AFF Daily Schedule

Stop by the Driskill Hotel to purchase movies passes or badges. Individual movie tickets can be purchased at the theatres.

Sounds of Silence
Documentary Feature Competition Screens: 7pm @ The Arbor

[from AFF] Regional Premiere. Hidden beneath the alarming headlines from a totalitarian regime lies a bustling culture desperate for recognition at home as well as in the eyes of the wider world. This documentary offers a view inside Tehran and its burgeoning pop music scene through the eyes of young musicians and their followers. It salutes their ongoing struggle with the Iranian government’s Ministry of Islamic Guidance, Ershad, which meticulously scrutinizes and sometimes censors all forms of art. The film shows the delicate balance in these young musicians’ lives between their musical endeavors and the rocky path in store for them as progress and conservative traditionalism clash in modern Tehran. [info.]
The TV Set

Marquee Screening
Screens: 7pm @ The Paramount

[from AFF] Regional Premiere. Drawing on his experiences with shows like Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, Jake Kasdan (Orange County) presents the story of TV writer Mike Klein (David Duchovny) as he navigates his fledgling series from casting to the fall schedule while juggling headstrong network executives, unpredictable actors, and a pregnant wife. The TV Set's depiction of the many ways the industry can screw the screenwriter is a story AFF regulars will instantly recognize. Kasdan's whimsical script and expert cast reinforce the impression that the act of creating a television series is often more entertaining than the finished product. [info]
Flicka

Target Family Film Series
Screens: 7:15pm @ The IMAX

[from AFF] Regional Premiere. In this contemporary motion picture adaptation of Mary O'Hara's beloved novel My Friend Flicka, 16-year-old Katy McLaughlin dreams of fulfilling her family legacy by working on her father's ranch in modern-day Wyoming. Katy's father wants more for her, however, insisting that Katy go to college. Katy finds a wild mustang, which she names Flicka, and sets out to make her a riding horse. Flicka and Katy are more alike than Katy could have imagined, however. Like Katy, Flicka has a disdain for authority and is not about to give up her freedom without a fight. [info]

The Hip Hop Project
Documentary Feature Competition Screens: 7:15pm @ The Dobie
[from AFF] Regional Premiere. The Hip Hop Project is the dynamic and inspirational story of a group of New York City teenagers who transform their life stories into powerful works of art using hip hop as a vehicle for self-development and personal discovery. The film traces the evolution of the Hip Hop Project, an award-winning outreach program created by Kazi, a formerly homeless teenager turned youth mentor. During four years of collaboration, the group produced a powerful and thought-provoking album that provides a revealing look at their lives. In contrast to the negative attention focused on hip hop and rap music, this is a story of hope, healing, and the realization of dreams. [info]
Mario’s Story

Documentary Feature Competition
Screens: 7:15pm @ Stephen F. Austin Theatre

[from AFF] In 1998, Mario Rocha, a young Latino kid from East L.A., was convicted of murder and attempted murder on the basis of one eyewitness identification and no physical evidence. He was 16 years old at the time of his arrest, yet tried as an adult and sentenced to life in prison. While waiting two years for his trial in juvenile hall, Mario discovered his talent for writing. This film interweaves Mario's story and writings as an inmate in one of California's toughest prisons with the efforts of an unexpected group of people who have come together to win his freedom. Once found guilty by a jury, it's almost impossible to overturn the conviction. Mario's chances of ever regaining his freedom are less than 1 percent.

Winner of the Audience Award for Best Feature Documentary at the 2006 Los Angeles Film festival. Selected by the Los Angeles Times as one of the top ten films at the 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival. [info]
Shorts Program 6

Shorts Program
Screens: 7:20pm @ Texas Spirit Theatre

Short films screening in this program include: One Rat Short, Happiness, Momma's Boy, Death of a Revolution, Santa Baby, and Troll Concerto.
Total Denial

Documentary Feature Competition
Screens: 7:30pm @ The Hideout

[from AFF] Regional Premiere. Total Denial is the story of a historic lawsuit: 14 plaintiffs who’ve never left the Burmese jungle go head-to-head with two corporate giants for human rights abuses in U.S. courts. Two Western oil companies, French TOTAL and UNOCAL, then based in California, embark on a joint venture with the Burmese military regime to build a gas pipeline. The Burmese army, hired by the companies to provide security for the project, forces many in the local population into slave labor. Burned villages, raped women, tortured and killed porters, and hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children hiding in the jungle present a picture of a silent genocide. The outcome of this case will affect the behavior of companies worldwide. [info]
Matando Cabos

International Showcase: Mexico
Screens: 9pm @ The Arbor

[from AFF] Regional Premiere Matando Cabos tells two sides of a kidnapping gone wrong. The victim is one of the most powerful men in Mexico, Oscar Cabos. Three kidnappers take a man they believe to be Cabos who is really someone else. The real Oscar Cabos has already been accidentally kidnapped by two of his employees. We follow the first group of kidnappers as they learn they have the wrong man and the other group as they try to return the real Oscar Cabos safely back home without endangering their own lives. A retired Mexican wrestler, a noisy parrot, and an Audi crashing into the largest stadium in the world create a world of situations that will impact all the characters in a single night.
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Open Window

Narrative Feature Competition
Screens: 9:15pm @ Texas Spirit

[from AFF] Regional Premiere. Izzy and Peter are a newly engaged and madly in love couple, who find their cozy world shattered by a random act of violence. It soon becomes clear that irrevocable losses have touched not only Izzy and Peter, but also their entire family circle. Long-hidden emotions rise to the surface as the trauma creates a complex test of their relationships. Through various turns of events, Open Window creates a rarely accomplished tone of pure drama.
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Queen

Marquee Screening
Screens: 9:15pm @ Texas IMAX

[from AFF] The Queen, an intimate, revealing, and often humorous portrait of the British royal family in crisis following the death of Princess Diana, stars Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II, James Cromwell as Prince Phillip, and Michael Sheen as Tony Blair. The film is written by award-winner Peter Morgan and directed by Stephen Frears.

"With prickly dignity of bearing, precision of aristocratic diction, and the gestures of one born and bred to command even in domestic activities as intimate as dialing a phone, walking a dog, or reading the morning newspapers over breakfast, Mirren conjures Elizabeth as an identifiable flesh-and-blood wife, mother, grandmother, and woman with a job to do. She also conveys the importance — and the majesty, unaffected by political fashion — of the institutional Elizabeth II of the House of Windsor, Head of the Commonwealth and Defender of the Faith, a living embodiment of her empire's proud history. In a bathrobe or a crown, watching the telly or receiving curtsies, Mirren's self-possession is a grace that appears at once willed and innate. As she did earlier in the year playing Elizabeth I on HBO, the actor excels at projecting the imperial, not the imperious." - Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly [info]
Pirate Radio U.S.A.

Documentary Feature Competition
Screens: 9:30pm @ Texas Hideout

[from AFF] Regional Premiere. Pirate Radio U.S.A. is a look at the underground world of illegal radio stations, where people play and say what they want until the FCC catches them. DJs Him and Her host a live pirate radio show that is the narrative heart of Pirate Radio U.S.A. Watch as they microcast their story live, taking you on a rock ‘n’ roll journey across the nation. Go inside rogue radio stations and see why some Americans fight for freedom of the radio airwaves. It's not illegal to listen or watch. [info]
Urban Scarecrow

Narrative Feature Competition
Screens: 9:30pm @ Stephen F. Austin

[from AFF] Regional Premiere. Wesley Downs used to have a home. Since his mother's death six years ago, he and his father, Frank, a hopeless yet endearing failed stand-up comedian, have been living in a small, run-down motel amidst a landscape of empty parking lots, abandoned buildings, telephone poles, and broken signs. The two grow apart, Frank floating back and forth between delusion and reality, from temp jobs to comedy classes, while Wes becomes more distant, his heart and mind somewhere far away. Check out our review here.
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Wrestling with Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner

Special Presentations
Screens: 9:30pm @ Dobie

[from AFF] Regional Premiere. Wrestling With Angels is a feature documentary film about the Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America, Caroline or Change, Homebody/Kabul). It tells the story of a relentlessly creative spirit at work and how Kushner, raised in the Deep South, has become an outspoken activist, a compassionate spokesperson for outsiders, and one of today’s most important and entertaining playwrights. At its core the film explores the mystery of creativity, its sources, and Kushner's compelling plays that are set against the moral and political concerns of our times. Finally, it is the inspiring tale of how a passionately committed person can make a difference for social justice. [info]
Dixie Chicks: Shut Up & Sing

Marquee Screenings
Screens: 9:45pm @ Paramount

[from AFF] Regional Premiere. Shut up and Sing travels with the Dixie Chicks from the peak of their popularity as the national-anthem-singing darlings of country music and top-selling female recording artists of all time through the now-infamous anti-Bush comment made by the group’s lead singer, Natalie Maines, in 2003. The film follows the lives and careers of the Dixie Chicks over a period of three years, during which they were under political attack and received death threats while continuing to live their lives, have children, and of course, make music. The film ultimately presents who the Dixie Chicks are as women, public figures, and musicians. Q&A with directors Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck to follow.
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