AFF Daily Schedule: Saturday

Runners' High
Documentary Feature Competition
Screening Info: 2:30pm October 21st at Hideout
Regional Premiere. The Toronto Star says, "It's pure inspiration every step of the way." The SF Bay Guardian raves, "Inspirational Sports Movies are hard to beat and this one is particularly potent." When teenagers from one of the nation’s toughest neighborhoods in Oakland, California sign up to train for a marathon, they begin the journey of a lifetime. Runners High is an intimate, character-driven documentary of struggle, courage, and hope. During a season filled with conflict and possibility, four of these teens bare their dreams, joys, tears, and fears. As several stumble under pressure in emotionally charged moments, others realize the journey begins with the power and commitment to accept responsibility for their own futures. [ info]
Run Robot Run
Narrative Feature Competition
Screening Info: 3pm October 21st at Dobie
World Premiere. In the not-too-distant future, Kent Weston’s regimented life is altered when he is replaced at work by an all-too-real robot named Adam. Not only does Adam assume Kent’s job, but he also steals the object of Kent’s affection. With the help of his coworker buddy at the dream factory, Kent sets out to expose Adam as a robot and win back the girl. From a completely original script by O’Connor, Run Robot Run delivers strong comic performances and breathes new life into the ever-popular human-robot-human love triangle genre. [ info]
The Garage
Austin Screens
Screening Info: 4:15pm October 21st at Arbor
Regional Premiere Shot. in and around Austin with a local cast and crew, The Garage tells the story of Matt, a young mechanic, who works at his father’s garage. Dreaming about leaving his small-town existence for grander ambitions, Matt struggles with his feelings for his new girlfriend and his loyalty to his parents and brother. Despite insistence that he leave from his friend Schultz, other pressures keep Matt at home. Thibault’s film offers much more than the average coming-of-age story, adding a poignant sense of reality to life in a small town and the bonds that form there. [ info]
Military Intelligence and You

Screening Info: 4:45pm October 21st at Spirit of Texas Theatre
World Premiere. A biting satire in the guise of a WWII military training film, Military Intelligence and You teaches us how Intelligence distinguishes dangerous enemies from merely annoying foreigners. By following Major Nick Reed, a military analyst determined to locate a secret Nazi base, new recruits learn why accurate intelligence is so important at times of war. After all, “What kind of nation would we be if we just went around sending in the troops just because we thought something might be there?” Using clips from actual military training films, Kutzera creates a highly original film with dead-on performances, a witty script, and a strong eye for detail. [ info]

Prison Pups
Documentary Feature Competition
Screening Info: 4:45pm October 21st at Hideout
World Premiere. Prison Pups follows four prison inmates as they train puppies for the handicapped and hearing impaired on a minimum-security facility nestled in the rolling farmland northwest of Boston. The peacefulness of this landscape belies a controlled and regimented environment where these inmates live with and train puppies over a 10 to 14 month period. The benefits of taking responsibility and knowing unconditional love can be profound as inmates gain confidence and are empowered by their role as trainers. [ info]
Abducion: The Megumi Yokota Story
Documentary Feature Competition
Screening Info: 5pm October 21st at Dobie
Regional Premiere. Japan, 1977 - A dark, lonely road leads to the windswept shores. This is the remarkable story of a 13-year-old Japanese girl abducted on her way home from school by North Korean spies. Her parents had no idea what had happened to her or if she was even alive for 20 years. Then one day the whole world learned the shocking truth. This is an extraordinary tale of mystery, intrigue, and most of all love. The film is told through the eyes of the girl's mother and father, who have been searching for their daughter for nearly 30 years. The film begins with the day Megumi vanishes and traces the astonishing course of this personal tragedy, as it becomes a battle between two nations rising to a shocking climax. [ info]
Tootsie
Retrospectives
Screening Info: 6:45pm October 21st at Paramount
When the American Film Institute announced its list of 100 Funniest Movies, Tootsie ranked at #2 -- second only to Some Like it Hot. What that says about the collective comedic psyche of America is left to the reader, but the film's prestigious role in cinema history made it an easy choice for a retrospective screening honoring Sydney Pollack. You may well remember Dustin Hoffman's Oscar-nominated performance as the frustrated actor who dons a dress to score a soap opera role, but we invite you to reacquaint yourself with equally amazing performances from Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Jessica Lange, and Pollack himself as Hoffman's incredulous agent. Lange won the Academy Award as a Supporting Actress for her role in the film, and the film received additional Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director (Pollack), Best Actor (Hoffman), Best Supporting Actress (Garr), Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Music (Original Song), Best Sound, and our favorite: Best Writing (Original Screenplay). [info]
Chalk
Narrative Feature Competition
Screening Info: 7pm October 21st at IMAX
For students high school can be hell, but it can be worse for the teachers. Chalk follows the frenetic and awkwardly painful journey of three novice teachers as they navigate one memorable public school year. As a former teacher, Akel is able to offer a unique, firsthand view of life as an educator, and along with the cast, he dives headfirst into the absurd and often volatile world of public education. In a country where 50% of teachers quit within the first three years, Chalk delivers an enormous dose of heart, hilarity, and hope for America’s most important institution. [ info]
A Lobster Tale
Narrative Feature Competition
Screening Info: 7pm October 21st at Texas Spirit Theatre
World Premiere. In a small Maine fishing town, struggling lobster fisherman Cody Brewer discovers a mysterious sea moss in one of his traps. Tension in the already-fragile Brewer family erupts when the supernatural quality of the moss is revealed. The moss seems like the answer to the Brewer family’s problems, but only after it’s affected everyone in town. Despite its magical elements, the film’s strong story remains grounded in its infinitely believable representation of a town of simple fisherman presented with an amazing discovery. [ info]
Steel City
Narrative Feature Competition
Screening Info: 7:15pm October 21st at Dobie
Regional Premiere. A former AFF screenplay competition finalist, Brian Jun tells the story of a family torn apart by the abandonment of an alcoholic father. Twenty years later, two brothers have also grown into irresponsible men and must come to terms with the lives they lead following their father’s incarceration. Set amongst the gray background of a working-class steel town, Steel City boasts striking performances from the entire cast, especially Guiry and Heard as the disconnected father and son. [ info]
Thin
Special Presentations
Screening Info: 7:15pm October 21st at Arbor
Regional Premiere. With unprecedented access and an unflinching eye, photographer Lauren Greenfield, in her directing debut, filmed over a six-month period at a residential facility for the treatment of eating disorders in South Florida. An experiential and emotional journey, the documentary focuses on four women struggling with anorexia and bulimia. Greenfield’s camera follows them to intimate one-on-one and group therapy sessions, emotionally wrought mealtimes, early morning weigh-ins, heated arguments with staff, and tense encounters with family members. As the film follows these individuals, it also explores the institution that is their home, investigating the culture of rehab and the process of treatment. Filmmaker Lauren Greenfield will host a Q&A and a book signing following the Saturday screening. [ info]
The Room
TerrorVision
Screening Info: 7:30pm October 21st at Alamo Lake Creek
U.S. Premiere. Alex is a trisomic man stuck in a wheelchair since a mysterious fall down the stairs. His father, Max, a frustrated composer turned completely mad and violent, and mother, Marie, a cold and hysterical woman, traumatize him. His only friend is his sister Melinda, who’s been taking care of him for years. Melinda, pregnant by an unknown man and also mistreated by her parents, is about to leave the family home to start a new life. At the peak of the family crisis, a mysterious door appears in the house where there was nothing before. The members of the family discover they’re trapped in the house and must face their most terrible secrets as they start disappearing in “the room” one after another. [ info]
The Quietest Sound
Special Presentations
Screening Info: 9pm October 21st at Hideout
Regional Premiere. 2005 AFF alum James Vculek (Two Harbors) returns to the Festival with a riveting drama about the abduction of a four-year-old girl and the efforts of a pair of detectives to locate her. Shot in one 75-minute take, The Quietest Sound offers a narrative experience unlike any other film at the Festival. The film doesn't rest on a gimmick, however -- a serpentine plot and an exceptional performance by Catherine E. Johnson (also from Two Harbors) keep viewers guessing right up to the picture's end. [ info]
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints

Screening Info: 9:30pm October 21st at Texas Spirit Theatre
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints is a coming-of-age drama inspired by Dito Montiel's mid-'80s youth in Astoria, Queens. As Dito's friends end up dead, on drugs, or in prison, he comes to believe he has been saved from their fate by various, so-called saints. With a powerful script and career-changing performances from LaBeouf and Tatum, Montiel creates an evocative and heartbreaking cinematic memory piece. Based on his memoir of the same name, the film won both the Dramatic Directing Award and a Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble Performance at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. [ info]
The Night of the White Pants
Narrative Feature Competition
Screening Info: 9:30pm October 21st at IMAX
Regional Premiere. Between a heart attack and his next ugly divorce, the infamous Max Hagan, a former Dallas powerbroker, spends a long, penniless night with his daughter's punk-rock boyfriend. From rock clubs to five-star hotels, Max rediscovers his family with the help of the local judge, punk rock, and the head of a deer. Boasting a soundtrack rife with the work of Texas musicians, The Night of White Pants proves you can never really know a man until you’ve spent a night in his pants. [ info]
Starter for Ten
Special Presentations
Screening Info: 9:30pm October 21st at Arbor
Regional Premiere. “Ever since I can remember, I’ve wanted to be clever,” Brian Jackson confesses in voiceover at the beginning of Starter for Ten. A working-class student from Essex navigating his first year at Bristol University, Brian has a lot to prove. While his hometown mates worry about him turning into a poncey wanker, Brian’s biggest concern is making the team for the long-running British television quiz show University Challenge. With Margaret Thatcher’s economically depressed Blighty as a backdrop and a killer, pitch-perfect New Wave soundtrack featuring music by The Cure, Wham!, Bananarama, Yaz, The Smiths, New Order, Tears for Fears, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Buzzcocks, and The Psychedelic Furs in the foreground, Starter for Ten is the great British teen ‘80s movie that never was. Although Brian Jackson knows everything, like all honest coming-of-age stories, Starter for Ten is ultimately about its hero discovering the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Based on the book by David Nicholls of the same name. [ info]
The Book of the Dead
Special Presentations
Screening Info: 9:45pm October 21st at Alamo Lake Creek
Heavily influenced by the traditional aesthetics of Noh, Bunraku doll theatre and Kabuki, Kihachiro Kawamoto’s haunting puppet animations have won numerous prizes internationally. The Book of the Dead is Kawamoto’s second feature length stop motion puppet animation and intertwines two poetic stories in ancient Japan. When a young noblewoman falls into a trance after copying Buddhist sutras and walks to a remote a temple that women are forbidden to enter, she stirs up the ghost of the executed Prince Otsu. Otsu’s ghost then mistakes Iratsume for one of her ancestors, a young woman who came to watch the execution. The beautiful face of this young woman was the last thing the Prince saw before he died, and his ghost cannot rest while her face haunts his sleep. [ info]
Lonely Hearts
Marquee Screenings
Screening Info: 9:45pm October 21st at Paramount
Regional Premiere. Lonely Hearts, an absorbing story about serial killers on the run, is based on the murder spree of Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez during the late 1940s and Detective Elmer C. Robinson’s participation in their capture, incarceration, and subsequent execution. Lovers Ray and Martha travel together committing crimes. Ray seduces lonely and vulnerable women, milks them of their money, and then kills them. All the while, Martha’s obsession for Ray deepens, and she becomes more convinced of their bond as he kills for her. Ultimately, she also participates in the grotesque crimes. They are a warped and dangerous duo, and they leave an extremely bloody trail behind them. This story is also about the grim reality of homicide detective Robinson’s work and how it invades his life and isolates him from those he loves. [ info]
Special
Narrative Feature Competition
Screening Info: 9:45pm October 21st at Dobie
Regional Premiere. A very select group of people is truly gifted. Special is a movie about everyone else. Les Franken leads a painfully unremarkable life as a meter maid until he enrolls in a drug study for an experimental antidepressant. An unexpected side effect of the drug convinces Les he is developing special powers and must quit his job to answer his new calling in life: to save the world. Michael Rapaport and filmmakers in attendance. [ info]
Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror
TerrorVision
Screening Info: 11:55pm October 21st at Dobie
Regional Premiere. Welcome to the Hood of Horror, a place where revenge is a dish served cold in a 40 oz. The Hound of Hell is your guide through three terrifying tales from this nefarious neighborhood and its depraved denizens, including a tagger who finds out that not all gangstas die hard, a spoiled heir to a Texas oil dynasty who murders for money but can’t pay to stay alive, and a major rap star who discovers he’s got a few skeletons in his dressing room - and they’re kicking down the door. This bone-chilling, gut-bursting (literally) anthology proves once and for all, “It AIN’T all good in da Hood!” [ info]