AFF

If anyone ever asks you what's so special about the Austin film community, take them to one of the free midnight screenings at the Alamo Drafthouse Downtown. Terror Thursday is a good choice for horror fans, though Weird Wednesday is usually a better choice for those looking for the cinematically absurd as a form of entertainment. This week's Terror Thursday, however, was pure gold: Raw Force is a tour de force that combines cannibalism, the undead, kung-fu, and the '80s sex comedy in a way that can't help but delight. You can read my full review over at Blue Glow.

Ameliorating somewhat my lingering feelings of selfish bitterness at having to forgo Funky Forest in favor of Apocalypto, tonight's super-secret screening at Fantastic Fest at least had the advantage of being an actual genre movie: Pan's Labyrinth. Everyone in the audience seemed to know that we'd be seeing P.L. before they walked into the theater, and emcee Harry Knowles acknowledged that fact by calling it the worst-kept secret of the Fest. Knowles also delivered an amusing in-character version of an e-mail message from director Guillermo Del Toro who was unable to attend.

My weekly News from Slackerwood post is now available on Cinematical. Apart from Cinematexas, it's a pretty light week for Austin film events. However, that gives some of us a needed rest before Fantastic Fest. And aGLIFF. And AFF. I've listed links to Austin's many film festivals on the site's Austin film resources page, but I'm hoping to post something a little more organized, perhaps with dates.

Speaking of AFF, after yesterday's entry about the festival's Rolling Stones raffle, I received the news that you can buy AFF film passes online now. Not to take away from the badge sales, but the AFF film pass is one of the best deals around -- only $35 for the week-long film festival.

In other news, I've finally entered the world of video podcasting (see above photo). Over at Celluloid Eyes, you can watch me (and hear me) babble about Idiocracy.

And if you haven't read the comments on the recent entry about the Idiocracy's opening night in Austin, you might have missed the link to the video of me and my husband interviewed by Austin Movie Show after the event.

I just got info about a cool promotion that Austin Film Festival is running: if you purchase a festival badge before Sept. 22, you're entered in a raffle to win two tickets to the Rolling Stones concert in Austin on Oct. 22. Since the concert takes place during the same week as AFF, out-of-town festival attendees can potentially win and attend.

The raffle is for people who purchase Weekend, Conference, or Producer badges ... not for film passes, which I don't think are on sale yet anyway. The badges give you access to the film festival and to the filmmaking/screenwriting conference.

So if you're planning to attend AFF and haven't registered yet, now is the time. (Besides, badge prices go up after Sept. 22.) Right now is the time for me to make some sort of witty remark involving Stones lyrics, perhaps something about getting satisfaction, but I can't think of anything. I am attending AFF this year, at least the film festival portion ... if you'll be there too, let me know!

As I mentioned in News from Slackerwood, Austin Film Festival is presenting an encore screening on Thursday night of the "beach party rock'n'roll monster movie" Stomp! Shout! Scream! that played AFF last year. The film is written and directed by Jay Edwards, who produced Aqua Teen Hunger Force for Adult Swim.

AFF has kindly offered free passes to the movie to Slackerwood readers. All you have to do is print this PDF and bring it with you on Thursday night to Alamo Lake Creek. Admission is first-come, first-served, so you might want to get there a bit early. The movie starts at 7:30 but a preshow, featuring clips from Adult Swim, starts at 7 pm.

You can read more info about the Stomp! Shout! Scream! screening on the AFF blog.