The Fortunate 500: Film stars

People who light up the Austin movie social scene

Photo by Matt Rourke/AA-S PAUL STEKLER movies/education/media
THE FORTUNATE 500
All stars	Art stars
Music stars	Education/Charity stars
Food stars	Literary/Media stars
Heritage stars	Film stars
Business/High Tech stars	Politics/Law stars
Sports stars	Fashion stars
Part-time Austinites

In the case of documentarian Paul Stekler, a new dimension was added to his job description when he came to the University of Texas in 1997 to head up the film production program at the College of Communications.

"Part of my role was to get out in the community and personally tie the UT film program to the larger film community here," says Stekler, 52, who moved here from his native New York.

"And it turned out to be the perfect, happy moment to do that, because there has been an explosion of growth and success in the filmmaking community in the past eight years or so."

Stekler's credits include "Vote for Me: Politics in America," "George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire" and "Louisiana Boys: Raised on Politics."

Social networking helps the synergy and collaboration in Stekler's professional life. He moves easily from book festivals to Austin Film Society gatherings to Alamo Drafthouse screenings to political events to weekly television. His new KLRU series, "Special Session," features media and political guests discussing the current Texas legislative session.

"This city is the kind of place where you can really make a difference," Stekler says. "It's the world's biggest small town. I get an idea and put folks together and just do stuff."

His UT role might have lured Stekler into the Austin social scene, but he soon discovered it's not the stuffy chore it might have been.

"I didn't realize before I came here that everybody kind of likes each other in Austin," Stekler says. "When I have a screening, it's amazing how many filmmakers come. Everybody shares in everybody's success. Maybe it's the Austin lifestyle, but people just seem happier here.

"And it's really easy to meet people, both logistically and culturally. I knew about two people when I came to Austin, but inside a month, I was telling people in New York how easy it was to meet people -- people I actually like."

More film stars