Local Indies

The experimental documentary Yakona will take viewers on a visual journey from prehistoric times through the present day from the perspective of the San Marcos River. San Marcos filmmakers Paul Collins, Anlo Sepulveda and Dean Brennan started collaborating on the movie 10 years ago because of their personal bonds with the river. Now they're working to finish the movie in time to screen it in early 2013.

Sepulveda, a digital video specialist at Texas State University- San Marcos, remembers tubing down the river as a child on annual family vacations from Corpus Christi. However, he said his bond with the San Marcos River really began when he started working for Texas State and moved into a house along the river, where for four years, he would swim every day.

"I really started to see what was under the surface there," said Sepulveda, whose film credits include the Austin-shot Otis Under Sky, which premiered at SXSW in 2011 (Jette's review). "It's such a dynamic environment."

Actor and filmmaker/producer Zalman King died last week. Judging from reactions on social media, it appears many people remember him for producing the popular Showtime erotic TV series Red Shoe Diaries. But me, when I heard he had died, my first thought was, "Chickensh*t bingo." Here's why.

The first SXSW Film Festival I covered professionally was in 2006, and although I was writing for Cinematical -- a website with national readership -- I was still interested in the Austin-shot movies. My attention was caught by a documentary about musician Dale Watson called Crazy Again, which screened at the Dobie. I was on a festival press email list for the first time and was even invited to the film's after-party at Ginny's Little Longhorn Saloon on Burnet Road. (I didn't go. I didn't want to stop watching all the movies. This is often my problem at film fests.)

Dale Watson used to perform regularly at Ginny's, which is also notorious for its weekly game of "Chickensh*t Bingo," in which patrons predict which square at the bottom of a chicken coop is the one that the bird will poop upon. The game is included in the documentary, and I found out there really is a Ginny, too, who runs the establishment. She was at the screening, along with Dale Watson. (I believe that's Ginny Kalmbach on the left in the above photo.)

SXSW announced its film lineup today, which is full of all kinds of features and documentaries. The big splashy Hollywood news is that the movie 21 Jump Street, starring Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill, will premiere at the fest as its Centerpiece Film. In addition, the closing-night film will be the music documentary Big Easy Express from Emmett Malloy.

One marquee movie with a Texas connection is the Dallas-set Killer Joe, reuniting Bug filmmaker William Friedkin and playwright Tracy Letts, and starring Matthew McConaughey (and that's not the only film he's in that will play SXSW). Other notable movies playing the fest include Bobcat Goldthwait's God Bless America, the Will Ferrell-starring Casa de mi Padre and Guy Maddin's Keyhole ... among many many others announced.

SXSW Film has no Lone Star States category this year, but the overall lineup of narrative and documentary features includes many local and state connections. We'll have a full list later this month of all the Austin and Texas features and shorts screening at the fest this year. In the meantime, here are some Lone Star-connected films that stuck out in today's announcement:

• Gayby (Narrative Feature Competition)-- Jonathan Lisecki has expanded his popular 2010 short of the same name. It stars Jenn Harris and Matthew Wilkas (from the short) as well as Dule Hill and Samantha Buck. The cast also includes Austinites Alex Karpovsky and Anna Margaret Hollyman. Dallas-to-Austin filmmaker Clay Liford (Wuss) is director of photography.
• Somebody Up There Likes Me (Narrative Spotlight, pictured at top) -- The latest feature from Bob Byington (Harmony and Me) will have its world premiere at the fest. The movie stars Keith Poulson, Nick Offerman (also in Casa de mi Padre), Jess Weixler and Kevin Corrigan. The cast also includes local actors Chris Doubek, Andrew Bujalski, Allison Latta, Anna Margaret Hollyman (also in Gayby) and Jonny Mars ... and once again, Bob Schneider as a wedding singer. The trailer is already available on the film's website. 

The Hellion filmmakers have sent us another pair of web episodes from their escapades in Park City. Specifically, we're getting videos from E.J. Enriquez, who's actually shooting and editing them -- he also did some camera work on Hellion itself.

Episode 4 -- no, it's not titled A New Hope and you know I don't want to hear that kind of thing -- was shot at the world premiere of the short film at Sundance earlier this week. This video is a departure from the other chronicles in the sense that it's genuine and sweet and a little touching, as opposed to merely silly. I just want to give Kat Candler a big hug. It's the longest of the videos so far but still moves quickly.

Right before I moved to Austin, I broke off a long-term romance. The romance was rather tepid by then, so I used my move as an opportunity to simply end it. I had no idea that just a few months later, that romance would be rekindled. What is this romance and why is it relevant to a movie website? Well, that romance was with my VCR and right before I moved I took crates of VHS and two VCRs to Goodwill.

Little did I know that I was moving to a hive of movie fandom. I knew Austin had a cool film scene but I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I learned about quote-a-longs, I mastered the pancake, I heard all about people with numb butts and I soon learned about VHS fandom. There are lots of subgenres of film fandom and one of these subgenres is the lover of films and videos available only on VHS. Little did I know I was one of these lovers as well, and my feelings were simply repressed.

When local producer Kelly Williams asked me about sending Slackerwood some links to video episodes the Hellion crew would shoot for the Austin film's Sundance premiere, I thought this would be a wonderful way to share tips for filmmakers about the smartest, savviest ways to bring your movie to a film festival. I thought we'd get a glimpse of the real fest experience from the filmmakers' perspective.

And it turns out that yes, we are getting a glimpse of the fest experience from the filmmakers' perspective, and it is unbelievably goofy. In a good way. Here are the second and third episodes in the "Hellion Sundance Chronicles," and while one of them might be a What Not To Do lesson, they're definitely fun to watch. And short, which is what I like best in online videos.

In episode #2, Hellion executive producer Farah White arrives in Park City and, er, is introduced to the fest environment by director Kat Candler.

As Don mentioned last week, one of the Austin shorts going to Park City, Utah for the Sundance Film Festival is Hellion, directed by Kat Candler. Candler and producer Kelly Williams are at Sundance right now (Williams is also on a Slamdance jury). They've decided to shoot an episodic series of short videos about their adventures in Park City, which they'll be sending us this week to share with you.

Here's "Hellion Sundance Chronicles #1," in which the filmmakers are still in Austin, preparing to bring Hellion to a major film festival. It's less than two minutes long ... enjoy!

I recently had the chance to see four Texas short films headed for Sundance and Slamdance 2011 this month. If these shorts are any indication, audiences at the Park City festivals will see a very eclectic mix of moviemaking from Austin and Houston.

Fourplay: Tampa (Sundance)
Former Austinite Kyle Henry's Fourplay: Tampa is a surprisingly explicit romp about gay men hooking up in a Florida mall restroom. The story centers on Louis (Jose Villarreal), who enters the restroom looking for, well, satisfaction. As Slackerwood is a mostly family-friendly film site, I won't describe what happens next in prurient detail; I'll just say it involves lots of libidinous men in silly costumes (among them a cowboy, Marie Antoinette and the Marx Brothers) and some very amusing sacrilegious naughtiness. Bear in mind the subject matter in the following trailer.

Kat Candler (Jumping Off Bridges, Cicadas) is a familiar face in the Austin film community -- whether as a lecturer at The University of Texas at Austin or as seen above mingling along with filmmakers at local screenings and film festivals, such as Carla L. Jackson and Kelvin Z. Phillips of A Swingin' Trio. I met Kat during SXSW Film in 2006, introduced by Lisa McWilliams of Mobile Film School. I was struck by the passion and creativity of both women. Candler was kind enough to give me a screener of her feature Jumping Off Bridges, an emotionally moving story of the impact of a parent's suicide on a young teenager.

Candler's new short film Hellion will premiere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, with multiple screenings prior to the narrative feature My Best Day. Candler has proved that she works well with young actors, and Hellion is no exception as she takes on three young male actors who play hellraising brothers. Shot entirely in Georgetown, Texas, last summer, the film focuses on seven-year-old Petey who must cope with life at the mercy of his troublemaker brothers -- until their dad returns and hell really breaks loose.

The Film Independent Spirit Award nominations for 2011 were announced this week, and Austin fared very well on the list of hopefuls. Take Shelter, the feature from local filmmaker Jeff Nichols (pictured above), received a whopping five nominations: Best Feature, Best Director, Best Male Lead (Michael Shannon), Best Supporting Female (Jessica Chastain), and the Piaget Producers Award (Sophia Lin).

Take Shelter is still playing in Austin at Regal Arbor, although starting Friday it'll move to a late-show slot. Read Jenn's review to learn more about the film.

In addition, Austin documentary filmmaker Heather Courtney received a Spirit Award nomination in the Truer Than Fiction category for her film Where Soldiers Come From, which premiered at SXSW this year -- that's Courtney and the subjects of her film at a SXSW Q&A in the following photo.