XL Cover Story: Austin Film Festival

Highlights of the AFF

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Screening venues: The Paramount Theatre (713 Congress Ave.); Dobie (2025 Guadalupe St.); The Hideout (617 Congress Ave.); Arbor Cinema (9828 Great Hills Trail); IMAX Theater at the Bullock Museum (1800 N. Congress Ave.); Stephen F. Austin InterContinental Hotel (701 Congress Ave.).

Conference venues: The Driskill Hotel (604 Brazos St.) and the Stephen F. Austin Inter-Continental Hotel (701 Congress Ave.).

Badges and tickets: Producer's Badge, including all panels, films and parties, $650; Conference Badge, includes all films, panels and some parties, $375; Student Badge, $195; Weekend Badge, includes all panels and films and closing party, $225; Saturday Day Badge, includes Saturday panels and all films, $75; Film Pass, includes all films, $35. Single tickets are available first-come, first-serve at venue box offices.

Information: www.austinfilmfestival.com; 478-4795.

COMEDY HIGHLIGHTS

Film and television comedy — and its creators — dominates the lineup at the Austin Film Festival and Screenwriters Conference. These are some highlights of films and panels:

SCREENINGS

THURSDAY

• 'Shopgirl' — Director Anand Tucker and stars Claire Danes and Jason Schwartzman screen this low-key comedy written by Steve Martin and based on his novel. 7:50 p.m., Paramount Theatre.

• 'Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang' — Writer/director Shane Black ('Lethal Weapon') presents his hard-bitten crime comedy, starring Robert Downey Jr. 10:20 p.m. Paramount.

FRIDAY

• 'The Ice Harvest' — Director Harold Ramis screens his noir-comedy, which stars John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton as inept thieves. 7:45 p.m. Paramount.

• Judd Apatow Retrospective — The 'Freaks and Geeks' and 'Undeclared' creator-writer will show the unaired pilot of his comedy 'North Hollywood' and outtakes from his hit film 'The 40 Year-Old Virgin,' followed by a Q-and-A. 10:15 p.m., Stephen F. Austin hotel.

SATURDAY

• 'Ghostbusters' — Co-stars Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson will present the 1984 classic. Ramis co-wrote the comedy with Dan Aykroyd, who also stars with Bill Murray. 7 p.m. Paramount.

• 'The Matador' — Writer/Director Richard Shepard is there to screen his fresh comedy about a hitman and a salesman who meet and bond with unpredictable consequences. Starring Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear and Hope Davis. 9:40 p.m. Paramount

n Second City Shorts — Funny films by wags from the legendary Chicago improv/sketch troupe, including clips from the classic series 'SCTV,' starring Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara and Martin Short. 10:45 p.m. Saturday, 7 p.m. Tuesday. Hideout.

SUNDAY

• 'Mrs. Henderson Presents' —An eccentric society lady, Laura Henderson (Judi Dench), stages a notorious nude revue in a historic theater in pre-World War II London. Directed by Stephen Frears, written by Martin Sherman and co-starring Ricky Gervais, Christopher Guest, Bob Hoskins. 4 p.m. Paramount.

TUESDAY

• 'Prime' — Writer/director Ben Younger ('Boiler Room') is there to show his romantic comedy, starring Meryl Streep as a therapist who encourages a patient (Uma Thurman) to date a much younger man. All's well until Streep finds out the young man is her own son (Bryan Greenberg). 7 p.m. Paramount.

• 'Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story' — Writer/director Michael Winterbottom's radically distilled and self-reflexive adaptation of Laurence Stern's 18th-century novel stars Steve Coogan and Gillian Anderson. 9:30 p.m. Paramount.

PANELS

THURSDAY

• Meet and Greet with Steve Faber and Bob Fisher — Informal discussion in living-room-like setting with the screenwriters of 'The Wedding Crashers.' 2:45 p.m. Driskill Hotel, Maximilian Room.

FRIDAY

• Meet and Greet with Jessica Bendinger — Informal meeting with the writer of 'The Truth About Charlie,' 'Sex and The City,' 'Bring It On' and the upcoming 'Stick It,' her directorial debut. 10:45 a.m. Driskill, Maximilian Room.

• Comedy Writing for TV — With John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky ('King of the Hill,' 'The High Life'), Jay Edwards ('Aqua Teen Hunger Force'), Ben Tyson (comedy development at Fox) and moderator Deborah Pearlman (Warner Bros.). 1:45 p.m. Driskill, Ballroom.

• Meet and Greet with Karen McCullahlutz and Kirsten Smith — Informal chat with the writing team behind 'Ella Enchanted,' 'Legally Blonde,' '10 Things I Hate About You' and the upcoming 'She's the Man.' 3:15 p.m. Driskill, Maximilian Room.

• Comedy Writing Teams — With John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky ('King of the Hill'), Steve Faber and Bob Fisher ('The Wedding Crashers') and moderator Greg Garrett. 3:15 p.m. Stephen F. Austin Hotel, Ballroom.

SATURDAY

• 'King of the Hill': Behind the Drawings — Meet John Altschuler, Jim Dauterive and Dave Krinsky, writers of the Texas-based animated sitcom. Turk Pipkin moderates. 9 a.m. Driskill, Ballroom.

• Up Close and Personal: Harold Ramis — This year's Distinguished Screenwriter Award recipient, who's had a hand in 'Animal House,' 'Caddyshack,' 'Stripes,' 'Groundhog Day' and more, talks with Judd Apatow ('The 40 Year-Old Virgin'). 10:45 a.m. Driskill, Ballroom.

• Comedy Writing — All the big names are here: Judd Apatow, Jessica Bendinger, Buck Henry and Harold Ramis, with producer Barry Josephson moderating. 2 p.m. Driskill, Ballroom.

• Up Close and Personal: Mike Judge — This year's Outstanding Television Writer Award recipient — creator/writer of 'Beavis and Butt-Head' and 'King of the Hill' and writer/director of 'Office Space' and the upcoming 'Idiocracy' — talks with 'Hill' writer Jim Dauterive. 3:45 p.m. Driskill, Ballroom

• Meet and Greet: Buck Henry — The actor and writer of 'The Graduate,' 'Catch-22,' 'To Die For' and many 'Saturday Night Live' skits talks about his work. 3:45 p.m. Driskill, Maximilian Room.

OTHER FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

• 'Muskrat Lovely' — The laugh-ready tone of this one-hour documentary has been compared to 'Waiting for Guffman,' except that its chronicle of a Miss Outdoors pageant happening on the same stage as a muskrat skinning contest is all true. 8 tonight, 2 p.m. Sunday. The Hideout.

• 'The Ape' — 'Freaks and Geeks' and 'Spider-Man' co-star James Franco will be here to screen this satire on the writing life, in which a talking gorilla hampers a novelist's life and work. Franco co-wrote, directed and stars. 7:45 p.m. Friday, Stephen F. Austin Inter-Continental Hotel; 5 p.m. Sunday, Dobie.

• 'Bee Season' — Screenwriter Naomi Foner Gyllenhall (mother of actors Jake and Maggie) is here to present her adaptation of the best-selling novel by Myla Goldberg. The family drama, about a Jewish girl whose triumph in a spelling bee unleashes family secrets, stars Richard Gere and Juliette Binoche. 7 p.m. Saturday. IMAX Theater.

• 'Halfway Decent' — Writer-director Alan Berger and star Ernie Hudson present this dramedy about a man who loses, then regains, control of a life messed up by all those life things. 10:30 p.m. Saturda, Stephen F. Austin; 7 p.m. Tuesday, Arbor.

• 'Manderlay' — Part two in Lars Von Trier's controversial American trilogy has Ron Howard's daughter Bryce Dallas Howard ('The Village') assuming the role of Grace that Nicole Kidman played in 'Dogville,' part one in the series. Trier shoots with the same pitched theatricality he deployed in 'Dogville' to explore hot-button American themes. 9:15 p.m. Wednesday. Paramount)

• 'The Squid and the Whale' — Excellent buzz precedes Noah Baumbach's autobiographical story about growing up in an intellectual family in Brooklyn and his parents' wrenching divorce. Starring Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney and Jesse Eisenberg. 7:30 p.m. Oct. 27. Paramount.