Filmmaking legend Francis Ford Coppola needs little introduction, but it can be daunting to keep track of everything that this prolific director, producer, screenwriter, and (yes) winemaker has been responsible for. For instance, we'd completely forgotten that he directed the amazing 1986 3-D space opera, Captain EO (see below).

Youth Without Youth, his first directorial effort in over a decade, is set to be released later this year. The romantic thriller is set in pre-WWII, and stars Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs) as a fugitive ex-professor who is pursued across Europe and Asia. Based on a novella by Romanian author Mircea Eliade, the film was shot in Europe and, according to Coppola explores such themes as "time, consciousness and the dream-like basis of reality."

Next week, the UT Department of Radio-Television-Film (RTF) will stage their biggest coup yet: they've invited Mr. Coppola to Hogg Memorial Auditorium, where he'll be screening his new documentary, CODA: Thirty Years Later, that was created in tandem with Youth Without Youth. It's equal parts career retrospective and 'making of' piece for the upcoming Sony Pictures release, and has been described as "both introspective and illuminating."

In order to attend this special event, you'll need to show up at the ticket office of either Bass Concert Hall or Hogg Memorial Auditorium tomorrow, May 1st, at noon. A maximum of two free tickets will be distributed per person. UT students and the general public are welcome.

[RTF Page For More Information]
[Youth Without Youth Official Site]

Francis Ford Coppola Screens CODA: Thirty Years Later
Monday, May 7th
Hogg Memorial Auditorium
7pm, Free

Ticket Distribution
Tuesday, May 1st
Bass Concert Hall or Hogg Memorial Auditorium
Noon, First Come First Served

The fine folks at the Alamo Drafthouse have just announced a special, last-minute QT Fest (kinda) to be held at the Alamo Downtown next week.

As a tribute to the historic Colorado St. location, Quentin Tarantino will take over the Alamo Drafthouse Downtown for one last run of QT-style grindhouse triple bills, including a "Sex Comedies" night, a "Regional" night and a "Swinging" night.

The series—dubbed "Last Night at the Alamo Grindhouse"—will run May 10th, 11th and 13th. Nightly triple feature tickets will be available through the Alamo website to Heroes of the Alamo members and Fantastic Fest Badge holders only at 1 PM this coming Friday. If there are still tickets left, they will go on sale to the general public at 1 PM on Monday, May 7. A limited number of standby tickets will be available at the door for each individual feature. No word yet on pricing.

Quentin Tarantino Presents: Last Night at the Alamo Grindhouse
May 10th, 11th, 13th
Alamo Drafthouse Downtown
[Info / Tickets]

Using a complex web of theorems, Swiss mathematicians have recently proven that Morrissey is "98% fucking awesome". And to celebrate this finding, Alamo Music Mondays presents These Things Take Time, a controversial 2002 documentary chronicling the rise and fall of Moz's legendary band The Smiths.

Produced by David Nolan (the UK television producer who brought us the recent Music Mondays favorite I Swear I Was There), the film features rare performance and interview footage, as well as several original animated sequences. It's these animated sequences that gave the film its "controversial" status—apparently, when the band refused to cooperate with Nolan on the film, he decided to go ahead and draw the material he needed. Morrissey was predictably not pleased with his cartoon likeness, and hardcore Smiths fans reportedly threatened to kill Nolan over some of the film's content (which is not at all cool, but still kind of hilarious).

Due to the made-for-tv runtime, there will also be an assortment of Smiths videos and performances added in for good measure. And before the screening, Austin DJs Thee Soundheads will be spinning a set of (probably) British pop. So puff up your hair and head on over.

Music Mondays Presents The Smiths: These Things Take Time
Monday, April 30th
Alamo Drafthouse Downtown
9:45pm, $2 / $1 Student, AFS
[Tickets]

More than twenty years after its release, Spike Lee's debut feature She's Gotta Have It still shines as a benchmark of cinema verité filmmaking and a killer stylistic archive of box-fresh Brooklyn, circa 1986.

Shot on a guerilla budget, largely filmed in black and white, and featuring an original jazz score by Lee's father, the comedy/drama stars the bodacious Tracy Camilla Johns as Nola Darling, an independent 'round-the-way-girl who prefers the pursuit of pleasure and personal freedom to the notion of settling down with any of her three lovers: Greer, a self-adoring male model; Jamie, the token Well-Intentioned Boring Dude; and Mars Blackmon, a dorky speed-talking bike messenger (played by Spike Lee).

Much semi-graphic sexytime is had by all. And yes, fade haircuts and Cazal eyewear are worn, quite unironically (80's style plunderers, take note). And while we hear that Spike Lee has gone on to make a couple of other films since then, She's Gotta Have It still awaits a proper DVD release, which means that the good folks at Austin Cinematheque are providing a rare opportunity to see this movie—for free, no less.

Austin Cinematheque Presents: She's Gotta Have It
Monday, April 30th
Texas Union Theater
7:30pm, FREE
[Austin Cinematheque]

Dear Austin pervs, creeps, voyeurs and general lurkers (we know you're out there—Missed Connections and A Shot in the Dark speak volumes): Tonight is your night!

Jason Bitner and Arthur Jones of Found Magazine will descend upon the Alamo Drafthouse to celebrate the new issue of Dirty Found, the paragon of accidentally found porn. They invite you to "witness all-new pervy PowerPoint festivities, packed with improbably lusty love notes, red-hot fantasy doodles, intimate bedroom photos, and other unclean samples from people's real love lives."

Sounds cheerfully skeevy, right? That's the idea. But don't worry—any nudie pictures on display will be discreetly edited to protect the identities of the freaky. And best of all, you're invited to bring your own submissions to share—a trophy will be awarded for Best Dirty Find in Austin.

So if, say, a trashy doodle of randy wolves or a luridly misspelled mash-note might scar you for life, you should probably stay away. But for those with curious natures, now's your chance to don your filthiest raincoat and commingle with your brethren.

DIRTY FOUND: Live!
Monday, April 30th
Alamo Drafthouse Downtown
7pm, $10, $8.50 Students
[Tickets]

Reported just days ago on the their own blog, The Alamo Drafthouse revealed two bits of interest concerning their future transition down the street to take over the famous, and schizophrenic, Ritz on 6th. It's looking like the final day at The Original Alamo on 4th & Colorado will be Wednesday, June 27th, 2007.

From the blog, "We'll have three shows, something special for 3 different crowds that we serve at the Alamo. We will announce the final month's lineup in early May and tickets for the final night will go on sale at noon on May 14. For the last show, a very special Weird Wednesday event, your ticket will include a ratcheting wrench. Please take your chair with you as you leave."

We don't know for sure if that last part is true, but if it is, we're going for those couches at the top row.

And what's to happen to the old building after the move? Rest assured, no high-rises going up here just yet.

Page Six reports that Michael Ault, owner of nightclub empire Pangaea (currently with locations in NYC, Marbella London and Miami), has "taken a long lease on the Alamo Draft House, a big movie theatre featured in the opening scene of Quentin Tarantino's 'Death Proof.'"

Photo courtesy of Amy.

[Official Website]
[Tickets]
[More Info]

We have to admit, we went into 36 Steps (36 Pasos), the newest film by Argentinean gore-extraordinaire Adrián García Bogliano, completely unaware of the director’s body of work with no better excuse than we are very busy and didn’t have time to research the film or the man on the internet before hand lazy. However, we did have time to procure a lunchtime feast from P. Terry’s burger stand consisting of a cheeseburger combo meal and ketchup. Lots of ketchup.

What we stumbled upon in our ignorance-is-bliss state was a misogynistic fable-come-blood-bath following the tenets of a 1950’s housewife: do not talk, stay within your defined boundaries, keep everything in order and appear to be happy at all cost. For a modern girl, those are tough pills to swallow, especially when your only available beverage is a packet of Heinz and the last image you saw was a severed finger. But as is the case with most horror-slasher flicks, there is always a lesson to be learned.

The following article and interview is by guest contributor Lisa Kaselak, who will be curating a short film series at the Fuse Box Festival tomorrow evening. Check the IST list for details. -- Ed. Note

I first met Ron Berry last year, after I finished a short documentary piece and some accompanying prints and was looking for a community space to house the whole exhibit – not necessarily an easy task since this work was not salable – read: no gallery commissions. We’d agreed to meet at the Blue Theatre - home of Refraction Arts, where Berry serves as artistic director.

The Blue Theatre is near the corner of Springdale and Airport, next to the Blue Genie Art Industries and behind the “secret” Goodwill hangar. It’s not a place you’d run into on your way around town, unless you need a 10 ft. styrofoam brain fabricated or are looking for a wheelchair dolly for your indie film. The parking lot is dirt and rock bleached by the Texas summer sun, and when you drive through the complex you fully expect to skid into Harry Dean Stanton leaning against a junked-out car. Across the way I could see cast-off fiberglass body parts, broken chairs, and set pieces that had assembled into their own conceptual opus.

Having never met Ron, I expected something producer-like, a guy with a Jabra BT500 glued to his ear as he waves an “I’ll-only-be-a-minute” finger in my direction. But casting back in my memory of all the times I’ve since run into Ron, it occurred to me that I’ve never once seen him on a cell phone. Or texting. Or multi-tasking his way through a conversation. Or doing anything other than being 100% present when he’s talking with you. Berry is almost an anachronism – a genuine human in the most analog of ways, and his moon pie face and general affability makes you wonder how long it’s been since he moved from the mid-west. Which he did not, of course. He’s from Houston – one of four children of a NASA rocket scientist. Go figure.

With some pretty impressive accolades, Refraction Arts has gone from a little non-profit founded in 1997 by three high school pals (insert standard Austin “slacker-to-success” story here) to an organization that sponsors some of the most innovative and critically successful theatre and visual art works in Austin. As a company, Refraction has been nominated for and won over 100 awards. Their performances and other installations have been voted the #1 Arts Event of the Year by the Austin Chronicle three out of the past four years (The North Project, The Battle of Hickory Ridge, and The Assumption); their original play The Philomel Project received a rave review in the NY Times; Anna Bella Eema and the Kindermann Depiction both received Best New Play Awards from the Austin Critics Table, and Berry’s own play, Orange was nominated for the American Theater Critics Association national New Play Award. The message is, it isn’t all madness.

Recently, I sat down with Berry over a cup of tea (he doesn’t do caffeine) at Clementine to talk about FUSE BOX, the 3^rd annual Refraction Arts spring festival, and how it is that Ron isn’t fixing toilets at the Blue anymore.

The Fuse Box Festival runs through Saturday, April 28th. Tickets and more information can be found on the Refraction Arts website.

Director Michael Haneke is best known for 2005's Caché, which used a cool, detached style to examine the effects of a stalker on a wealthy but dysfunctional Parisian family. This uncomfortable subject matter was explored by Haneke in much more bombastic fashion nine years earlier in Funny Games. A sort of meta-mixtape of Straw Dogs, Cape Fear, and A Clockwork Orange, the film wonders aloud why audiences respond to fear, violence, and torture.

The set-up is simple: a wealthy Austrian family head to their weekend home in the countryside. As they unpack, a man knocks as the door to borrow some eggs. And then all hell breaks loose. Through frequent use of breaking the fourth wall, Haneke forces the viewer to recognize that the violent and repulsive nature of the film is exactly what they came to see. And to add to one's discomfort, the film refuses to give the viewer much back, resulting in long, tense passages where nothing positive is happening yet no resolution looms on the horizon. It's truly a difficult film to watch, and while the "meta" concept has been used enough in the past decade to lessen the dramatic effect, Haneke still provides the filmgoer with a lot to think about on the way home. The AFS presents Funny Games as part of a Haneke retrospective that continues through late May.

AFS Presents Funny Games
Tuesday, April 24th
Alamo Downtown [map]
7:00pm
$4, Free for AFS Members [tickets]

Having just recovered from the chocolate bunny/Peeps induced haze that characterizes the beginning of the Easter season in los Estados Unidos (the United States to the gringos), we found Claudia Llosa's first feature film depicting the religious festivities of the indigenous Peruvian town “Manayaycuna” to be much more shocking than our cotton-tailed-capitalistic-glut could ever hope to be.

We are introduced to Madeinusa (pronounced “Mah-daya-noosa” and played luminously by Magaly Solier), the charming daughter of Cayo (Juan Ubaldo Huamán), the town's Mayor, as she is preparing alongside her incredibly jealous sister Chale (Yiliana Chong) to compete for the title of "Miss Virgin Manayaycuna", an honor bestowed upon the most beautiful, and of course virginal, girl in the town; whoever wins is to ring in the bacchanalian fiesta after the fold-up Jesus (totally creepy, btw) has been removed from the cross and laid to rest. For three days there is no sin, as God is officially dead until Easter morning and cannot see what they are doing in public or behind closed doors, which includes but is not limited to gluttonous/drunken feasting, thievery and incestuous relations.

Costa Rica SA | Costa Rica, Inc. (Costa Rica)
Hideout Theater, 11 AM
The film explores with satirical black humor some absurd aspects of the Dominican Republic - Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA); such as the inclusion of war weapons as objects of commerce for Costa Rica, a country without an army, or the incorporation of Central American undersea resources as part of the United States’ definition of territory.

Costa Rica, Inc. was written and directed by Pablo Ortega (1971), a philosophy professor at the Universidad de Costa Rica and a graduate from the Escuela Internacional de Cine de San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba (EICTV).

[Tickets]
[More Info]

[Official Website]
[Tickets]
[More Info]

[More Info]

Maquilapolis ("City of Factories")
Regal Metropolitan, Theater 12, 7pm

Carmen Durán lives in Tijuana, where, like most women in her neighborhood, she works in a maquiladora: one of over 800 factories owned by the countless multinational corporations that flocked to Mexico following 1994’s NAFTA treaty in search of cheap labor.

The maquiladoras—where workers manufacture everything from TV components to pantyhose for about $6 a day—sit in hillside clusters towering over Carmen’s village, spewing toxic sludge that permeates the air and washes down into local streams, causing widespread birth defects and mysterious skin maladies.

Inside the maquiladoras, workers endure a host of repugnant conditions, from lead exposure to constant harassment and labor violations. Outside the maquiladoras, they return home to care for their families in neighborhoods almost completely lacking in infrastructure, where houses are constructed from recycled American garage doors and hastily rigged clumps of electrical wires sizzle in contaminated puddles of runoff. When Carmen’s employer moves to Indonesia in search of even cheaper labor, the corporation neglects to dispense federally mandated severance pay to its workers. Mexico’s government and Tijuana’s Labor Arbitration Board habitually ignore such violations.

New Visions/Works in Progress: Bringing Texas to the Latino Film Map.
Hideout Upstairs Cabaret, 11 AM
A new program section at the festival, New Visions/ Works in Progress showcases films that are looking for production or completion funds, as well as case studies that represent examples of Latino or indigenous filmmaking in Texas. These projects are brought to the consideration of investors, producers, distributors, and artists with the goal of fomenting industry participation and the creation of a film market at the festival.

[Tickets]
[More Info]

[Tickets]
[Official Website]
[More Info]

Qué tan lejos narrates a journey of self-discovery, as two girls in their mid-twenties travel through the Ecuadorian mountains and coastline. Esperanza and Trizteza will not find postcard views or true love, but their journey will open them to a world beyond such illusions.

Tania Hermida was born in Cuenca, Ecuador. From 1988 to 1991 she studied Film Direction at the San Antonio de los Baños International Film and TV School. In 2002 she acquired an MA in Cultural Studies from the Universidad del Azuay in 2002. Since 1996 she has taught film as a Professor at San Francisco de Quito University in Ecuador.

[Official Website]
[Tickets]
[More Info]

Carmen Durán works for poverty level wages at one of Tijuana’s 800 maquiladoras—factories of transnational corporations. When the plant where Carmen has worked tries to avoid paying legally-mandated severance pay, Carmen becomes a promotora, or grassroots activist. Through sheer persistence, Carmen and her fellow workers win the severance pay to which they are legally entitled. The filmmakers gave several female workers video cameras with which to record their lives, giving this documentary the intimate feel of video diaries. Tijuana suffered a recession in 2001 as transnationals looking to cut labor costs even further left for Asian countries. In the global marketplace workers are mere commodities. One promotora comments: “I make objects and to the factory managers I myself am only an object, a replaceable part of the production process... I don’t want to be an object, I want to be a person; I want to realize my dreams.”

Vicky Funari is a filmmaker whose work focuses primarily on the lives of working people and on the complex identities of today’s culturally mixed and dynamic migratory populations. Funari produced, directed, and edited the acclaimed nonfiction feature film Paulina, which has screened at Sundance, Locarno, Havana and Amsterdam. Sergio de la Torre is a photographer and performance installation artist. His photographic, performance and installation works have focused on issues regarding diaspora/tourism and identity politics. Their performances and installations have been seen in a variety of venues, including street fairs, academic conferences, art galleries, film festivals and nonprofit art spaces.

[Official Website]
[Tickets]
[More Info]

Apocalípsur
Regal Metropolitan #11, 9 PM (Mature Audiences)

Apocalípsur is the story of El Flaco, who runs away to London because of threats against his mother. After a few months he comes back and finds that the city looks the same as when he left: the war continues and the bombs are still exploding. His best friends Caliche and Malala, together with Pipe, a handicapped drug addict, and La Comadreja, a loser, go to pick up El Flaco at the airport in their “Bola de Nieve”, a van in which they have rode many kilometers together and has become everyone’s refuge. Together, they flee to escape a city so dangerous it is referred to as Apocalípsur.

Javier Mejía O., a Social Communications major from the Pontificia Bolivarian University, has done various script writing and actor-direction courses and has directed several short films and documentaries. He participated in the third and fourth series of Muchachos a lo bien (Good Vibe Youngsters). He has directed many television series and also numerous commercials. He is currently working on the postproduction phase of a full-length documentary titled Vivir era mejor que la vida and the script for his next film Excursion.

[Tickets]
[More Info]

Madeinusa
Regal Metropolitan #11, 9 PM (Mature Audiences)

Madeinusa is a girl who lives in an isolated village in the Cordillera Blanca Mountain range of Peru. This strange place is characterized by its religious fervor from Good Friday at three o’clock in the afternoon (the time of day when Christ died on the cross) until Easter Sunday, in which the whole village can do whatever it feels like. During the two holy days, sin does not exist: God is dead and can’t see what is happening. Everything is accepted and allowed without remorse. Year after year, Madeinusa, her sister Chale, and her father Don Cayo—the Mayor and local big shot—maintain this tradition without question. Everything changes with the arrival of Salvador, a young geologist from Lima who will unknowingly change the young girl’s destiny.

Writer and director Claudia Llosa was born in Lima, Peru, in 1976. She holds a bachelor’s degree in filmmaking and a master’s degree in screenwriting from Madrid’s Escuela de Artes y Cine TAI. She also studied directing at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Llosa attended the Sundance Screenwriters Lab with her script for Madeinusa, which went on to receive the Coral Award for best original screenplay at the International Festival of New Latin Cinema in Havana. She was awarded a grant from the Fundación Carolina y Casa de América, which funds the development of Iberoamerican film projects. In 2004 Llosa directed the short film Seeing Martina. Madeinusa is her feature debut.

[Tickets]
[More Info]

Dos patrias: Cuba y la noche | Two Homelands: Cuba and the Night
Regal Metropolitan #12, 9 PM (Mature Audiences)

Producer Christian Liffers travels with his team to Cuba in search of evidence. In his luggage are poems and prose texts of the Cuban author Reinaldo Arenas—texts which describe the desire for love, sexual freedom and the proud and unbending attitude in the fight against discrimination. Are these desires and attitudes still to be found in Cuba? And which desires, clichés, and projections of Cuba attract the producer and many more people? Poems and prose texts are the reference points for the protagonists and their personal stories of present-day Cuba, which are always the center of attention. Six men with different backgrounds and of different ages describe their life, afflictions, desires, longings, and joys in Cuba. They have some things in common: homosexuality (with the exception of Isabel, the transsexual) and the daily social exclusion on the part of the Cuban “Machismo-society” and the Cuban government. However, they differ heavily concerning their social status and their opinions on the topic.

Christian Liffers studied theatre-direction in Hamburg and worked for several years as a director in German theatre. He has been working as a journalist for ten years and for the German television channel ZDF since 2001.

[Trailer / Official Website]
[Tickets]
[More Info]

"Pure and emotive cinema that shakes you with its honesty"
– Guillermo del Toro

Cine Las Americas is honored to present Francisco Vargas Quevedo’s award winning drama El Violin at the historic Paramount Theater in downtown Austin.

El Violin won the Knight Grand Jury Prize for Ibero-American Cinema at the Miami International Film Festival in 2007, where it was called “a perfect film, perfectly realized.” The film also won three Ariel Awards from the Mexican Academy of Motion Pictures in 2007, as well as the prize for best actor (Prix d'Interprétation Masculine Un Certain Regard) at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

Plutarco, his son Genaro and grandson Lucio lead double lives. On the one hand, they are simple country musicians, and on the other they actively support the peasant guerrilla movement against the oppressor government. When the army occupies the village, the rebels are forced to flee and leave their ammunition behind. Making the most of the fact that he looks like an inoffensive violinist, Plutarco has a plan: to recover the munitions hidden in his cornfield. His music enraptures the captain, but he still has to get his hands on the ammunition.

Actor Gerardo Tarcena will be in attendance for a Q&A after the film.

[Official Website]
[Tickets]
[More Info]

It's opening night! Tonight at 7pm, Austin's historic Paramount Theatre will host the opening of the Cine Las Americas International Film Festival.

Now in its 10th year, the festival has expanded to an eight-day program, featuring a wide range of Narrative Features, Documentary Features, Shorts, and Youth Films from 20 countries (including Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Germany, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico, Spain, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and the United States). In addition, the fest will host several special guests, including Lucia Murat, Larry Blackhorse Lowe, Rodrigo Bellot, Beto Gómez, Tania Hermida, Hector Galan and more.

“In the past few years,” says Festival Director Eugenio del Bosque, “Cine Las Americas has been working towards making Austin a destination for Latin American and indigenous films and filmmakers. Austin offers unique benefits to the film industry, including diverse audiences, government support that hopefully will soon include more incentives for more films to be made in town, and a well-nurtured population of industry professionals and film buffs.”

We're incredibly excited about this year's program, and we'll be bringing you updates throughout the festival, including daily schedules and selected event highlights. For more info, or to buy tickets or festival passes, check out the links below.

[Festival Website]
[Venue Guide]
[Buy Tickets / Passes]

The Onion's been up to tons of good stuff ever since setting up shop in Austin last winter, so we're pleased to see that they're also starting a new monthly tradition: every third Wednesday, the folks of A.V. Club Austin will host Movie Night at eastside cantina Rio Rita, where they'll be screening classic flicks. The Onion City Editor Sean O'Neal will be on-hand to introduce the films ("Provided people besides my girlfriend show up" -- O'Neal).

Tonight's inaugural event will screen Elia Kazan's 1957 epic, A Face in the Crowd, starring Walter Matthau, Andy Griffith, and Patricia Neal. Set during the rise of the television era, the film chronicles the exploits of a southern hobo as he's discovered by the right people and turned into a media superstar.

The Onion Movie Night
Third Wednesday of Every Month
Rio Rita [map]
10pm

Femme Film Texas and Austin's Storie Productions have joined forces to bring Austin girls a unique opportunity to learn digital filmmaking in a summer camp environment. Girls 12-18 years of age will get to acquire some awesome skills and build confidence, friendships, and their own, unique voices. One thing the world needs is more girls in media!

Local filmmakers Kat Candler (Cicadas, Jumping Off Bridges), Stacy Schoolfield (Storie Productions), and Michelle Voss (Velocity) are teaming up to teach local girls all the steps in making a short film, including writing, producing, acting, camera, sound, editing, and post-production.

Candler, who includes among her favorite female filmmakers Sofia Coppola, Jane Campion, and Lynne Ramsey, wants one day to make the program an overnight camp that brings girls from all over the U.S. For now, though, the founders are very excited about this year's day-long project.

"Michelle Voss and I are working at the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders in the fall. She's working with the film elective and I'm heading up the after school Film Club. At coffee one afternoon, she mentioned putting together a film camp for girls that would bring kids from all over the U.S." said Candler. "My eyes lit up and I thought, 'YES!' She set my mind racing with ideas. With that, we started meeting with folks. Spencer Zuzolo who runs GameCamp! inspired me to figure out how to do a day camp this year and work towards an overnight camp in 2008. So that's our grand plan."

Tuition for the camp is $500, although financial assistance is available. To download a registration form and learn more about the camp, visit www.femmefilmtexas.org. You can also call 512.628.3413 or email camp@femmefilmtexas.org for more information.

Tonight, director Keith Maitland and producer Patrick Floyd will offer Austinites a sneak-peek at their new Austin-lensed documentary Keep Your Ear on the Ball.

The film chronicles a year in the lives of four students at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired as they struggle to live independently, fit-in, and prepare for college. The students are also members of the school's goalball team—goalball is the only competitive team sport designed specifically for the blind.

Keep Your Ear on the Ball is currently in post-production, and tonight's event will help raise funds for its completion. Admission is free, but donations are encouraged (all donations will benefit the film's sponsor, Austin-based nonprofit All Blind Children of Texas). The event will feature a silent auction, clips from the film, and musical performances by Bill Baird (of Sound Team) and ONE2CEE.

If you'd like to make a donation, but can't make it to the event tonight, you can make a donation online by going here.

Keep Your Ear on the Ball Sneak Peek
Wednesday, April 11th
Antone's
7pm, Free (but donations encouraged)
[Official Website]

Tonight, as part of their Spaces Between Realities: the Films of Michael Haneke series, the Austin Film Society presents Benny's Video, the chilling and controversial second installment in Haneke's "emotional glaciation" trilogy.

The film follows Benny, a teenage boy whose obsession with a violent home-video ostensibly leads him to commit his own heinous act of violent destruction. But like many of Haneke's films, the most terrifying part isn't the violence itself (very little graphic violence actually occurs onscreen). What's most disturbing is the detached, clinical way in which the characters react—or fail to react—to the violence.

AFS Presents Benny's Video
Tuesday, April 10th
Alamo Drafthouse Downtown
7pm, $4 / Free to AFS Members
[Tickets]

"Grindhouse," the Tarantino-Rodriguez project filmed in Austin, opened nationwide this past weekend. And while the critically-lauded double-bill may well herald the resurgence of campy exploitation flicks, it might also bring us yet another Hollywood celeb.

In an interview with News8Austin, Rosario Dawson (Sin City, Kids, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints), who stars in the Tarantino-directed "Death Proof," professes her love for Central Texas and hints at the possibility of opening up a production office here:

It was amazing. You know, the first time I was actually out in Austin was when I used to live in Texas. I used to live up in Dallas and we did a road trip down there, and then the next time was in “25th Hour”, we shot the end of “25th Hour” there. And so, now this is like my fourth film, third film, but it is like my fourth time being down there on this movie, and it was amazing. Quentin has been going down there for 10 years, so every week at the end of shooting, he’d throw a big party and we’d watch movies, we’d go over and go to the, you know, Alamo Drafthouse and watch double features, and it was just a really incredible time. I’m actually wearing Anthony [Nak] earrings, which I know is also out of Austin. I wanted to give them a little shout out and just, I don’t know, I love it over there. I’ve been actually thinking about maybe getting a production office there because I’m starting to produce my own films and I really like it there.

You can read the full interview here.

Okay, maybe we're not the kind of friend you'd invite to your wedding, or ask to hide a gun for you until the heat dies down. But we do try our best to keep you informed about awesome new films and film-related events—which is something your regular, non-blogger friends probably almost never do. Now that we think of it, why do you even hang out with them?

Anyway, this Tuesday April 10th you'll get a chance to learn all about the glamorous world of film blogging as the Austin Film Society hosts a special panel discussion called Film Bloggers are Your Friends. Moderated by SXSW Film Festival Producer (and AFS board member, and prolific blogger) Matt Dentler, the panel will discuss the ever-growing usefulness of the film blogging scene, both for filmmakers and film fans.

Panelists will include Aaron Hillis (co-director of one of our favorite SXSW07 films Fish Kill Flea, editor of Cinephiliac.com and contributor to Premiere.com, IFC.com and TheReeler.com), Joel Heller (editor of DocsThatInspire.com and Austin-based producer / film editor), Jette Kernion (contributor to Cinematical.com and editor of Austin-centric film blog Slackerwood.com), and Mike Curtis (editor of HDForIndies.com).

Attendance is limited to AFS Filmmaker-level members and above, so if you're not already a member, now is a good time to join. Memberships start at $20, and members get free admission to the fantastic weekly AFS Essentials series, first-crack at tickets for AFS-presented events and free admission to cool events and panels like this one.

Moviemaker Dialogues: Film Bloggers are Your Friends
Tuesday, April 10th
Austin Studios Screening Room
7pm, Free (attendance limited to AFS Filmmaker-level members and above)
[Info / Register]

* photo by Flickr user Mark Sebastian

This past weekend, Sean of the Dead masterminds Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright and Nick Frost (left to right) brought their new cop-comedy Hot Fuzz to town for a screening at the Alamo Drafthouse. The "Hot Fuzztival" was an all-day event featuring four classic cop films including Electra Glide in Blue, Police Story 2, Sudden Impact and Freebie and the Bean—all of which were crowd-pleasers (though it should be noted that the audience booed incessantly when Tim League announced that he had vetoed a showing of Bad Boys 2).

We also got a chance to sit down and chat with the guys, so be on the lookout for a full review/interview before Hot Fuzz opens on April 20th. In the meantime, you can check out tons of trailers, clips and video production blogs on the Rogue Pictures website (you have to click through to the Hot Fuzz page as the site is all lamed up with flash).

Blame it on HBO's repeated broadcasts of all six films this past month, or every super-geek's secret desire to be that Star Wars Kid, but either way, the Statesman's decided to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the sci-fi classic... with the nerdiest contest ever!

It’s been 30 years since “Star Wars” changed the science fiction landscape. We want you to help us re-create the best lightsaber fight scenes from the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy. We’ll shoot video of you and a Sith opponent (bring a friend, your girlfriend - whatever) in our photo studio and post your performance on Austin360.com. The winner of an online vote for the best performance will be eligible for a special prize. We’ll have some props, but bring your own costumes and lightsabers and may the Force be with you!

So good, so good. Email Rob if you're keen to show off your intergalactic swashbuckling skills.

First one to leave a comment with the origin of the title quote scores an Austinist tee+sticker+guitar pick!

For those of you who weren't able to attend the ridiculously fun sold-out premiere of Grindhouse at the Paramount last Wednesday, this weekend offers a couple fun treats.

Thanks to the intercession of Quentin Tarantino himself, the Alamo South Lamar has been given permission to hold a late-night screening of the film this Thursday April 5th at 11pm. Tickets are going to go fast, so if you're planning on getting 'em, you should probably do it now.

But if you ask us, the best way to see this film will be at the Grindhouse All-night Thrillshow being held at the Alamo Downtown this coming Saturday. This all-night movie marathon will feature four genuine grindhouse exploitation features (The Boss, Revenge of the Cheerleaders, The Losers and Poor Pretty Eddie) followed by a screening of Grindhouse. That's an obscene amount of cinematic awesomeness for one evening.

We will definitely be at the marathon. Besides the fact that Alamo marathons are always a hell of a lot of fun, this is also one of the last major events being held at the Alamo's current downtown location--so soak it up while you can, movie nerds.

Grindhouse Late-night Screening
Thursday, April 5th
Alamo South Lamar
11pm, $8 / $6 Student, Senior
[Tickets]

Grindhouse All-night Thrillshow
Saturday, April 7th
Midnight, $18 / $16 Student, Senior
[Tickets]

In the mid 1980s, the US Senate (provoked by a high-powered busybody wives club called the PMRC) held a series of hearings on so-called “porn rock”—music containing lyrics about violence, sex, drugs, and the occult. The hearings were pointless but hilarious, providing a public venue for several old, rich, uptight assholes to make fools of themselves reciting lyrics from songs by prominent 80s rock bands. And though the hearings are probably best remembered for testimonies by “degenerates” like Frank Zappa, Dee Snider and John Denver, the most absurdly awesome testimony was delivered by the Reverend Jeff Ling who read aloud lyrics from a song called “Golden Shower” by a band called The Mentors.

Formed in the late 1970s, The Mentors are—even by today’s standards—one of the most offensive rock bands you’ve ever heard. Led by the notorious Eldon “El Duce” Hoke (who gained national notoriety in the mid-90s when he claimed that Courtney Love had offered him $50,000 to kill Kurt Cobain), the band built a name for themselves as the originators of “rape rock”, a style of music dedicated exclusively to sex, drugs and the subjugation of women. If that sounds awful to you, don’t worry—it’s supposed to. Much like 70s porno-rap icon Blowfly, The Mentors have spent the last thirty years testing the boundaries of propriety though parody, gross-out humor and over-the-top sexual fantasy. Controversy is their stock-in-trade, and in a lot of ways, the band helped set the stage for groups like 2 Live Crew whose equally bawdy material literally redefined the word "obscene" during the early 1990s and subsequently erased all notions of propriety in popular music (for better or worse).

Though El Duce was hit and killed by a train nearly a decade ago, the two surviving original members of The Mentors, bassist Dr. Heathen Scum and guitarist Sickie Wifebeater, continue to tour and make records with a revised lineup (their latest record was even produced by Seattle grunge king Jack Endino, a longtime fan of the band). Tonight, Alamo Music Mondays presents El Duce Vita, a DVD re-release of the band's 1990 video The Wretched World of The Mentors, a collection of early interviews and music videos featuring excessive amounts of nudity, drug use and bodily fluids. Heathen and Sickie will be in attendance to introduce the video, and The Mentors will be playing a gig at Emo's following the screening.

We recently spoke to Mentors guitarist Dr. Heathen Scum about the new DVD, the state of punk rock, and sex with audience members.