Local Cast and Crew

Austin-based documentarian Heather Courtney chronicles four years in the lives of small-town childhood friends in the award-winning movie Where Soldiers Come From. The film begins with their decision to enlist in the U.S. National Guard after graduating high school, and continues through their deployment to Afghanistan and their adjustment back to civilian life. Jette reviewed the movie after its premiere at SXSW in 2011.

The Texas Independent Film Network, an Austin-based statewide coalition of film societies, universities and independent theaters, sponsored the San Marcos screening of Where Soldiers Come From on Jan. 25 in the Texas State University- San Marcos Theatre Center. Courtney attended the Texas State screening.

Setting out to make a documentary about rural America, Courtney said she changed her mind after reading an article in her hometown newspaper -- in Michigan's Upper Peninsula -- about the recent return of National Guard soldiers from Iraq. She said she didn't know there was a National Guard unit there until reading the article.

A murder mystery unravels in the middle of the Patagonian Steppe in the short film Sobre la Estepa, loosely translated from Spanish as These Wild Plains. Hecho en Cine, a production company based both in Texas and Patagonia, Argentina, produced the 12-minute movie, which will tentatively have its U.S. premiere in Austin this April at the 15th Annual Cine Las Americas International Film Festival.

Sobre la Estepa was funded through Kickstarter, and was shot in San Carlos de Bariloche, a city situated in the foothills of the Andes Mountains in the province of Rio Negro, Argentina.

Ty Roberts, Hecho en Cine co-founder and Sobre la Estepa writer and director, said the idea for the movie came to him after meeting "interesting" people on a location scout in Patagonia.

"They immediately caught my eye," Roberts said. "It was just a really odd and interesting combination of characters."

During his research for Sobre la Estepa, Roberts came across the 2008 short film Sikumi (On The Ice), which was shot entirely in the Inupiaq language, spoken by the people of Alaska's Northwest Arctic and North Slope. Sikumi, about an Inuit hunter who inadvertently  witnesses a murder, became Roberts's model for Sobre la Estepa, which was shot in Spanish and Mapuche, the language of the indigenous peoples of Southwestern Argentina.

It takes a certain kind of person to be in the movie industry. Tom Copeland, former Texas Film Commission director, teaches Texas State University-San Marcos students what it takes to persevere in the industry. A lesson he teaches in his courses is what he refers to as "Scared Straight: What Kind of Person Are You?"

I had the opportunity to speak with Copeland to find out what kind of person he is. The Meadow High School graduate's interest in theater flourished while studying under legendary high-school drama coach Noyce Burleson, who set the state record for most consecutive UIL One-Act Play Contest appearances and wins.

As a high-school student, Copeland became active in Texas Tech University's theater program, where he met Fred March, former Texas State Department of Theatre and Dance chair. He enrolled at Texas State, back when it was Southwest Texas State University, in 1969.

During his time as a Texas State student, Copeland was involved in 25 theater productions, such as Waiting for Godot and Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and Measure for Measure.

"I lived and breathed in that department," Copeland said. "I didn't do a lot of social things in school because I didn't have a lot of time. It was all about the play or whatever we were working on."

As an undergraduate, Copeland was involved in summer repertory theater programs in Texas and Colorado. He did not graduate from Texas State. However, he continued to call the theater department home and stayed in touch with faculty and staff.

Copeland said he left Texas State to pursue his dream of acting professionally. He struggled to find an acting job and instead became involved in behind-the-scenes work on movies and television. For five seasons, Copeland was a crew member for the PBS television series Austin City Limits. He said the job "came out of the blue."

With the Oscar nomination buzz surrounding Leonardo DiCaprio for his titular performance in J. Edgar, it's a good time to take another look at a Texas-made movie from early in DiCaprio's career, the terrific What's Eating Gilbert Grape.

Released in 1993, director Lasse Hallström's highly praised film follows the Grape family, a close-knit but intriguingly dysfunctional clan living in the fictional Iowa town of Endora (although actually shot in Central Texas). Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp) spends much of his time watching over his mentally retarded younger brother, 17-year-old Arnie (DiCaprio, in an Oscar-nominated performance), while his sisters, Amy (Laura Harrington) and Ellen (Mary Kate Schellhardt) slave away in the kitchen. Ruling the roost is the siblings' widowed, depressed and morbidly obese mother, Bonnie (Darlene Cates), whose girth and mental state have prevented her from leaving the family's rural house for years.

Austin Diner. A university-area co-op. The La Quinta on 35 and Oltorf. The Ramada Inn on 35 and 290. A local entertainment writer's home.

What do all of the above sites have in common? Are they gathering places for movie geeks, crime scenes, or places where I have crashed? If you answered yes to any of these, you would be wrong. These are all places in Austin where independent filmmakers have shot movies. They are also places where I've worked as an extra.

The process of making movies has always fascinated me. I grew up in California, specifically in the Antelope Valley, which is popular with filmmakers. Hundreds of movies have been shot in the desert where I lived, from Duel to Terminator 2. It was not uncommon to come across film sets while driving the backroads.

The high school homecoming queen competition was stiff for Claire and her friends in the 2010 horror movie Homecoming. There could only be one winner. Those who survived the first movie return to face the same masked murderer in Homecoming II, which premiered Saturday at the Embassy Suites Conference Center in San Marcos.

Last year, Dorell Anthony and fellow Texas State University - San Marcos alumni Terissa Kelton and Caleb Straus began collaborating cross-country on the independent, low-budget movie Homecoming II.

The trio had recently graduated from Texas State when Anthony became inspired to write the sequel to Homecoming.

Anthony wrote his first feature-length screenplay, Homecoming, in 2004, during his sophomore year at Oakwood High School in Oakwood, Texas. He said he wrote the script as a form of therapy after his aunt died.

"It's weird to think that I wrote a horror script where many people die after my aunt died," he said.

Anthony said he collaborated with Texas State writers and playwrights to revise and update the original Homecoming script. The entire Homecoming cast and crew consisted of Texas State alumni.

Homecoming II executive producer Terissa Kelton met Anthony as a Texas State Alphi Psi Omega theatre fraternity member. She said she and Anthony became "quick" friends, and he asked her to critique the Homecoming script.

Kelton said she thought the Homecoming script was "great" and became a fan. Her own short film debut, Myra, screened at the Homecoming II premiere. Kelton is also an actress, who starred in the Austin-based independent production company Twitchy Dolphin Flix's films Turkey Day, Wedding Night, Abram's Hand, Look At Me Again and the 2011 Metropolitan Film Festival's honorable mention, Snatch 'N' Grab.

Ethan Hawke stars as a true crime writer who moves his family into the house of murder victims while researching their murders for a new book in Austinite C. Robert Cargill's feature screenwriting debut, Sinister.

I spoke with Cargill a few weeks back while he was on location for Sinister in NYC. At the time of the interview, he said there was not much he could say about the movie, except that "weird, creepy shit" happens.

But he's just playin' it cool.

Cargill began writing movie reviews under the name Massawyrm for Austin-based film website Ain't It Cool News in May 2001. His first review was of Jon Favreau's directorial debut, Made. Over the years, he's also reviewed movies for Spill.com and Film.com.

A mother's challenge to her abusive husband sends her family into an unsettling journey through the woods in Austin-based first-time filmmaker Jeremiah Jones's feature film Restive. The movie screened to a sold-out audience the first night of AFF. Jones and lead actress Marianna Palka (pictured above) were there too.

A lot has changed for writer/director Jones, who graduated from The University of Texas at Austin where he was a three-year football letterman.

How did Jones transition from football to filmmaking? "It might sound odd, but the skill sets are the same," he said. "Directing is coaching, and casting is recruiting. You try to get everyone on the same page and give them the support that they need to get to a goal. You treat them like family."

Although out-of-town Austin Film Festival attendees may have had a difficult time attending movie premieres and screenings at the Regal Arbor in north Austin, this local doesn't mind the change of pace. With changes in the parking fees downtown and traffic congestion, I enjoy the alternate venues -- especially since the Arbor is close to home for me.

One of the AFF selections I saw at the Arbor this year was Deep in the Heart, a feature making its world premiere in the fest's Texas Independents category. Starring local festival alum Jon Gries (Natural Selection, Napoleon Dynamite) as Texan Dick Wallrath, this docudrama focuses on a man who went from a deadbeat alcoholic to a self-made millionaire and philanthropist. Wallrath is known for his generosity via the Future Farmers of America (FFA) and 4-H programs that helps fund college educations for students from rural communities. The movie was shot in the greater Austin area.

Dick Wallrath and his wife Patsy (seen above with executive producer Jay Hoffman) attended the Arbor screening, along with several of the film's stars and writer/producer Brian A. Hoffman -- read Jenn Brown's interview with Hoffman here. See more photos from the Deep in the Heart Q&A after the jump.

I was discussing Austin Film Festival with a friend yesterday and surprised to learn he had never heard of BriTANick, the wildly hilarious duo Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher. The two have been writing, acting and producing comedic short films online for several years and last year brought Eagles Are Turning People Into Horses (which you can and should watch online) to SXSW. They have begun to appear in TV and feature film roles, including the upcoming Joss Whedon surprise Much Ado About Nothing. They came to AFF this year with the outstanding Searching For Sonny, written and directed by Ft. Worth native Andrew Disney.

Jason Dohring stars as Elliot Knight, an unsuccessful 28-year-old pizza delivery driver. Depressed by his lack of accomplishments, Elliot's neuroses include envy of Jesus Christ for being wildly successful before the age of 30.

Jason receives a surprise invitation to his 10-year class reunion from his estranged best friend, Sonny (Masi Oka). As soon as he arrives at the reunion, he meets up with twin brother Calvin (Nick Kocher) and classmate Gary (Brian McElhaney). Together, the three of them set out to find Sonny, following clues left on their postcard invitations, and uncover a larger scheme involving their former high-school principal.

In their online videos, Kocher and McElhaney's double act usually requires them to trade the straight man role back and forth. Dohring's deadpan lead allows them both to ham it up here, making Searching for Sonny wildly hilarious.

Narrated by Clarke Peters, Searching for Sonny combines the non sequitur style of a BriTANick comedy with a film noir. The combination results in something akin to Bryan Fuller's work in Pushing Daisies, only less romantic and cute. Kinky and subversive, dark and outrageous, Searching for Sonny is the funniest movie I've seen all year. I'm eager to see more work from Andrew Disney.