Austin360 blogs > Austin Movie Blog > Archives > 2007 > June
June 2007
Cool additions to local scene
Check out a valuable site, Film Austin. It’s good for festival info, movie jobs, screenwriting resources, incentives, business and gobs more. Recommended.
Big news over at Austin Studios: Catherine Parrington, an industry veteran, has been tapped as the new director of operations for the studios.
Parrington comes from L.A., where she worked at Sony Pictures Entertainment for the past 13 years. She will manage and market the Austin Studios facilities, negotiate rentals, direct facilities upgrades and oversee $5 million in renovations as part of Proposition 4, says the Austin Film Society.
Welcome to Austin, Catherine!
Marfa lights. And camera and action.
Matt Dentler, who needs no introduction in these parts, tells us about a very cool happening Saturday in, gulp, Marfa (now there’s a road trip for you).
It’s about movies, of course, a free, fun mishmash of docs, animation, experimental video and shorts culled from festivals.
Read the item on Dentler’s popular BLOG.
Or call 729-4979.
The Austin Film Society has added another Summer Moviemaking Camp due to popular demand. Here you go:
Learn to make movies with the pros! Our week-long camps teach hands-on storytelling techniques using digital video technologies. Students work together to craft a short film from start to finish in a fun-filled, project-based environment. … The finished product is screened for parents, friends and participants in our state of the art screening room. The Austin Film Society camps at Austin Studios includes a studios tour and activities led by local filmmakers.
Register HERE.
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Last night at the Alamo: maybe you can go
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Click for some Texas-made movies
An independent movie made in Texas? For real?
See the latest homegrown Texas indie “Coyote Funeral” on DVD. The movie, directed by Jason May and Phelps Harmon, is a sibling-rival drama set on Texas back roads.
Get more, including the DVD, at www.coyotefuneral.com.
Last week fellow blogger Omar Gallaga reported on Austin filmmaker Cole Evans’ foray into online exhibition with his gamer-related short “The Killing of a No Good Goomba.”
On his blog “Digital Savant,” Gallaga writes:
Austin filmmaker Cole Evans might not have won Nintendo’s Short Cuts contest and a trip to the Tribeca Film Festival, but the University of Texas radio-television-film program student probably made a few fans online.
Evans’ film, “The Killing of a No Good Goomba,” created with Johny Riggs, was a finalist in the contest, but failed to place in the top three when winners were announced Tuesday.
Read the rest HERE.
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AFI’s Top 100
Ten years later, “Citizen Kane” still tops the American Film Institute’s list of the Top 100 films. There have, however, been a few changes over the past decade, including the addition of four films released since the first list was unveiled back in 1998: 2001’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” (No. 50), 1998’s “Saving Private Ryan” (No. 71), 1997’s “Titanic” (No. 83) and 1999’s “The Sixth Sense” (No. 89). Do you agree with AFI’s list? Disagree? Let us know.
Get your funny on film
Making movies is hard. Comedy is harder. Doing both in a bundle is hardest of all.
The Funniest Filmmaker in Austin contest comes back to the Cap City Comedy Club in August.
Do it.
The winner plays the Austin Film Festival in October. Entering is free.
See the MySpace page for everything.
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Great news for locally made ‘Homo Erectus’
And there we were Monday (see entry below) noting that Adam Rifkin’s caveman comedy “Homo Erectus” — produced by the UT Film Institute and Burnt Orange Productions, and filmed in Austin in 2005 — still hadn’t snagged a distribution deal since its premiere at Slamdance in January.
Just now, word arrives that National Lampoon has acquired the movie and will release it in September as “National Lampoon’s Homo Erectus.”
It stars Rifkin, Ali Larter (“Heroes”), David Carradine, Gary Busey and Talia Shire.
“Having National Lampoon’s stamp of approval is a lifetime dream come true,” said Rifkin in a statement. “One of my favorite movies of all time is ‘National Lampoon’s Animal House,’ ‘Homo Erectus’ being a part of that legacy of film comedy is an honor beyond words.”
See more about the comedy HERE.
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And the Gracie goes to …
Austin doc-makers (and really swell humans) Ellen Spiro and Karen Bernstein won two Gracie Awards on Monday night in New York for their superb doc “Troop 1500.”
The film won best documentary and Spiro took Outstanding Achievement as Director honors. A heartwarmer and tearjerker, “Troop 15” show young girls in a special Girl Scout troop coming to terms with mothers incarcerated at the Gatesville Prison facility in Texas.
The Gracies honor American Women in Radio and Television (AWRT). Other winners this year are Tina Fey, Soledad O’Brien and Wanda Sykes.
More on Spiro, Bernstein and their Mobilus Media films right here.
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Gimme some Demme (with a side of queso)
Those wily scamps at the Austinist (more like, Austinbliss) scooped us again, ding-blang it. We tore this headline off their site today: “Jonathan Demme to Shoot Film at Las Manitas”.
We’ll tease you with the lede, but it’s up to you to check it out at the official location.
In the first bit of Las Manitas news this year that has nothing to do with small business displacement or forgivable loans, Academy Award winning director Jonathan Demme has announced plans to shoot a new film at the embattled downtown eatery.
Read the rest HERE.
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More awards with Austin flavors
Robert Rodriguez was honored over the weekend for his films’ amazing marketing tactics at The Hollywood Reporter’s 36th annual Key Art Awards, which celebrates the best and edgiest in movie advertising.
Reports the Reporter:
Rodriguez received the first Visionary Award, which recognizes a filmmaker who inspires movie marketers to create work at an even higher level. Rose McGowan presented him with the award.
“Robert Rodriguez has defied classification and has inspired creativity in movie marketers around the world,” she said.
Upon accepting the award, Rodriguez said, “What you do is impressive, and it’s an awesome responsibility because it all comes down to you now whether a movie is going to get our attention.
“It all comes down to those moments,” he continued. “You are holding that in your hands, and when you pull it off and you cut through, it’s an amazing feat. You should be very proud of yourselves and be congratulated endlessly for that because it’s what keeps us alive as a business.”
He summed up: “This is not an award as much as a challenge to continue making these bizarre movies so you can be inspired to make equally out-there trailers and poster art. And I know that when I do, as usual, you guys will certainly be up to the challenge. Thank you for that.”
He concluded with a mischievous smile and a mention of his next project, whispering into the microphone, ” ‘Barbarella’ anyone?”
(photo: Hollywood Reporter)
Still no word on distribution for the caveman comedy “Homo Erectus,” written, directed and starring Adam Rifkin, and produced by the UT Film Institute and Burnt Orange Productions in 2005 in Austin.
But Rifkin’s latest feature “Look” won the grand jury prize Saturday at the CineVegas Film Festival. The film is described by Variety as “shot entirely from the surveillance camera point of view,” giving the audience “a glimpse of ordinary people who have no inkling that they are under the watchful eye of hundreds of surveillance cameras that constantly record their everyday movements.”
See a clip of the earth-roaming “Homo Erectus” HERE, which played this year’s Slamdance.
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A fest, fantastically
Upstart sci-fi/fantasy/horror film bash Fantastic Fest, happening in September at the Alamo South, is adding titles to its lineup like a rampaging beast adding human meals to its fat belly.
Here’s what slavering organizers have to say:
Please take a few minutes to scan through the new roster of features and shorts and tell your friends that may not already know: Fantastic Fest is the ONLY place a true movie geek is going to want to be from September 20-27. If you are considering it, you should commit now. First, because there are only a limited number of badges available and we will almost certainly sell out before the festival. … The next wave of titles will be announced July 15.
See the good, the gross, the galactic and gory at www.fantasticfest.com.
One of the Fantastic Fest flicks
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Is Matthew McConaughey hot?
So the fine folks at People have chosen part-time Austinite Matthew McConaughey as their “bachelor of the year.”
For serious?
Other “sexy and sizzling” bachelors who made the magazine’s list are Adrian Grenier, Zach Braff, Justin Timberlake, Ryan Reynolds, Ludacris and Apolo Ohno. And, for reasons that still have us scratching our heads, David Spade is on there, too.
So … is 37-year-old McBongo hot? Or not? You tell us.
So this is how Harry scoops us
One of Harry Knowles’ Ain’t It Cool spies has been popped. A Memphis projectionist was canned after writing an early review of “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” for Harry’s Austin-based Web site.
Read on, courtesy of today’s Hollywood Reporter:
It’s curtains for a critical projectionist
By Borys Kit
A Memphis projectionist working for the Malco Theatre chain has lost his job after writing an unauthorized early review of 20th Century Fox’s “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” for the Web site Ain’t It Cool News.
Jesse Morrison, the projectionist, claims that Fox was behind Malco’s decision to suspend him for an undetermined period. The studio denied the charge.
On Saturday, www.aintitcool.com posted a negative review by Morrison (writing under his online moniker Memflix) under the headline “Memflix crushes all hope for ‘Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.’ “
A 29-year-old film, video and journalism major at the University of Memphis, Morrison worked for $7 an hour at the Ridgeway Four, next door to Malco’s home office. He picked up further compensation by readying movie prints for exhibitor and press screenings, which allowed him during the past year to write reviews of such movies as “Disturbia,” “Vacancy” and “Spider-Man 3” for Ain’t It Cool. He also wrote reviews for Malco’s movie blog and a circular distributed at the theater.
On Monday, two days after his “Silver Surfer” pan appeared, Morrison was called into a meeting with Malco senior vp Jimmy Tashie and, according to Morrison, was “suspended until further notice,” with the suggestion that he would not be asked to return.
Morrison said Tashie pointed out that “20th Century Fox called them that morning and threatened to take away the press and trade screenings because of this whole thing. They were upset.”
Drew McWeeney, known as “Moriarty” on the Ain’t It Cool site, picked up Morrison’s cause. Amid two positive reviews for the new movie, he championed Morrison’s right to free speech and wrote: “He’s written many reviews for us before, but when he wrote one for ‘Fantastic Four,’ Fox went into hypersensitive overdrive. They tracked him down and had him fired, threatening to pull their business from the entire chain over that review.”
Sources inside Fox denied the studio’s involvement, saying that the disciplinary action was beyond their reach and was the theater chain’s decision.
A number of Ain’t It Cool readers have rallied to Morrison’s cause, some even offering him jobs like a cameraman gig in Mexico.
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A Dunn deal, on PBS
Austinite Laura Dunn’s poetic doc “The Unforeseen” was a hit at this year’s Sundance and South by Southwest. While it won’t air on TV yet, Dunn will discuss the film with David Brancaccio on the PBS show “NOW” at 8:30 p.m. Friday on KLRU cable channel 9.
Executive produced by Terrence Malick and Robert Redford, “The Unforeseen” examines the land-development controversies stirred up by Gary Bradley in the ’70s and ’80s, especially his plans to develop 4,000 acres near Barton Creek. The passions, politics and protests are finely captured for a compelling film with powerful local pull.
Laura Dunn working on “The Unforeseen”
He’s been to the festival before, but screenwriter Terry Rossio, riding high on his “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” will return as a panelist at the Austin Film Festival and Screenwriter’s Conference in October to chat craft.
See more of the lineup and get your badge at the fest WEB SITE.
Would you date a slacker?
In “Knocked Up”, an ambitious woman (Katherine Heigl) finds herself in a relationship with a slacker guy (Seth Rogen). How realistic is this? Is it something that happens here in Austin, the slacker capital? If you’ve been on either side of this dating equation, we’re curious how it went, so leave us a comment.
‘The Foot Fist Way’
It’s always fun to get a sneak peak of something that you are certain is going to make waves in the future. Last night was one of those nights at the Alamo Drafthouse. As Janeane Garofalo said (via Patton Oswalt) following the screening of ‘The Foot Fist Way,’ I felt like I did after seeing ‘Bottle Rocket’ the first time.
I don’t know if I’d go quite that far, but there was definitely a similarity in the two experiences. Both movies are extremely low budget films, written with an incredible ear for dialogue and feature very naturalistic performances.
As I mentioned yesterday, Oswalt introduced the film even though he had nothing to do with the production. He’s just a fanboy who had been given a DVD of the movie a month ago by Will Ferrell. Ferrell and his producing partner Adam McKay have purchased the rights to the film and plan to release it as-is in late February or early March next year and hope for it to take off via word-of-mouth a la ‘Napoleon Dynamite.’
‘The Foot Fist Way’ (a literal translation of Tae Kwon Do) tells the story of Fred Simmons (Danny McBride), a tae kwon do instructor in a small North Carolina town, whose 15 minutes of martial arts fame passed him by about 15 years ago. After discovering that his fake-tanned, silicone-enhanced, opportunistic wife has cheated on him with her boss (and seemingly every man at her office), Simmons life heads down a self-destructive road fueled by his myopia and complete lack of self-awareness. The aging instructor unleashes his torment in a series of hilarious acts of lashing out that make the self-serious, overweight, mustachioed Simmons a lovable loser very much in the vein of Ricky Gervais’ character in ‘The Office.’ As Oswalt said following the movie, Simmons seems to take to heart the major tenets of tae kwon do (courtesy, self-respect, perseverance, integrity and indomitable spirit) but filters them through his simple-minded, self-involved worldview, the result of which makes him a perfect fool.
Dazzling stories populate this ‘Territory’
We’re late! But here it is: the 31st (thirty-first!!) season of the terrific short film, video and digital art series “The Territory” is up and running at 10 p.m. Fridays on KLRU channel 9.
The series showcases experimental, documentary, narrative and animated media from around the world, including Program 3 this week:
- “Frontera,” a 26-minute doc on migrant “illegals” on both banks of the Rio Grande by Luis Salinas.
And Program 4 on June 22:
“Sommarlek (Summer Play),” a dark coming-of-age story about summer and sex in Sweden by Axel Danielson
“Dilemma,” Boris Pavel Conen’s 10-minute drama about a life-changing, split-second decision set in the Netherlands.
Preview scenes of upcoming shorts on “The Territory”:
“Medusa: The First Date” — July 13
“Caspian Bride” — Aug. 17
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Austin talent on TV airwaves
Austin/New York writer-director Kyle Henry’s praise-garlanded drama “Room” made a strong festival run — including Cannes — and now takes a victory lap with its North American cable premiere.
“Room” starts airing at 10 p.m. Thursday on the Sundance Channel, a good chance for those who missed its theatrical showings to see top-notch local talent. Both the movie and its Austin star Cyndi Williams were nominated for Independent Spirit Awards.
Go HERE for list of air dates.
Cyndi Williams
If you’ve watched Fox’s new let’s-make-movies reality show “On the Lot” you might’ve heard a twang in the gang. One of the 50 young filmmakers vying for a $1 million movie deal is native Texan Will Bigham.
His relatives live in Austin and the Plugerville area, and, according to his publicist, Bigham hopes to move to Austin as a bigtime moviemaker.
Best of luck to our Texas talent.
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Your Slam chance
The Slamdance Film Festival, grungy cousin to Sundance, wants your short and feature films for its 14th edition, Jan. 17 through 25 in Park City, Utah.
In a first, the fest is also accepting original TV pilot submissions. Early deadline is Aug. 27. Final deadline is Oct. 9. Rules, etc., at www.slamdance.com.
In local news, the Austin arm of the Texas Motion Picture Alliance is holding its next meeting at 7 p.m. June 18 at Mother Egan’s Irish Pub (715 W. Sixth St.).
Attendees will choose a new Austin regional representative and discuss two at-large seats from the Austin region and the group’s on-going structure.
The meeting will begin promptly at 7 p.m. To RSVP, email austintxmpa@mac.com.
Check out www.txmpa.org.
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‘Lights’ actor gets some ‘Speed’
Zap2it.com reports that Scott Porter of the Austin-shot “Friday Night Lights” will co-star in the Wachowski brothers’ feature “Speed Racer.”
He’ll reportedly play Rex, the older brother of Speed, played by Emile Hirsch. The remake of the classic kid cartoon, shooting this month in Germany, also stars John Goodman, Susan Sarandon and Matthew Fox.
See the story HERE.
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A winner is crowned in ‘Star Wars’ contest
In a week-long online vote on Austin360 that ended June 1, Jones, a volunteer firefighter who plans to become a paramedic, scored the highest rating among the participants: About 80 percent of users agreed that Jones was strong in the Force.
Of the 3,639 users who watched the videos, about 433 watched Jones. The video of Susan Somers, an administrator on the ‘Star Wars’ fan site Wookieepedia, was the most watched at 633 page views.
The eBay-worthy prize for Jones will include: a boxed set of the original trilogy on VHS tapes, a ‘Star Wars’ baseball cap and an 18-inch poseable Boba Fett action figure.
The other contestants will not go empty-handed: each will receive a gift card to the Alamo Drafthouse.
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Eli goes, ‘Owee!’
Eli Roth — newly crowned prince of “torture porn” — appeared late Sunday night at the Alamo Downtown for a special sneak of his latest exercise in lowbrow depravity “Hostel: Part II.” The big fan of Austin and the Alamo was invited by the venue and powerbroker Harry Knowles.
Roth had some pre-show fun with a trio of dominatrixes, who gave him a taste of his own cinematic hemlock, whipping and whomping the director with … baking sheets. Don’t ask.
The new movie opens Friday.
Photos courtesy of Alamo honcho Tim League.
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