Austin Film Festival Preview: The Scenesters

Hipster Tragedy in The Scenesters

Austin Film Festival: The Scenesters
Friday, October 23rd @ 10:15pm and Sunday, October 25th @ 8:00pm
Various Venues (Austin)
[Info] | [Tickets]

Hipster death! How many of you already have a heated, passionate response to those two words? Maybe there's an involuntary, guttural groan prepped for release. For some odd reason, "hipster" has become an extremely loaded noun. To lighten things up (or possibly stir them up more and then stab them with a razor before laughing and sprinkling rat poison all over it), you should check out The Scenesters at Austin Film Festival; it's the first film from comedy troupe The Vacationeers and it follows a few desperate documentarians as they try to cash in on the story of a serial killer that's murdering beautiful lady hipsters in East LA.

Poking fun at their own neighborhood and honoring it at the same time through a soundtrack filled to the brim with local bands from eastside LA, the Vacationeers have produced a fun, curious, and creative murder mystery...comedy. Starting things off right with a hilarious fake trailer that scoffs at the mumblecore movement (which is well placed, given that you're about to see a low budget, independent production that skirts that line), Director Todd Berger keeps things interesting by switching back and forth between a number of intriguing concepts. Beyond the script and the cast's awareness of comedic timing, our attention was sucked up by the innovative use of local music and even the bits of neighborhood history thrown in for good measure. The film has a healthy dose of satire and some surprisingly effective commentary on people looking for their big break professionally, romantically, or beyond. Dare we ask what The Vacationeers could do with an Oprah-sized budget?

If you haven’t seen any of The Vacationeers work, we highly suggest you check out their YouTube hit, The Googling. Director Todd Berger, Jeff Grace, Blaise Miller, Kevin Brennan, and Suzanne May (who you may have recently seen with a shaved head in Gentlemen Broncos at Fantastic Fest) will be at the screenings.

The Scenesters is part of the Comedy Vanguard series for Austin Film Festival. Check out the full AFF schedule here.