Austin Film Festival Line-Up Released

After teasing us for the last couple of weeks with a small taste of what the 2009 Austin Film Festival has in store, yesterday the full line-up was announced (sans the opening and closing night films, which we have been assured are coming soon), including 21 World Premieres. After reading this list, you are going to want to get your pass or badge right away, and if you do so by next Wednesday, September 30th, you'll still get the discounted price.

Leading the pack with buzz is the controversial and highly buzzed about film Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire, which is the story of an illiterate high-school-aged girl who is pregnant with her second child and constantly hassled by her classmates about her weight. In spite of everything that her abusive mother and society would tell her is possible, she gets the chance to turn her life around when she is invited to enroll in an alternative school. Adapted from the novel by, obviously, Sapphire (whose given name is Ramona Lofton) by first time screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious not only won the Audience Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, but it also has a pretty famous producer who happens to be a bit of a tastemaker, namely Oprah freakin' Winfrey. This is only Director Lee Daniels second film, but it appears to already have a strong Oscar push and may turn out to be AFF 09's Slumdog Millionaire.

With an almost equal amount of buzz are two war related films that couldn't be more different from each other. The Messenger, the Centerpiece Film for AFF 09, is the story of a soldier named Will (Ben Foster) who is healing from his Iraq War battle scars and learning the ropes of his new position in the Casualty Notification Office. His old girlfriend (played by Jena Malone) has moved on with her life and he must find a way to begin anew, with a little help from Tony (Woody Harrelson), his senior officer. As you could imagine, notifying the families of fallen soldiers is a very difficult job, made more challenging by the fact that sometimes, those families are just young widows. Written by Oren Moverman (I'm Not There)The Messenger appears to be a quiet film with a lot of heart and thankfully, very little, if any, political leanings.

George Clooney is going to take that goat down

The second war-related-film-that-you-may-have-already-heard-of is The Men Who Stare at Goats. Based on a true story, TMWSaG follows a reporter (Ewan McGregor) as he stumbles upon U.S Army special forces agent Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) who reveals the existence of a secret, psychic military unit. Known as the First Earth Battalion, Cassady's crew is on a mission to retrieve their long lost leader, Bill Django (Jeff Bridges!), the man who pioneered such Jedi-mind-trick type combat techniques as using "invisibility cloaks", running through walls and literally staring at goats until they keel over. Grant Heslov, who paired with Clooney to write the excellent Good Night, and Good Luck, takes the director's seat this time, working from a script by Peter Straughan, adapted from the book by Jon Ronson, who actually lived out this bizarre tale. This one is a must-see.

We are also extremely excited about Bob Byington's Harmony & Me, which has kicked up quite a bit of chatter, and anything to do with Matthew Weiner. There are many, many more films in the line-up that deserve further examination, so for your reading pleasure we have included the full list below. Let us know what you are interested in seeing!

Marquee Screenings:
Calvin Marshall - Gary Lundgren (Writer/Director) - (World Premiere)
Con Artist - Michael Sladek (Director) - (Regional Premiere)
Harmony and Me - Robert Byington (Writer/Director) - (Regional Premiere)
La MISSION - Peter Bratt (Writer/Director) - (Regional Premiere)
Love the Beast - Eric Bana (Director) - (Regional Premiere)
The Men Who Stare at Goats - Peter Straughan (Writer), Grant Heslov (Director) - (Regional Premiere)
PoliWood - Barry Levinson (Director) - (Regional Premiere)
Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire - Geoffrey Fletcher (Writer), Lee Daniels (Director) - (Regional Premiere)
Red Cliff - John Woo (Writer/Director), Chen Han (Writer), Sheng Heyu (Writer) - (Regional Premiere)
Tales from the Script - Peter Hanson (Director) - (Regional Premiere)
The Vicious Kind - Lee Toland Kreiger (Writer/Director) - (Regional Premiere)
Warlords - Tin Nam Chun (Writer), Junli Guo (Writer), Jiping He (Writer), Jianxin Huang (Writer), Jo Jo Yuet-chun Hui (Writer), Oi Wah Lam (Writer), Lan Xu (Writer), James Yuen (Writer), Peter Chan (Director), Wai Man Yip (Director) - (Regional Premiere)
Why We Laugh - Robert Townsend (Director), Quincy Newell (Director) - (Regional Premiere)
William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe - Emily Kunstler (Director), Sarah Kunstler (Director) - (Regional Premiere)
The Young Victoria - Julian Fellowes (Writer), Jean-Marc Vallée (Director) - (Regional Premiere)

Centerpiece Film:
The Messenger - Oren Moverman (Regional Premiere)

AFF Presents…
Ron Howard Presents… Apollo 13
Michael Hurwitz presents…
Stewart Stern presents… The Ugly American
SyFy presents… Caprica
Matthew Wiener presents… Mad Men
Steven Zaillian presents… The Falcon and the Snowman

Narrative Feature Competition:
American Cowslip - Mark David (Writer/Director), Ronnie Gene Blevins (Writer) - (World Premiere)
Cummings Farm - Ted Beck (Writer), Andrew Drazek (Director) - (Regional Premiere)
Earthwork - Chris Ordal (Writer/Director) - (World Premiere)
Godspeed - Robert Saitzyk (Writer/Director), Cory Knauf (Writer) - (Regional Premiere)
Happy Ending - Atsuhiro Yamada (Writer/Director) - (U.S. Premiere)
How I Got Lost - Joe Leonard (Writer/Director) - (Regional Premiere)
Little Fish, Strange Pond - Robert Dean Klein (Writer), Gregory Dark (Director) - (World Premiere)
Myna Se Va - Sonia Escolano Pujante (Writer/Director), Sadrac González Perellón (Writer/Director) - (Regional Premiere)
Passenger Side - Mattew Bissonnitte (Writer/Director) - (Regional Premiere)
Tenure - Mike Million (Writer/Director) - (Regional Premiere)
Thor at the Bus Stop - Jerry Thompson (Writer/Director), Mike Thompson (Writer/Director) - (Regional Premiere)
Tobruk - Václav Marhoul (Writer/Director) - (U.S. Premiere)

Documentary Feature:
Automorphosis - Harrod Blank (Director) - (Regional Premiere)
Downtown Calling - Shan Nicholson (Director) - (World Premiere)
Floored - James Smith (Director) - (World Premiere)
Grown in Detriot - Mascha Poppenk (Director), Manfred Poppenk (Director) - (U.S. Premiere)
Houston, We Have a Problem - Nicole Torre (Director) - (Regional Premiere)
In 500 Words or Less - Amanda Zinoman (Director), Molly Fowler (Director) - (Regional Premiere)
Left Field - Ben Steger (Director) - (Regional Premiere)
My Run - Tim VandeSteeg (Director) - (World Premiere)
Torey’s Distraction - Tisha Blood (Director) - (World Premiere)
Warrior Champions - Craig Renaud (Director) - (Regional Premiere)

Target Family Film Series:
31 Minutes - Alvaro Diaz (Writer/Director), Pedro Peirano (Writer/Director), Rodrigo Salinas (Writer), Daniel Castro (Writer) - (Regional Premiere)
Alabama Moon - Watt Key (Writer), James Whittaker (Writer), Tim McCanlies (Director) - (Regional Premiere)
Missy and the Maxinator - D.J. Lynch (Writer/Director) - (Regional Premiere)
Wild Texas Weather - John Lewis (Director), Patrick Fries (Director) - (World Premiere)

Comedy Vanguard:
Herpes Boy - Byron Lane (Writer), Nathaniel Atcheson (Director) - (World Premiere)
Punching the Clown - Gregori Viens (Writer/Director), Henry Phillips (Writer) - (Regional Premiere)
The Scenesters - Todd Berger (Writer/Director) - (World Premiere)
Simmons on Vinyl - Mark Potts (Writer/Director), Cole Selix (Writer) - (World Premiere)

Dark Matters:
The Donner Party - TJ Martin (Writer/Director) - (World Premeire)
Hunger - Steven Hentges (Writer/Director), L.D. Goffigan (Writer) - (World Premiere)
Lo - Travis Betz (Writer/Director) - (Regional Premiere)
Strigoi - Faye Jackson (Writer/Director) - (Regional Premiere)
ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction - Kevin Hamedani (Writer/Director), Ramon Isao (Writer) - (Regional Premiere)

Off the Record, presented with Waterloo Records:
Bob Schneider Live at the Paramount - King Hollis (Director) - (World Premiere)
Cowtown Ballroom… Sweet Jesus - Joe Heyen (Director) - (Regional Premiere)
D Tour - Jim Granato (Director) - (Regional Premiere)
Pocket Full of Soul - Marc Lempert (Director) - (World Premiere)
Todd P Goes to Austin - Jay Buim (Director) - (Regional Premiere)

Austin Screens:
Baghdad Texas - David Hickey (Writer/Director), Shaneye Ferrell (Writer), Al No’Mani (Writer) - (Regional Premiere)
Hockey Night in Texas - Craig Knapp (Director) - (World Premiere)
Holy Hell - Rafael Antonio Ruiz (Writer/Director), Lowell Bartholomee (Writer) - (World Premiere)
Love & Tambourines - Jeremy Cohen (Writer/Director) - (World Premiere)
Straight To the Bone - Erik Mauck (Writer/Director - (World Premiere)
Stoner - Michael Greene (Writer/Director) - (World Premiere)