Local Indies

Amongst the many short films that I enjoyed at Austin Film Festival 2010 was I Love You Will Smith by local writer/director Bradley Jackson. This amusing film depicted how a casual office conversation about Will Smith’s latest movie can lead to a psychological breakdown -- and physical beatdown -- for some fans. I've found myself referencing Jackson's short in conversations with co-workers about movies so I'll admit I'm hooked. I Love You Will Smith was a Doorpost Film project finalist last year and can be watched on the Doorpost Film Project website here.

After seeing Jackson and his filmmaking crew in action on his latest short film The Man Who Never Cried during a set visit last fall, I was curious to see how the final film would turn out. The Man Who Never Cried has just received a $10,000 Audience Choice Award from the Doorpost Film Project, a prize that was determined by number of online votes through the Doorpost website. You can watch it in full at the end of this review.

The movie's central character, Ralph "it's pronounced Rafe" Winston (Keir O'Donnell), has never cried in his life, not even during his birth or as an adult when his former wilfe has a miscarriage. His inability to express grief and loss through tears has distanced himself emotionally from others. Ironically, his job as a clown enables others to express joy and laughter.

While you might not recognize his name, Chris Doubek has turned into one of the most visible local actors in Austin, and this year he's owned the Austin indie scene with no less than four films featuring his diverse talent. He may be hamming it up in the picture above from SXSW 2010, but Slackerwood has declared 2010 the Year of Doubek for good reason.

If there was an Austin Film Actor of the Year award, Doubek would have annihilated the competition. At SXSW 2010, it was impossible to turn around without bumping into Doubek as he was running around between premieres of his movies including Clay Liford's Earthling, Paul Gordon's The Happy Poet, and Brian Poyser's Lovers of Hate. He's so good, he has had at least one role written just for him.  

The Austin Film Critics Association announced its 2010 awards on Wednesday. It's hard for me to write this up as a straight news story since I'm a voting member, and I got to pick some of these awards -- Jenn is a member too this year. I'm happy to say that the movie that won Best Film is currently my favorite of the year: Black Swan. The movie also was awarded Best Director (Darren Aronofsky), Best Actress for Natalie Portman, Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography.

Another pleasant surprise is that the Best Austin Film award went to an indie documentary: Winnebago Man, which first played Austin at SXSW 2009. Director Ben Steinbauer and producer Joel Heller are both Austinites. The doc about Jack Rebney won the award against some tough competition this year. I liked this film very much when I saw it at Alamo Drafthouse this summer; you can read more about it in Don's review. (It's now on DVD.)

The full list of awards is after the jump. AFCA also decided to give a special award this year to a TV show -- the Austin-shot series Friday Night Lights. True Grit was also partially shot in town as well as parts of Central Texas, and its star Hailee Steinfeld won Best Supporting Actress. I'm also pleased that overall, this year's award recipients are from a relatively eclectic list of movies, from The King's Speech to TRON: Legacy to Exit Through the Gift Shop. Now, can we get Banksy to show up at an awards ceremony?

On a hot but breezy September afternoon, I joined the cast and crew of The Man Who Never Cried at a small cemetery tucked away east of I-30. A short film by Austin-based director/screenwriter Bradley Jackson, The Man Who Never Cried features Keir O’Donnell (Wedding Crashers, Miss Nobody), Jess Weixler (Teeth), and local actresses Madison Burge (Friday Night Lights) and Heather Kafka (Lovers of Hate). The story's central character is Rafe Winston (O'Donnell), who has never cried in his life. When his father passes away, he must find a way to cry so he can finally connect with the rest of humanity. He attempts to shed his first tear before the funeral -- but will he succeed? 

The Man Who Never Cried was selected earlier this year to compete as a finalist in the Doorpost Film Project, an international film competition based out of Nashville. Hundreds of submissions were sent to the competition, and The Man Who Never Cried was first selected as one of 21 semi-finalists and then as one of four finalists to receive $40,000 to make the short film. The other filmmaking teams come from Los Angeles, Atlanta and Perth, Australia, with the winning team to receive $100,000. Find out how you can help this Austin film win the grand prize after the jump.

The Sundance Film Festival has been announcing its 2011 competition features and shorts over the past few days. Sifting through the lists, I found a few Austin-related movies in the mix. If I missed any, let me know. I hope we'll see some of these films in Austin next year, perhaps at SXSW.

• Local filmmaker Jeff Nichols, whose previous film Shotgun Stories won a lot of awards and acclaim, will be going to Park City with the feature Take Shelter. The cast includes Michael Shannon and Kathy Baker, and the movie was filmed in Ohio.
• Nathan and David Zellner will be returning to Sundance with their latest short film, Sasquatch Birth Journal 2. The photo above is from the film's premiere at Fantastic Fest this year. I have to say, it is probably best enjoyed with the Zellner brothers actually introducing it in person, so you can hear their scholarly explanation of what you are about to see.
• Dallas (and formerly Austin) filmmaker David Lowery (St. Nick) also has a short at Sundance: Pioneer. The description: "A father tells his little boy the most epic bedtime story ever." Lowery has posted a teaser trailer for the film.

November 12-14 saw Austin's very first visit from Wizard World Comic Con. In addition to this being Austin's first Comic Con, it was my own initiation to the experience, so I had little idea what to expect when I came for the third and final day of the convention. I have been to a few professional conventions, all from the world of IT, so I wasn't a complete virgin to the convention hall. The two biggest differences I saw were the costumes and, of course, the celebrities.

The first sight to greet my eyes after I checked in and entered the hall at Austin Comic Con was the 1960s Batmobile, looking as glossy and sleek as when she first sped out of the batcave. Unfortunately, I had little time to linger as the first panel of the day was about to begin, and I had to make my way to the back of the hall where the auditorium was set up for a panel on Emily Hagins' movie My Sucky Teen Romance.

Today is an excellent day for renting a Texas-filmed movie and kicking back at home to watch it. Of course, being Texans, this means we naturally all jump out of our pickup trucks (with gun racks), stride into our oversized ranch houses, barbecue an entire side of beef for a snack, kick off our cowboy boots and switch off the football game to watch a good old Western. Right?

Two movies out on DVD today are a great example that Texans and Texas filmmaking are not like that: Zombie Girl: The Movie, a documentary about a teenage girl in Austin who shoots a feature-length horror movie; and Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives, a mock-exploitation film about Dallas showgirls in trouble. We're a long way from Giant and J.R. Ewing.

I saw Zombie Girl at Fantastic Fest 2008, with the filmmakers, subjects, and just about everyone involved in the film hanging out somewhere in the theater. The documentary, shot in 2005, is about 12-year-old Emily Hagins. She writes a script for a zombie movie, Pathogen, and is determined to make it into a movie. Her parents -- particularly her mom, Megan -- support her all the way. In fact, Megan is the unsung hero of this documentary.

Extras on the Zombie Girl: The Movie DVD include interviews, the Q&A from the Pathogen premiere and a second feature-length film -- Pathogen. Austinites will notice familiar landmarks in a few scenes, like the Crestview Minimax.

Zombie Girl won the "Spirit of Slamdance" award at Slamdance 2009. Emily Hagins is now in her senior year of high school and is working on her third feature, My Sucky Teen Romance. She'll be at Austin Comic Con on Sunday showing off some of the footage from the new film.

In the late 1980s, I was heavily involved in the Houston music scene due to my stint at a college radio station and later at a pub that featured nightly live music. However, the music scene there became stagnant and our establishment dropped to two nights a week with a meager budget to pay the bands. Local band Fab Motion captured the plight of many musicians with a lyrical response to the standard "Hey hippie, get a job!" with "What? I have THREE jobs." All ears turned to Austin, where bands such as the True Believers, The Reivers, Ian Moore, Joe Ely and Stevie Ray Vaughn had audiophiles wondering if our capital city would be the next Athens, Georgia. When I moved to Austin in 1993, I enjoyed the freedom to see live music any night of the week in the "Live Music Capital of the World" and play from a diverse range of local artists while deejaying at UT Austin's 91.7 KVRX.

Now that Austin has high-rises rising up amongst our downtown skyline, how are our local musicians impacted? Director Nathan Christ examines this important topic in his documentary, Echotone, as he and cinematographer Robert Garza follow Austin's independent music culture over a two-year period, featuring musicians, venues, promoters and others within the city landscape. Echotone is a poignant reminder of the abundance of talent and passion in the Austin music scene, along with the challenges and frustrations faced by creative artists and local music venues.

Take a classic slasher setup, a bunch of young people isolated in the woods, and turn the trope on its overly predictable ear and you get the indie horror film I Didn't Come Here to Die by Austinite Bradley Scott Sullivan.

With one of the best ever taglines ("Volunteer work is a killer"), Sullivan's screenplay takes a small group of "Volunteers of American Generating Goodwill" out to a remote location to start work on what will eventually be campgrounds for underprivileged urban youth. As the first team to work on the project, they're roughing it in tents, with no phone service, and supposedly, no alcohol and no fraternization. All the rules in place are for safety's sake, but once rules start being broken, everything and everyone starts down a slippery, bloody slope.

Storme Wood's debut feature film Paradise Recovered tackles secular freedom and spiritual fulfillment in the story of a young woman forced into finding herself.

Esther (Heather del Rio) is a young woman in service to the local pastor of a fringe Christian group. She's obedient and accepting of the life her church has planned for her until an unexpected encounter leaves her cast out into the world without a home, spiritual or otherwise. When Gabriel (Dane Seth Hurlburt) and his roommate take her in, they take it upon themselves to help Esther adjust to her newfound and unwanted freedom.

Andie Redwine's script could easily have been cliché-ridden, and while there are stereotypical characters, the focus is on Esther, and her self-doubts and much as her self-discovery and she tries to find balance between the world she used to know and her predetermined path and the greater world where she must forge her own future. The initial crisis of conscience that delivers Esther from her dreary life is just the beginning; Esther is more homeless than she initially appears. verything she valued and relied upon becomes suspect, but she's not able to completely abandon all of her beliefs.