Austin at SXSW 2012: All the Features

The plethora of films at SXSW Film Festival this year includes a good selection of Austin-based features even without the Lone Star States category of movies. The quality and buzz for local films is high, and I predict a couple of these features are destined to win audience awards at SXSW.

Here's the best list we've been able to compile of Austin connections in SXSW films this year. If we missed your movie, please let us know in the comments and we will update the list as needed. Stay tuned for Elizabeth Stoddard's feature on other Texas films at SXSW.

A note to filmmakers: If your movie has some link to Austin, we would love to interview you about it and see the film. Please drop us a line ASAP so we can set something up before the fest begins.

Narrative Spotlight

• Somebody Up There Likes Me -- This full-length bittersweet comedy from Bob Byington will have its world premiere at the fest. Byington rounds up several of his cast and crew from Harmony and Me and RSO [Registered Sex Offender] including UT Austin alumnus Keith Poulson (Harmony and Me), Nick Offerman (also in Casa de mi Padre and 21 Jump Street), Kevin Corrigan, local actor Andrew Bujalski, and local musician Bob Schneider as a wedding singer. The cast also includes local actors Chris Doubek, Allison Latta, Anna Margaret Hollyman (also in Gayby) and Jonny Mars. Jess Weixler (The Man Who Never Cried, Teeth) also stars. The trailer is already available on the film's website. (screening times)
• The Do-Deca Pentathalon -- Former Austinites Jay and Mark Duplass directed this movie about two brothers and their private athletic competition. The movie stars another once-Austinite, Steve Zissis (Baghead, Cyrus), and Mark Kelly. (screening times)

Narrative Feature Competition

• Gayby -- Jonathan Lisecki has expanded his popular 2010 short of the same name. The feature stars Jenn Harris and Matthew Wilkas (from the short) as well as Dule Hill and Samantha Buck. The cast also includes Austinites Alex Karpovsky and Anna Margaret Hollyman; the artist who provided all the main character's drawings, Nick Derington, lives here as well. Dallas-to-Austin filmmaker and University of Texas at Austin film graduate Clay Liford (Wuss) -- who also worked on KID-THING -- is director of photography. (screening times)
• The Taiwan Oyster -- Two ex-pat kindergarten teachers in Taiwan embark on a quixotic odyssey to bury a fellow countryman. Local crew includes writer and director Mark Jarrett, producer Paul Knaus and composer Dylan Jones. Austin musician Billy Harvey stars. (screening times)

Documentary Spotlight

• America's Parking Lot --  Pull up a front-row seat as two die-hard fans of "America's Team" spend their last season with the Dallas Cowboys at historic Texas Stadium, and scramble to preserve their place in America's Parking Lot. Austin actor and filmmaker Jonny Mars (also in short film Hellion) directed this documentary, which received a Texas Filmmakers Production Fund grant in 2009. (screening times)
• Trash Dance -- Houston filmmaker Andrew Garrison captures the journey of choreographer Allison Orr as she rides out with and tries to persuade employees of the Austin Dept. of Solid Waste Services to collaborate in a public dance performance. Editor Angela Pires resides in Austin. (screening times)
• WONDER WOMEN! The Untold Story of American Superheroines -- How does America's first superheroine reflect our mixed feelings over the decades about female capacity, desires and achievement? Timely story with challenges against women's health and reproductive rights fueling a national movement. Additional director of photography PJ Raval is in Austin, and executive producer Erin Stafford is from Dallas. (screening times)

Fest Favorites

• KID-THING (pictured at top) -- Shot in Austin by David and Nathan Zellner (Goliath) with music from local musical artists The Octopus Project. Fresh from its premiere at Sundance, this feature is about a young mischievous tomboy. Alamo Drafthouse programmer Zack Carlson and cult film star Susan Tyrell (who now resides in Austin) are among the local cast. Additional camerawork by local filmmaker Clay Liford. (screening times)
• Safety Not Guaranteed -- Three magazine employees hit the road to interview an eccentric sales clerk who placed a classified ad seeking a companion for time travel. Starring Kristen Bell, Jake M. Johnson, and Aubrey Plaza and also features former Austinite Mark Duplass who co-wrote and co-directed The Do-Deca Pentathalon. (screening times)

Special Events

• Bernie -- Longtime Austin filmmaker Richard Linklater's criminal comedy, which premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival in 2011, will have a special screening at SXSW. The movie stars Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine and former Austinite Matthew McConaughey. (screening times)
• The Oyster Princess (1919) -- This Teutonic comedy is a silent film directed by Herr Ernst Lubitsch and demonstrates the excesses of a German aristocracy. Features a live score by Austin jazz rock band Bee vs. Moth. (screening times)

There are also several Austin films in the Texas Shorts Program, be sure to check them out.