AFF

Kit Pongetti is a grad of the RTF program at The University of Texas in Austin who now resides in Los Angeles. Her directorial debut, Stakeout, will premiere at Austin Film Festival as part of Shorts Program 9 - The View from Outside (Friday 10/19 at 3:30 pm and Thurs, Oct. 25 at 4 pm at The Hideout). The comic short depicts two 1980s-era teenage gals who sit in their car and watch their peers at parties.

I asked Pongetti a few questions over email to find out about her first directing experience.

Slackerwood:  What is your connection to Austin?

Kit Pongetti: I completely romanticize Austin. Or is it just kind of romantic already? I grew up in the Houston suburbs and fell in love with Austin after a trip there my senior year of high school. I ended up going to UT for five years. Can't just stop at four.

I did a bunch of firsts there, too... first freedom, first love, first band, first road trip. I was in a band called Those Who Dig and we played all over town for four years back in the 90s. The hills, the water, the music, the bbq ... My relationship with Austin is ongoing and starry-eyed.

Local director T. C. Johnstone's latest documentary shows the formation of Team Rwanda, a group of cyclists trained and coached by former professional cyclist Jock Boyer.  Narrated by Forest Whitaker, Rising From Ashes checks in with Boyer and members of the first team in that hilly country over a period of about seven years.

Johnstone's film will screen Thursday 10/18 and Wednesday 10/24 as part of Austin Film Festival. I was able to view the film before it screens at AFF, and Johnstone answered some of the questions I had after my viewing.

Slackerwood: How did you know this team was starting up in Rwanda (or that there was interest in starting up a cycling team there?)

Johnstone: In 2005, I traveled to Rwanda with my friends Dan Cooper and Tom Ritchey. Tom was one of the inventors of the mountain bike and he wanted to ride in Africa. I brought my camera and we did a short film of the trip.

One morning we arrived in the parking lot to find 15 cyclists; Dan had met them on a previous trip. They rode with Tom for 100 miles and over dinner the idea of a team came together. They asked if I was interested in making a film about it. Seven years later, here we are!

How did you connect with Jock Boyer?

Johnstone: When the team first got started, we needed a coach. Jock and Tom had known each other since they were teenagers. They were more competitors than friends in the early years. [Jock] had recently retired and he was willing to give it a shot.

Do you think Jock started out with certain notions that were dispelled after time spent in Rwanda? It surprised me that he had little to no previous knowledge of the genocide there.

Johnstone: I have met a lot of people in 15 years of filmmaking and Jock Boyer is one of a kind. He has a unique gift of being able to focus on a goal and manage circumstances to find success. He is very deliberate with his choices. I saw that even a few years before we shot the film. I had met him with Tom in N. California.

The comedy It's a Disaster will be one of the Marquee Screenings at this week's Austin Film Festival, screening Saturday, Oct. 20 at the Paramount. This the first time at AFF for filmmaker -- and former Longhorn -- Todd Berger. His documentary Don't Eat the Baby: Adventures at Post-Katrina Mardi Gras (Jette's review), played AFF in 2007, and he returned in 2009 with the hipster-noir comedy The Scenesters (Jette's review). In 2010, you might have seen him onstage at the script reading for The Hand Job. 

I asked him a few questions via email about It's a Disaster, which premiered at Los Angeles Film Festival earlier this year.

Slackerwood: How did you conceive of the idea for this apocalyptic comedy?

Berger: It all started when I read an article about how George Romero's Night of the Living Dead is public domain. I came up with an idea to shoot new footage, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid style, and insert it into the old movie to turn it into a comedy about a bunch of couples that get together for a party and are overrun by zombies.

The full lineup for Austin Film Festival 2012 has now been released. Among the big-budget films, Dustin Hoffman's directiorial debut, indie movies and documentaries are flicks with ties to Austin (and/or Texas in general). Among the better-known movies, The Sessions has a slight local connection in one of its stars -- former (but not forgotten) Austinite John Hawkes.

Here are some of the feature-length films made in Austin or with Austin filmmakers. If we missed anything, please let us know. Also, if you're one of the filmmakers on this list, please drop us a line, because we'd love to cover your movie.

• Ann Richards' Texas, a documentary by Houstonians Jack Lofton and Keith Patterson, is among the Marquee Screenings at the fest. This one looks like a must-see for those of us interested in Texas politics and/or our former state governor (trailer below).  [official site]

As October draws closer, updates from the Austin Film Festival have become more frequent. Last week, we received several bits of news about this year's fest, which runs from October 18-25. Here are the items that have come up since our last AFF post:

• AFF has selected award-winning screenwriter Eric Roth as their 2012 Distinguished Screenwriter. Roth won an Oscar and a WGA award for his screenplay for Forrest Gump. Other screenplays Roth has worked on include The Horse Whisperer, Ali, The Good Shepherd, The Insider, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. More recently, Roth adapted the screenplay for Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. He's currently exec-producing the upcoming Netflix miniseries House of Cards with David Fincher and Kevin Spacey. Roth will host a screening of The Insider and lead "A Conversation with Eric Roth" during this year's conference.
• Austin filmmaker Robert Rodriguez will be honorary chair for the Austin Film Festival Film & Food Party on Wednesday, October 17, the night before the fest officially begins, at the Driskill Hotel. Tickets are now available, with discounts for AFF members and badgeholders. This will be the tenth year for the gala event, which benefits the Young Filmmakers Program at AFF. Austin's food scene will be represented by culinary staff from Olive & June, Foreign & Domestic, Haddingtons, Trento and other local restaurants.
  [Aside from Jette: I've been to this event twice and it is great fun if you're a foodie. There are also live and silent auctions and fancy cocktails, not to mention a great crowd.]

The 2012 Austin Film Festival will take place October 18-25, and some of us are waiting with bated breath for the full film schedule to be released. Until then, we have this week's announcement to hold us over. The creator of The X-Files, Chris Carter, will receive the fest's Outstanding Television Writer Award, and episodes from The X-Files and Millennium will be shown at the festival. Carter will also serve, along with director Paul Feig and screenwriter Brian Helgeland, as a guest programmer for AFF. Paul Feig has already chosen the films he will present: my favorite favorite film Bringing Up Baby and the 1976 blaxploitation flick The Human Tornado.

Robert Zemeckis's new drama, Flight, which includes a star-studded cast led by Denzel Washington, will serve as the Centerpiece film. Washington plays a pilot who averts disaster, only to be caught up in the resulting investigation (or so I infer from this nail-biter of a trailer). Now we know why John Goodman had a ponytail in a couple of his Community cameos last season!

The other AFF films announced early include a few with Lone Star connections. Having its world premiere at the fest will be Pictures of Superheroes (pictured above), an Austin-shot comedy about a woman who cleans house for two strange men. This movie is produced by Kelly Williams and directed by Don Swaynos, both hailing from our fair city.

By Gabriela A. Treviño

On Sunday, July 22, the Austin Film Festival hosted "A Conversation in Film with Elizabeth Avellán: Producing your Independent Feature Film" at the Harry Ransom Center on UT's campus. The event drew a large crowd of students, aspiring film industry professionals and those curious-minded folk who yearned for some insight into what exactly a movie producer does. With experience in producing both independent and blockbuster films such as Sin City, Grindhouse and Predators, Elizabeth Avellán was able to share her experiences from working in the biz and offer her advice to the crowd with wit and honesty.

Just about everyone has an idea about what screenwriters, directors, and editors do ... but what about producers? The ever-elusive role of a producer is difficult to understand, and there are quite a few items on a producer's to-do list other than raising funds for a film. Everything from casting to scripts to locations and music -- that's what a producer has to think about. 

With a repertoire like Avellán's, it was surprising to hear her humbly state, "I'm still learning [the business] as we speak."

By Rachel Hudson

I have the Bird Flu. But rather than a cough, fever, sore throat and muscle aches, my symptoms include tapping feet, rhythmical swaying and a huge obnoxious grin. The onset was acute, and it came with my viewing of the Austin Film Festival screening of Andrew Bird: Fever Year at the Alamo Drafthouse on Monday, June 25. You see, it seems that Andrew Bird has a fever, and it’s catching.

Knowing practically nothing about the musician Andrew Bird, I can’t fathom what motivated me to go see a documentary about him at Alamo Drafthouse. Yet there I was, circling the block downtown looking for parking and having virtually no idea what to expect. I found my seat and sat through the ever-entertaining previews for the Drafthouse, then an employee came on stage and introduced the director of the film, Xan Aranda. She was quiet, sarcastic and hard to understand at times due to her knack for mumbling.

"There's a lot of music in this film, so hopefully you can stay awake for the Q&A afterwards," she said before the film began. That was the gist of her pre-movie ramble, and it was not encouraging. However, as the lights dimmed and, as promised, the film opened with Andrew Bird performing on stage, my doubts were immediately assuaged.

The 80-minute documentary is about Andrew Bird's most recent tour, and how he was sick the entire time. Literally, he had a fever and either sweats or chills nonstop for an entire year as he was touring. However, it was impossible to tell from his performances, which were beautiful and awe-inspiring.

In fact, Aranda was not lying when she said there was a lot of music in the movie -- Andrew Bird: Fever Year is practically all music. He was either performing on stage, in the recording studio, writing music on his farm, rehearsing with his band or simply playing and singing for the hell of it for the majority of the film, with some interviews spliced in about Bird's life, creative process, band mates, and other aspects of his tour. Honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way. As wonderful as it was to hear Bird talk about his life, and hear funny banter from his bandmates, the music is what captivated and enthralled me, and the interviews only added to the experience.

Earlier this week, Austin Film Festival hosted an event to fete the second season premiere of On Story at KLRU's famed Studio 6A. This locally-produced TV series focuses on writing for the big and small screen, using interview clips from past Austin Film Festivals.

Before the show got started on Wednesday, I snacked on some amazingly spicy creamed corn from Ranch 616 and sipped a mixed drink (courtesy of Tito's) as I chatted with new friends and old. Among the folks I met were local filmmaker Clay Liford, Maya Perez (AFF conference director, soon leaving that position to attend the Michener Center), and Tom Copeland (former director of Texas Film Commission and current Texas State professor).

Then we took our seats as AFF Director Barbara Morgan introduced the show. She told us that On Story is now on 50 percent of the nation's PBS stations. The program is broadcast locally on KLRU-Q on Saturday nights at 7:30 pm. There's a new title sequence for the second season (embedded below), created by Shiny Object.

By Mario Hernandez

I had the opportunity to join the Austin Film Festival at their sold-out event for "Conversations in Film with Rob Thomas" on Wednesday, April 18 at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. For those unfamiliar with Thomas, do not get him confused with the lead musician for the band Matchbox Twenty because this Rob Thomas writes screenplays. He's the creator of the critically acclaimed television show Veronica Mars, and on Wednesday, he spoke about creating a television series from inception to completion using his series Party Down as a case study.

I was the first person to show up to the event at 6:20 pm. The AFF staff was still prepping their setup, but once they were ready, I checked in and formed a line for the event. I met a wonderful couple from Arkansas named Raven and Nathan, and our conversations about Hitchcock, Wes Craven and the Austin Film Society allowed time to pass while more people showed up to the event. The conversations carried over into the theatre where we took seats front and center, a treat since Rob Thomas would later stage himself 5 feet away from me on the stage for the Q&A, with the perfect view of his polka-dotted black-and-gray socks that I found amusing.

Initially, Party Down was a passion project for Thomas that was highly inspired by the British version of The Office. Through that program, Thomas saw the future of comedy.

The backstory to the development of Party Down as told by Thomas goes back to 1995 in our happening town of Austin, Texas. While visiting an Irish pub (that no longer exists) on Sixth Street, Thomas met Paul Rudd (post-Clueless fame) and Rudd's buddy Adam Scott. The Clueless actor and his friend were visiting from Houston where Paul Rudd was filming Locusts. They were in town to experience Austin with Thomas' help.

Years later, Rudd and Thomas reconnected through friends Dan Etheridge and John Enbom for Veronica Mars. After various brainstorming sessions, the friends created an idea for a show about people who are chasing the dream for too long. The idea became the premise for Party Down, which is based on waiters in Los Angeles, an occupation populated heavily with aspiring actors, musicians, and the like.