It's Monday morning and time to wake up, smell the coffee, and find out what's going on in Austin film right now. Here's what I've got so far:

• Fantastic Fest and website HorrorSquad are co-hosting a special screening of the horror thriller The Collector on July 22. Writer/director Marcus Dunstan and co-writer Patrick Melton will be in attendance. Click the link above to find out how to RSVP if you have a Fantastic Fest badge. If you haven't heard of The Collector, the movie toured the fest circuit under the title Midnight Man. [Full disclosure: I write for HorrorSquad's sister site, Cinematical.]
• Speaking of Fantastic Fest, a preview of the poster and t-shirt art is now available on the Mondo Tees blog for you to admire. "Yes, but when do we find out what's actually playing at Fantastic Fest this year?" The first batch of fest films will be announced on July 13.
• Decider Austin (the local online Onion site) has a fun interview with Austin Film Festival programming director Kelly Williams called "How not to enter the Austin Film Festival." Don't forget that the deadline for AFF film submissions is this Friday, July 3.

It's been a dramatic week, with three entertainment icons passing away. The Alamo team put together a post-midnight tribute edition of their signature Michael Jackson sing-alongs that sold out quickly. Another MJ Tribute sing-along is scheduled for tonight at the Ritz. Hopefully it will be a quieter weekend.

This week we're focusing on new releases, since it seems to be a light special-event week. Next week's edition of Movies This Week will be early -- on Wednesday -- for the holiday weekend, including Public Enemies.

You've already seen my review of Transformers: Rise of the Fallen included in a rant about mob mentality. Massawyrm has an eloquent, detailed review as a fan of Michael Bay and the first Transformers film at Ain't it Cool News. I demurred on the objectifying rant, but Kim Voynar over at MCN didn't.

Last year, I compiled a list of Austin film-related organizations and film geeks who had Twitter accounts, which turned out to be very popular. I realized last week that the old list is out of date; many new people and groups have started using Twitter to share news and chat. A lot of those tweets are about Austin film.

As a result, I've created a page on Slackerwood to keep track of all the Austin film-related Twitter accounts, whether they're individuals who talk about lots of other things too, or news feeds. Check it out. You'll find a permanent link to the page in the left sidebar. If you think of someone I've missed, just let me know and I'll update the page.

For all of you horror fans who just can't get enough during Fantastic Fest:

The World Horror Society has named Austin, Texas as the location for the 2011 World Horror Convention (WHC). The international gathering of horror's brightest talents and their fans will take place from April 28 through May 1, 2011. Does it help that Austin is home to the largest urban bat colony in the world?

"Texas has a long history of strange fiction, serving as home to such luminaries as Robert E. Howard, Michael Moorcock, and Joe R. Lansdale," says Convention Co-Chair Nate Southard in a press release posted to his website. "Bringing the World Horror Convention to Austin is a natural. It's a vibrant city with a taste for the eccentric and a love of the arts. Further, its central, southern location makes it convenient for travelers throughout the US, and visitors from abroad will have no trouble reaching us either."

WHC 2011 has confirmed author Sarah Langan as its first guest of honor. Ms. Langan's latest novel Audrey's Door will be released in late 2009 and has already been optioned by The Weinstein Company for film.

Two other guests of honor have been announced this week: authors Brian Keene and Joe R. Lansdale (pictured at right). You might recall that Bubba Ho-tep, filmed in Texas, was based on one of Lansdale's short stories.

Last month, Jenn reported that Simon Rumley, whose film The Living and the Dead won an award at Fantastic Fest 2006 (which he's holding above), would be shooting his next film around Austin: Red, White and Blue.

The production is currently looking for extras to fill the Broken Spoke in a scene that will be shot on Tuesday, July 7. You have to show up in country-and-western clothing and it seems some beer drinking may be involved. For more information, check out the Alamo blog entry written by the film's executive producer, Tim League.

The Austin Chronicle published a story today with more details about Red, White and Blue and Rumley shooting in Austin. We're also planning more news about the production soon -- I heard a rumor that one of the shooting locations is also the home of a Slackerwood contributor (aside to husband: no, not our house, don't worry).

The Austin-based creators of a short documentary film about children with dyslexia were honored at this year's Barbara Jordan Media Awards, held on June 12 in the new (still under construction) Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Changing Children's Lives director/co-producer Steve Mims, co-producer Patrick Peyton, and Alice Marsel, Director of Education at the Scottish Rite Learning Center, were honored as the "Special Contribution" award winners for 2008. The film was shot in Austin, and you can view a clip here. The short documentary reflects the experience of young children dealing with variations of dyslexia and the conditions of this learning disability.

After the jump, read more about the Barbara Jordan Media Awards, from the Office of the Governor's website:

[Ed. Note: Please welcome Slackerwood's newest contributor, Debbie Cerda.]

When Jette blogged in late March about the Austin Film Festival (AFF) "Made in Texas Film Series," the July 8 screening had yet to be set. I am quite pleased to see it's been announced and is one of my favorite films made in Texas, True Stories.

There are many reasons to appreciate this gem of a film beyond the fact it is set in Texas, beginning with the director and co-writer, David Byrne of the Talking Heads. Mr. Byrne brings the quirkiness of Texas urban legends to the screen, set to a well-blended soundtrack by the Talking Heads. When he was scouting locations for his film in 1985, he enlisted the assistance of a Dallas real-estate agent to find several pink houses for potential locations. This real-estate agent was the mother of a friend of mine who was quite happy to help his mom show David Byrne around Dallas, including a viewing of Mary Kay Ash's pink palace.

True Stories features a strong cast, including John Goodman, Swoosie Kurtz and the late Spalding Gray. Goodman's performance as Louis Fyne is both genuine and endearing. In my list of "Who Should Star in This Film?" I would wholeheartedly support Mr. Goodman if he were to star in the role of the late Don Walser, "the Pavarotti of the Plains." The droll but ever-amusing Spalding Gray delivers as well. Who knew that you could use food to represent modernization and industrialization?

The movie Transformers: The Rise of the Fallen opens on Wednesday and not surprisingly, the advance screening Monday night was very popular with press and public who were lucky enough to attend. Summer blockbuster screenings are usually pretty crazy to begin with -- they give away many more "standby" passes than theaters can accommodate -- and this one was no exception. The studio rep had to give out wristbands to manage the chaos and reduce line jumping. The next day, the PR company sent a stern reminder to local press about screening/RSVP guidelines.

But what stood out for me, as a veteran of preview screenings, was the mob mentality at its worst. At some screenings, especially when radio stations (co)sponsor the event, there are promotional giveaways. A lot of wily people attend these screenings, and they can be aggressive about getting the goodies. It's problematic to the point that the sponsors try to be equally wily in finding ways to distribute the booty without causing pandemonium. [Ed. Note: Jette recommends you see Jenn Garrison's locally shot doc Prizewhores for a good example of this mentality.]

Yes, the title is cheesy this morning. But how else was I going to get a Machete reference in there? And I'll use any excuse to post a photo of Danny Trejo, like the one above. It's from the 2007 Grindhouse premiere, but it's still relevant, as you'll see below. There's other news from Austin and surrounding areas as well.

• While at Cinevegas last week, Danny Trejo told James Wallace from the blog Gordon and the Whale that shooting on Machete, Robert Rodriguez's movie based on a fake trailer in Grindhouse, will start in about five weeks. I wonder if they'll do any location shooting around Austin? [via Cinematical]
• The latest on the Austin Studios proposed sub-lease to Soundcheck Austin: An open letter to the Austin film community from Richard Linklater that explains the situation clearly and calmly. Check it out.

You probably already know about the Paramount's Summer Film Series. Maybe you rushed over there to catch Breakfast at Tiffany's (bleah) or The Awful Truth (woo-hoo). However, you might not be aware -- I wasn't -- that the Paramount also has planned special events around some of the movies they're showing.

For example, Singin' in the Rain and An American in Paris are double-billed at the theater this weekend. Between the two screenings on Saturday, the Paramount will host live "vaudeville-style performances" from Schave and Reilly.

And next Friday, June 26, the theater is hosting a The Big Lebowski-themed downtown scavenger hunt before showing the movie as a double-feature with Fargo. You can buy a ticket through the Paramount website that gets you into the scavenger hunt and both movies, as well as a free soda and popcorn.

Unfortunately, the Paramount website doesn't seem to have a separate section where all the film-related special events are listed. The event info is included with the descriptions for the appropriate films on the website ... or you can sift through the printed/PDF full calendar. To make it easier to find out about these little extras, we'll post an update at the end of this month that lists the special events for July, such as an egg-eating contest before Cool Hand Luke.

[Photo credit: "The State and the Paramount" by Jette Kernion]