be screened in the narrative special screenings division at next month's 2012 Slamdance Film Festival. Twelve filmmakers, including UT alumni Todd Berger, Helena Wei, Mike Suter and Dee Austin Robertson give their take on an American holiday. Former AFF Film Program Director and UT alumnus Kelly Williams produced the film.
- Mike Dolan's 2010 directorial debut Dance with the One (Debbie's review) can be viewed online for free on Hulu. The feature, which premiered at SXSW 2010, is about a small-time Texas marijuana dealer who gets in over his head when the million dollars' worth of hashish his boss has given him suddenly goes missing -- read my interview with Dolan, who attended the Texas State University- San Marcos premiere of the film.
- Drafthouse Films announced the acquisition of the U.S. rights to Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films. The documentary centers on Israeli-born cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, whose American independent studio, Cannon Films, produced more than 120 exploitation films from 1979-1989. A theatrical release is scheduled for sometime late next year.
- Screenwriter Alvaro Rodriguez's short story "The Time about the Dog" -- read it here -- from his 2010 collection Along the River: An Anthology of Voices from the Rio Grande Valley has been nominated by VAO Publishing for the Pushcart Prize. The annual award honors authors whose work has been featured in American small presses and literary magazines. Rodriguez is the co-writer of Robert Rodriguez's 2009 film Shorts and 2010 film Machete. He also wrote the 1999 film From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter.