Special Screening

Not everyone is aware that SXSW features several free events that are open to the public, including Flatstock. Co-produced by SXSW and the non-profit organization American Poster Institute (API), this annual poster event displays the works of more than 100 national and international artists. API co-founder and Austinite Geoff Peveto co-organized the inaugural Flatstock in 2002.

Alamo Lake Creek is celebrating Feb. 2 by showing the comedy Groundhog Day.

Alamo Lake Creek is celebrating Feb. 2 by showing the comedy Groundhog Day.

The Holy Deuce, a 2009 film shot in Austin, is screening at Alamo South Lamar. It's a privately hosted event but you can get tickets through the Alamo website for $5.

The film is apparently about several people who find excrement that they believe is shaped like the Virgin Mary. You've been warned.

Alamo Ritz hosts the world premiere of the GI Joe stop-motion feature Viva the Nam. For more info, check out Marc Savlov's article in the Austin Chronicle about the filmmakers who spent 10 years working on this film.

Special 10th Anniversary Screening of the Austin shot comedy Natural Selection, starring David Carradine and Michael Bowen. The story of two serial killers who happen to pick each other as their next victims and the slightly unhinged and obsessed FBI Agent (played to creepy perfection by Carradine) on the hunt.

Also starring Stephen Root (Office Space), Darren Burrows (Natural Selection), Bob Balaban (Waiting for Guffman), Joe Unger (Barfly), Laura House (Austin Stories), Heather Kafka (The Wendell Baker Story), Johnny Hardwick (King of the Hill), Todd Lowe (True Blood), Bill Wise (Six Gun), Lou Perry man (Last Night at the Alamo), local musician Charlie Sexton and radio personality Dale Dudley. Written by B.J. Burrow & Allen Odom. Directed by Mark Bristol. One of the writers will be present for this event.

This special screening of the 2008 documentary Running the Sahara is a fundraiser for Communities in Schools. The $15 admission also gets you two breakfast tacos and a soft drink/tea. Participants in the 3M Half-Marathon and Relay on Sunday are encouraged to come "carbo load" and watch this movie, narrated by Matt Damon, about three men attempting to run from one coast of the Sahara Desert to the other.

Every Monday, Cafe Mundi shows movies on DVD, with free admission. This week's movie is the 1971 Clint Eastwood film Dirty Harry.

Who knew you could support Haitian relief efforts by going to the movies? The Paramount Theatre has teamed up with Turk and Christy Pipkin's locally based nonprofit group The Nobelity Project to present a special screening of Turk Pipkin's 2009 documentary One Peace at a Time on Wednesday night. The Austin filmmaker/activist will introduce the film and participate in a Q&A afterward.

I haven't yet seen One Peace at a Time, but I did see and review Pipkin's previous film Nobelity, which was the foundation for The Nobelity Project. It was worth seeing at the Paramount, because the film looked and sounded so gorgeous. If this documentary interests you, this is your chance to watch it at its best.

All proceeds from the screening will benefit Architecture for Humanity's Haiti Reconstruction fund, in partnership with Yele Haiti. Tickets are $10 and you can buy them through the Paramount website. The Paramount's Facebook page promises a $5,000 matching grant if the event raises at least $5,000, but does not specify where the matching grant will come from.

"To Serve Man" is a five song dubstep EP based off of and inspired by the classic Twilight Zone episode of the same name. Local Dubstep DJ Lord Pyro will be spinning a live 90-minute DJ mix/remix of his ‘To Serve Man’ EP. He will also be featuring the latest, cutting edge dubstep tracks from other DJs/Producers paired with clips of classic '50's sci-fi films and television shows such This Island Earth, It Came From Outer Space, The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Twilight Zone. Check out the trailer with dubstep teaser here.

Admission for the event is free, but you can reserve your seat with a $5 food and beverage voucher purchased in advance.