Austin Film Festival - Without Limits

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Friday, 14 October 2011 05:00

Written by L E Shannon

The 18th Annual Austin Film Festival is screening October 20 - 27, 2011 at theatres throughout downtown Austin, Texas and the surrounding area, including the Paramount Theatre, Alamo Lake Creek, Regal Arbor, Landmark Dobie, Long Center Rollins Theatre, Hideout Theater, Bob Bullock Texas State History Musuem IMAX Theater.

Running concurrently with the AFF is the Conference which provides over 80 inspiring and interactive panels, roundtables and meet-and-greets with established screenwriters and filmmakers. The Conference panels take place from October 20 - 23 at the Driskill Hotel and the Intercontinental Stephen F. Austin Hotel in the heart of downtown Austin.

"The Austin Film Festival furthers the art and craft of film making by inspiring and championing the work of screenwriters, filmmakers, and all artists who use the language of film to tell a story."`

This year, the Festival presents its inaugural Extraordinary Contribution to Film Acting Award, which goes to Johnny Depp. The Festival will screen Edward Scissorhands, the 1990 film Depp starred in, directed by Tim Burton, which Depp will introduce.

Film Tracks this year are:

• AFF Presents
• Dark Matters
• Family Films
• Marquee Screenings
• Texas Independents
• Shorts
• Preceding Shorts
• Documentary Feature Competition
• Comedy Vanguard
• Narrative Feature Competition

AFF Presents:

A Tribute to Polly Platt
Presented by Luke Wilson, with a special taped introduction by Wes Anderson
"Polly Platt played a significant role in bringing a number of talented filmmakers to the forefront of American cinema, including Peter Bogdanovich, James L. Brooks, and Cameron Crowe."

Bottle Rocket (1996)
Writers: Owen Wilson, Wes Anderson
Director: Wes Anderson
Cast: Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Robert Musgrave, James Caan, Lumi Cavazos
Some boys concoct an outrageous plan to rob a local bookstore, and somehow they get away with it. While on the run from the law, they meet an intriguing group of characters, including a South American housekeeper and a local thief.

Platt "helped put together this film which brought Wes Anderson...onto the independent film scene and introduced the world to Owen and Luke Wilson. "

Family Films are led by:

Puss in Boots
Writers: Brian Lynch, David H. Steinberg, Tom Wheeler, Jon Zack
Director: Chris Miller
Cast (voices): Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton, Amy Sedaris
The long awaited spinoff from the Shrek films is a prequel: Before Puss ever met Shrek, the suave feline hero went on a swashbuckling quest for the Goose that lays the Golden Eggs.

From the Texas Independent track are:

Austin High
Director: Alan Deutsch
Writers: Will Elliott, Kirk C. Johnson
Starring Michael S. Wilson, Bill Wise, Melinda Y. Cohen, Sam Eidson, Byron Brown, Adriene Mishler, Zach Thatcher, Zach Hall
"What would happen if a group of high school slackers grew up and became the faculty at their own high school? Easy answer: it would be the most laid back school ever – that is until a new assistant principal arrives and all the fun comes crashing down. "

Searching for Sonny
Writer/Director: Andrew Disney
Starring: Jason Dohring, Masi Oka, Nick Kocher. Brian McElhaney, Clarke Peters, Minka Kelly
An otherwise aimless pizza delivery guy decides to attend his high school reunion, and make amends with Sonny, an old friend he once wronged. Elliot reunites with his fraternal twin brother, their former pal, and the gorgeous girl every guy in the class would have killed to go out with. The friends discover that Sonny is missing under mysterious circumstances.

Documentaries include:

Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters
Director: Adam Cornelius
Tetris. We've all played it. The film "tracks down a group of record-holding Tetris players as they prepare to compete in the 2010 Classic Tetris World Championship. The film gives us an intimate look at the Masters as they reveal their secrets, recount their decade-long obsessions with the game, and take us to the transcendental state required to reach the highest levels known as the 'Ecstasy of Order'."

Darwin
Writer: Taylor Segrest
Director: Nick Brandestini  (Switzerland)
"Darwin is an isolated community at the end of a weathered road in Death Valley, California with a population of 35 people . Propelled from society by tragic turns, the people of Darwin must now find ways to coexist in a place without a government, a church, jobs, or children. This near-ghost town's survival depends on a fragile, gravity-fed waterline that descends from the mountains where top-secret weapons are being tested. One 'accidental' drop of a bomb, they half-joke, could wipe out their entire town.."

Other narrative films include:

Freak Dance
Writer: Matt Besser
Directors: Matt Besser, Neil Mahoney
Cast: Michael Cassady, Megan Heyn, Amy Poehler, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh, Tim Meadows, Andy Daly, Horatio Sanz
Adapted by Upright Citizens Brigade co-founder Matt Besser from the stage show, this musical comedy tells the story of a spoiled rich girl who just wants to dance. She joins some local street dancers, which will eventually involve her in an epic battle of good and evil between two warring dance troupes.

Ok, Enough, Goodbye
Writers/Directors: Rania Attieh, Daniel Garcia (Lebanon/United Arab Emirates)
Cast: Daniel Arzrouni, Nadimé Attieh, Walid Ayoubi, Nawal Mekdad
In Tripoli, Lebanon, a 40-year-old man still lives with his elderly mother, his independence a dead issue. But one day his mother suddenly leaves him. This coming of age story follows an adult man facing life for the first time alone, in the city that he grew up in.

This is only a few of the many uniquely offbeat new films on offer at this Festival. The lineup features new works, new filmmakers and new approaches that are just beginning to be seen.

The Conference "conducts workshops on the core elements of screenwriting and filmmaking, including dialogue, story structure and character development. Some popular panels focus on writing scripts that producers want to develop, overcoming writers block, producing a film on an indie budget, marketing the project and more."

According to Michael Brandt and Derek Haas:
"What makes it great? For one thing, it's the style of the conference: laid back yet well organized. Topics are based on what participants actually care about and the list of screenwriters looks like someone stole Warner Brother's secret rolodex. Best of all is an atmosphere that doesn't allow for any of the typical Hollywood crap. ....

"There is a genuine love of the writing process in Austin, probably because Austin is such a great music town where the writer is still king! And here's the kicker: everyone is excited to be there. We've always called it a spring break for writers ... a week long party where all the participants and the speakers mingle all night long, talking movies."

This year‛s Panels include:

• How to Work the Film Festival: For Filmmakers
• How to Work the Conference: For Writers
• How to Take a Meeting & the Development Process
• Sustaining a Writing Career Outside of LA
• Screenwriters’ Agreements: What to Keep in- And What to Leave Out
• Agent-Client Relationships
• Writing for Animation: The Studios’ Perspective
• Pixar’s Story Development Process
• Words That Go Bump in the Night: Writing Horror
• Zombies, Apes, and Vampires: Breathing New Life into Old Genres

It‛s a rare festival where the panels are in danger of outshining the films. But if the testimonials by previous attendees are any indication, AFF comes close.  

For more information, go to austinfilmfestival.com/new.

Austin Film Festival and Conference
October 20 - 27, 2011

Paramount Theatre
713 Congress Avenue
Austin, TX
512-472-5470

Alamo Lake Creek - Drafthouse Cinema
13729 Research Blvd
Austin, TX 78750
512-219-5408

Regal Arbor Cinema
9828 Great Hills Trail, Ste 800
Austin, TX 78759
512-231-9742
www.uatc.com

[Landmark] Dobie
2025 Guadalupe Street, Suite 268
Austin, TX 78705
512-472-3456

Long Center for the Performing Arts
Debra and Kevin Rollins Studio Theatre
701 W. Riverside Drive
Austin, TX 78704-1269
512-474-5664

Hideout Theatre
617 Congress Ave
Austin, TX 78701
512-443-3688

Bob Bullock Texas State History Musuem IMAX Theater
Texas State History Museum
1800 N. Congress Ave.
Austin, TX 78701
512-936-8746

Driskill Hotel
604 Brazos Street
Austin, TX 78701
512-474-5911

Intercontinental Stephen F. Austin Hotel
701 Congress Avenue
Austin, TX
512-457-8800

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