AFF

On Thursday night, Austin Film Festival screened its opening-night movie, Serious Moonlight, at the Paramount. Director Cheryl Hines, pictured above, attended the screening and held a Q&A afterwards. The movie stars Meg Ryan, Timothy Hutton, Kristen Bell and Justin Long, and was written by the late Adrienne Shelly (Waitress).

A number of film-pass holders were lined up for the film -- it turned out to be a good-sized audience, but everyone was able to get in.

I wasn't gonna do this, really. This was the festival where I was gonna take a back seat. But despite having to start late yesterday and today, I can't help but do a daily dispatch. So here goes day two. 

I missed all the panels. I didn't even get to the fest in time to do anything but hop on a shuttle to the French Legation for the annual Texas BBQ, only to find out that while the shuttles started running at 4 pm, we absolutely could not step foot onto the grounds until 5 pm (there was a wedding, that would have been rude).  As it turns out, it's quite a popular spot for weddings, because one of the filmmakers had his wedding there. 

This was prime social time.  Ran into friends like Patrick Sullivan (pictured right) who is a screenplay competition finalist, and Rich Vázquez from Cine Las Americas. Later I sawSkot Tulk from aGLIFF, and finally had a chance to meet PJ Raval, who is very busy these days, and associated with many of the Austin film organizations. They introduced me to Mike Washlesky, who in turn introduced me to Craig Knapp, whom he worked with on Hockey Night in Texas.  So Jette, you don't have to keep saying I need to meet PJ, because now I have. 

It's a good thing the barbecue ended when it did, because they ran out of plates, glasses and beer before the official end time. but that meant I got back to the Driskill in time to catch Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire at the Paramount.  That movie really needed a Q&A. It's very powerful and very challenging, and had some incredible performances. I'm jumping on the Mo'Nique Oscar Bandwagon now, because her final scene is deserves accolades. Amazing. And looking on IMDb I see that director Lee Daniels was a producer on The Woodsman, another bravely disturbing film that tackles the complex miasma behind some darker human behaviors.

Day one is over, and day two is just beginning of Austin Film Festival (Food and Film event not withstanding).  There's just so much to do, with so many great panels to choose from, not to mention the films.

Registration was a but slow and confusing, but I was one of those "other" people, who had a late registration as media, and then as an Austin Film Festival member, I had a free film pass to pick up as well.  Had a chance to talk to a few friends, including Austin's Patrick Sullivan, who is a screenplay competition finalist.  I hope we get to celebrate a win there on Saturday.

I ended up seeing Slackerwood contributor Chris Holland's panel with Kelly Williams and James Faust, "It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over," moderated by Greg Garrett.  Chris, as you may know, authored the book Film Festival Secrets, and as a former festival programmer and current B-Side principal, knows about festivals from the inside out.  All the panelists offered sound, practical advice, including details often overlooked, such as putting your film's title on the DVD you submit to festivals. Much of the advice is the same as any career development coach would give, that amounted to making it as easy as possible for the festivals to say "yes" to your film. 

Austin Film Festival starts today and runs through next Thursday, October 29. The screenwriters conference ends on Sunday, but the films play for a whole week. Here are some tips for those of you who just want to see a few films, and not bother with buying a badge.

New this year: AFF has a few new venues for the film screenings and conference. Learn the lay of the land by viewing our AFF Film Festival 2009 Film Venue Guide.

Seating priority: For every movie at AFF, badgeholders are seated first, then film-pass holders, then anyone who's bought tickets if space remains.

Best value: If you only plan on seeing a couple of movies, take your chances and buy individual tickets at the box office . If you plan on seeing at least five films, I highly recommend the 2009 Film Pass. For only $42, film-pass holders have access to the second-tier Film Pass line, admitted ahead of individual ticketholders at all venues.

Austin Film Festival announced some late additions today, including the TBA films, via Twitter. The films include:

• An Education
• Facing Ali
• The Fourth Kind
• The Road
• The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia
• Youth in Revolt

You can check out information on these films and the entire festival on the Austin Film Festival schedule.  Austin Film Festival runs October 22-29 at various locations around the Austin area.

I took the above picture at Austin Film Festival 2008, without knowing who it was or which film was being promoted. I was working the opening-night film's red carpet and suddenly, down the block came these guys carrying a coffin. Naturally I shot a photo or two.

During the recording of Slackerwood Podcast #15 late last week, Chris Holland and AFF Film Program Director Kelly Williams discussed the feature Simmons on Vinyl, one of the selections for this year's festival. One of them joked that "This year, Mark Potts and Cole Selix won't be lugging a coffin around, like they did for The Stanton Family Grave Robbery last year." Eureka!

So the guys in this photo are almost certainly Potts, Selix and Kevin Costello, who co-wrote The Stanton Family Grave Robbery and brought it to AFF along with their coffin. Simmons on Vinyl is directed by Potts and co-written by Potts and Selix. I wonder what kind of prop they'll carry around AFF this year?

P.S. Slackerwood Podcast #15 is on its way -- it's still being edited. It'll be well worth the short wait.

Guess what? Austin has had film-related news in the past week that has nothing to do with Fantastic Fest. Really! I'm as surprised as you are. Let's look at all the interesting stuff we at Slackerwood missed while we were watching festival films and then recuperating. If we left out anything else, feel free to share the news in the comments section.

• Austin filmmaker/instructor Kat Candler is on fire this month, I swear. You can catch her 2006 feature jumping off bridges tonight at the Windsor Park branch of Austin Public Library at 6:30 pm. She also has two new short films playing at Austin Film Festival later this month: Quarter to Noon and Love Bug. Finally, a feature-film screenplay that she wrote with Chris Mass (Chalk), The Spider in the Bathtub, has just been optioned by LAF Studios, with Candler to direct.
• Speaking of AFF, Austin Business Journal has an interview with festival co-founder Barbara Morgan.
• Renovations on Austin's (now all-digital) public access television studios are complete. This Saturday, Oct. 10, the public is invited to digital fusion fest, an open house for the upgraded facility. Stop by and learn how you can create your own video for cablecast and other media.

Secret screenings are a much-loved signature event at Fantastic Fest. Every year, four to six of these events are scheduled, labeled only as "Secret Screening #1" and so forth. They're the grab bags of the film festival -- you don't know if you'll get a glimpse of a world premiere with the filmmaker present, or an obscure Asian movie that hasn't hit the U.S. yet, or a big Hollywood movie that a studio is probably trying to test before release.

In the past, Fantastic Fest secret screenings have included the world premiere of There Will Be Blood with Paul Thomas Anderson in attendance; Mel Gibson turning up with a work-in-progress version of Apocalypto; the first screening of the post-Cannes cut of Southland Tales, with Richard Kelly attending; and regional premieres of films that played earlier fests, like The Brothers Bloom and Persepolis. This year, Secret Screening #1 was Robogeisha, and #2 was a version of The Men Who Stare at Goats that wasn't quite finished -- no credits attached, and in need of color correction. The third screening was Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus; the fourth was the Coens' A Serious Man.

Part of the fun, and a great icebreaker with people you meet at the fest, is gathering around trying to guess what the secret screenings might be. Some of the guesses are outrageous, and some seem outrageous until you get in the theater and realize that So-and-So was right.

But as much as I enjoy the Fantastic Fest secret screenings, I'm worried that they may be causing some bad blood in the Austin film festival community, and I'd like to explain why.

Austin Film Festival has a strong schedule for 2009, with a number of good "marquee" movies -- the big ones at the Paramount -- plus an excellent selection of locally connected films.

The fest opens on Thursday night, Oct. 22, with Serious Moonlight, a dark comedy scripted by the late Adrienne Shelly and directed by actress Cheryl Hines (who had a role in Shelly's Waitress). The cast includes Timothy Hutton, Kristen Bell, Justin Long and Meg Ryan. Hines will attend the gala event.

The closing-night film, on Thursday, Oct. 29, is Jason Reitman's film Up in the Air, which recently got a lot of attention at the Toronto International Film Festival. The comedy stars George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Jason Bateman. Reitman was at AFF back in 2007 with his previous film, Juno, and will return to Austin for this screening.

Check out a full list of AFF features after the jump. The full schedule, with dates and times, is also available on the AFF website. You can buy passes and badges through the website -- the basic pass is $42 and gets you second-tier access to all movies, and badges get you first-tier access to films and differing levels of access to the conference.

AFF focuses heavily on the "Austin" aspect of their title. The fest features a category of "Austin Screens" films, as well as local movies in other categories. For example, the marquee screenings include Bob Byington's feature Harmony and Me, and the Off the Record category (music-related films) includes Bob Schneider Live at the Paramount.

If you're a filmmaker and your Austin-related film is playing AFF this year, please contact us. We'll post a list of all films with Austin connections, and we're planning some interviews as well. We've got some fabulous AFF coverage planned for this year, including previews, a venue guide and reviews.

If you are planning on attending the South By Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival next year, you can save money by registering before the first deadline, which is this Friday, September 25. A film badge includes admittance to 9 days of film-festival screenings and premieres, plus 5 days of panels, keynotes, and Q & A sessions. Other perks include entry to the film awards and parties. Currently a film badge costs $325, a savings of $155 from the walk-up rate, so act fast for the best value. You can register here.

Another deadline on the horizon is for early registration to Austin Film Festival and Conference, which starts October 22. Conference panels run through Oct. 25 and festival screenings continue until Oct. 29. You must purchase a badge by September 30, 2009 to receive the discounted rates. There are various badge and passes available that you can check out here.

Finally, keep in mind that VIP tickets for Fantastic Fest 2009 went on sale during the 2008 event, and sold out within 45 minutes. This could very likely happen again this year. We recommend you follow the Fantastic Fest blog and Twitter feed, and we will post an update to the Slackerwood Twitter feed when we hear the news!

[Photo credit: Denia and her family at the Q & A for The Least of These, a documentary on the detainee families at Hutto facility, by Debbie Cerda on Flickr.]