Home > The M.O. > Archives > 2009 > October > 21 > Entry
My written-in-pencil schedule for Austin Film Festival
Not that my inbox has been overflowing with requests to find out what I will be up to during the Austin Film Festival, but I thought I’d go ahead and share my intended schedule for the Austin Film Festival. Maybe it will help you sort through all of the screenings and panels, maybe it will give you a great opportunity to stalk me or give you a blueprint for avoiding me. Whatever. (Note: All descriptions of panels and movies comes directly from the Austin Film Festival Web site.)
THURSDAY 10/22
Panel: Breaking Into the Business @ 1pm
While seeing your work produced is the ultimate goal, selling the script is a great first step. Many scripts are bought and never produced. But your script can serve as a sample to secure other work. Much of a professional screenwriters’ income lies in script doctoring and assignments, not movies produced from their spec scripts.
Movie: “Youth in Revolt” @ 10pm
“Youth in Revolt” is a coming-of-age comedy that puts a fresh and outrageous stamp on a tale of adolescent obsession and rebellion. Starring Michael Cera (also of the Oscar winning film, Juno, and Superbad) and based on the acclaimed novel by C.D. Payne, Youth in Revolt is the story of Nick Twisp - a unique, but affable teen with a taste for the finer things in life like Sinatra and Fellini - who falls hopelessly in love with the beautiful, free-spirited Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday) while on a family vacation. But family, geography and jealous ex-lovers conspire to keep these two apart. With Sheeni’s encouragement, Nick abandons his dull, predictable life and develops a rebellious alter ego: Francois. With his ascot, his moustache and his cigarette, Francois will stop at nothing to be with Sheeni, and leads Nick Twisp on a path of destruction with unpredictable and uproarious consequences.
FRIDAY 10/23
Panel: Write What You Know @ 1:45pm
A new master class series on writing for specific genres with Paul Feig and Mike White
Moderator: Owen Egerton.
Movie: “American Cowslip” @ 10:15pm
Ethan Inglebrink, an eccentric, agoraphobic heroin addict who is obsessed with his garden, is searching for the perfect moment in a life that is running out of time. And the odds are against him. This darkly comedic tale set in small town California follows the last days of Ethan’s life as he struggles to find love and purpose - at a time when it might be too late to even matter. This colorful film marks the return of AFF alum Mark David.
SATURDAY 10/24
Panel: What Gets Producers Excited @ 2pm
Think you have what it takes to become the next “it” writer? Find out what successful producers are looking for in a script and learn what projects interest them the most. With Garrett Basch, Jeff Graup, Dawn Wolfrom. Moderator: Drew Yanno
Movie: “Tenure” @ 8:15pm
After three years as a professor at Grey College, Charlie Thurber is hoping for tenure. In competition with his colleague, an attractive and seemingly more qualified professor from Yale, he tries a number of tactics that include the founding of an erotic poetry club, showing more school spirit, and the endless pursuit of getting published. Through it all, he finds that his real passion is teaching and that learning is something you’re never too old to do. He also may help his friend catch Bigfoot, they are really, really close this time.
SUNDAY 10/25
Panel: 10/25 The Art of Storytelling with Shane Black @ 1pm
What is it that causes a great script to stand out against all the rest? Why do some scripts seem to pale in comparison to others, even if both capture an interesting story? Three titans of cinema discuss the tools they use to bring a script life with rich characters, authenticity, and memorable dialogue. With Shane Black, Richard Linklater and Tim McCanlies. Moderator: Tom Schatz.
Panel: Turning Your Shorts/Webisodes into a Film Career @ 2:30pm The popularity of short films has exploded thanks to dwindling attention spans, the popularity of Internet sites like YouTube, and the omnipresence of mobile, small screen broadcast outlets like cell phones. How do shorts and features differ in concept and execution? Will the cinema of the future be a hybrid of both? How can you turn your short film into a film career? With Owen Egerton, Michael Fry, Ya’ke Smith and Ben Steinbauer. Moderator: James Macak.
Movie: “The Messenger” at 7 p.m.
The directorial debut of accomplished screenwriter Oren Moverman (I’m Not There and Jesus’ Son) The Messenger is a powerful and tender story about a returned war hero making his first steps toward a normal life. In his first leading role, Foster stars as Will Montgomery, a U.S. Army officer who has just returned home from a tour in Iraq and is assigned to the Army’s Casualty Notification service. Partnered with fellow officer Tony Stone (Harrelson) to deliver tragic news to the loved ones of fallen soldiers, Will faces the challenge of completing his mission while seeking to find comfort and healing back on the home front. When he finds himself drawn to Olivia (Morton), to whom he has just delivered the news of her husband’s death, Will’s emotional detachment begins to dissolve and the film reveals itself as a surprising, humorous, moving and very human portrait of grief, friendship and survival. Not just a well written script, but a showcase for two amazing performances by Foster and Harrelson who bring us into the inner lives of these outwardly steely heroes to reveal their fragility with compassion and dignity.
TUESDAY 10/27
“The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia” @ 10pm
Shoot-outs, robberies, gas-huffing, drug dealing, pill popping, murders, and tap dancing. From MTV Studios and executive producers Johnny Knoxville and Jeff Tremaine (Jackass) comes a shocking and outlandish year-in-the-life documentary about the White Family of Boone County, West Virginia’s most notorious and surly family. Nestled deep in the Appalachian Mountains, the White family lives an existence more like something from the Wild West than modern day suburbified America. The legendary family is as known for their wild, excessive criminal ways as they are for their famous mountain dancing members, including Jesco White, the star of the cult classic documentary Dancing Outlaw. Over the course of one tumultuous year, the Whites deal with a stabbing, criminal sentencing, attempted murder, death and birth. The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia is directed by Julien Nitzberg (producer of Dancing Outlaw).
WEDNESDAY 10/28
Movie: “The Donner Party” @ 7pm
During the winter of 1846, a group of westward bound settlers is stranded in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. They must reach California for salvation, but without food and a guide, the group becomes disillusioned and decisions must be made so that others can stay alive. Inspired by the infamous Donner Party tragedy, the film is a harrowing look at survival and how far some will go to achieve it.
THURSDAY 10/29
Movie: “Up in the Air” @ 8 p.m.
The timely odyssey of Ryan Bingham (Oscar winner George Clooney), a corporate downsizer and consummate modern business traveler who, after years of staying happily airborne, suddenly finds himself ready to make a real connection. Ryan has long been contented with his unencumbered lifestyle lived out across America in airports, hotels and rental cars. He can carry all he needs in one wheel-away case; he’s a pampered, elite member of every travel loyalty program in existence; and he’s close to attaining his lifetime goal of 10 million frequent flier miles - and yet … Ryan has nothing real to hold onto. When he falls for a simpatico fellow traveler (Farmiga), Ryan’s boss (Bateman), inspired by a young, upstart efficiency expert (Kendrick), threatens to permanently call him in from the road. Faced with the prospect, at once terrifying and exhilarating, of being grounded, Ryan begins to contemplate what it might actually mean to have a home.
Possible game-time additions: “Hunger,” “Harmony and Me,” “Cummings Farm” and “The Vicious Kind.” I’ve already seen “Herpes Boy,” so I won’t be seeing it again but recommend it.
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