Results tagged “aff09”

It's been a long and glorious eight days, eight days during which we saw some extremely memorable and well crafted films, got to listen to talented, engaging filmmakers and screenwriters, and enjoyed the company of other cinemaphiles at the Austin Film Festival. But the show's not over yet, and tonight you have one final chance to catch some brilliant flicks that have already received some great buzz.

What would you do if you had Saddam Hussein laid up in the shed behind your house? What would you ask him, and how would you imagine he'd answer? We can think of a handful of good questions right off the bat, so it's unfortunate that the characters in Baghdad Texas can't think of anything to ask one of the world's most famous dictators in the middle of the Iraq War.

Happily, Mike Million’s script shows innovation and admirable restraint, resulting in a finished film that only vaguely resembles a standard commercial comedy. Charlie Thurber (played by Wilson) is trying his best to earn tenure at Grey College, where he is a well-liked but professionally underachieving English instructor. When a whipsmart new hire from Yale (Gretchen Mol) enters the mix, threatening his chances at a job for life, Charlie’s pal, anthropology professor Jay Hadley ( David Koechner) eagerly steps in to help sabotage her career.

However hard it was for you to make it to your high school each morning, the teen moms at Catherine Ferguson Academy in Detroit likely have it harder. In Grown in Detroit, the principal says that it takes some girls 2 hours and multiple bus routes to get to school (especially since the auto lobby held back any progress on Detroit's mass transit system). Catherine Ferguson Academy is unique in that it is only one of a few schools in the nation geared exclusively towards pregnant teens/teen moms. Another factor that makes this school unique: they have their own urban, organic farm.

Paul Feig, creator of Freaks and Geeks and director of every-other-critically-acclaimed-show-that-the-cool-kids-love, came to bedazzle a number of extremely lucky panels at the Austin Film Festival this weekend. On top of marrying Jim and Pam on The Office a few weeks ago, Feig is currently directing Showtime’s Nurse Jackie and HBO’s Bored to Death in New York. Given that Feig’s X-Men ability is apparently multitasking (have you read his books or figured out that he’s a Twitter connoisseur yet), Austinist tracked the incredibly charismatic man down for a series of questions at the Stephen F. Austin hotel. Note: Paul was kind enough to provide actual detailed answers and anecdotes to each question, so we decided to forgo editing out...pretty much anything. In fact, scratch out interview because this is now deemed Storytime with Paul Feig.

In a roadside diner somewhere in Connecticut, on a snowy afternoon, Caleb Sinclair (Adam Scott) takes a momentary break from his omnipresent cigarettes to tell his younger brother Peter (Alex Frost), whom Caleb is reluctantly chauffeuring home for Thanksgiving holiday, that all women are whores. So begins the misanthropic and misogynistic journey of The Vicious Kind, the new feature by precocious writer/director Lee Toland Krieger (at 24-years-old and two feature-length movies under his belt, precocious may be an understatement).

There are lots of goodies on tap tonight, from the festival's most outrageous documentary to a Chinese historical epic. Docs are definitely on show, starting with Floored, about the traders on Chicago's stock exchange. Already one of the most interesting jobs in America, we're expecting some memorable characters up in here.

The Screenwriter's Conference is over and done with, so now it's just down to the films. Here are our picks for Monday at the Austin Film Festival, including some you may have missed the first time around...

Angela Chase said it best in My So-Called Life: "There's something about Sunday night that really makes you want to kill yourself." Well you know what she didn't have? The 16th Annual Austin Film Festival. Here are our picks for the AFF Sunday happenings that will make you so incredibly thankful to be alive today.

Michael Cera’s birdlike awkwardness is perfect for the part of gawky, virginal nerd Nick Twisp, a 16-year-old-who finds love on a trailer park vacation and decides to do whatever it takes to hang on to it. Think Fight Club for nerdy virgins. And if that last sentence didn’t sell you, just trust us—it’s funny.

The first weekend day of Austin Film Festival is jam-packed with goodies, and since there’s only a small chance that true fest-fatigue has begun to set in yet, you’re in the perfect position to enjoy a healthy array of films, panels and people-watching. Follow your bliss, of course, but here are a few offerings that look mighty fine to us.

We know it’s a busy time for all the filmmakers this week, and they’re probably getting asked a thousand questions by a million different people, so we just had a quick “speed date” of an interview with Bob Byington, director of Harmony and Me. Of course, Austinist film buffs are busy too, rushing from panel to panel to screening, and you’ve only got a few minutes before the next thing starts anyway. So read on and get a little insight into the mind of an AFF filmmaker. Go ahead—it won’t take long.

In Myna Se Va (Myna Has Gone), the title character is an illegal immigrant who is trying to care for her charge, a young boy who has been seriously injured while his parents are away. Oh, and there's a dog whose leg has been lacerated by a tuna can . . . or so Myna tells the vet before she steals tranquilizers to then use on the boy.

It’s a game they hadn’t played since grade school, everyone holds a beer while they play, and they run the wrong way around the bases. The appeal of a game of kickball is obvious. But somewhere amid all the drinking, swearing, mock brawls, and (oh yeah) the kickball games themselves, this film becomes about something more than kickball.

Friday. Day two of Austin Film Festival. Everything’s really getting going now, but you’re already worn out from yesterday’s insanity. Not to worry, we have you all set! We’ve even taken into account that some panels might be full, so we’ve gone ahead and given you a backup. That’s just the kind of friends we are.

An American Cowslip is an extraordinarily beautiful, rare flower that can only grow when it’s left totally alone. That’s the best way to think about Ethan Inglebrink, a lovable sweet, naïve, agoraphobic heroin addict with a green thumb in Blythe California, a small town full of seemingly full of nothing but quirky characters. It takes a special kind of film to get the audience to root for the junkie, but in this colorful world, everything is as seen through the rose-colored glasses of the perfect high. And we have to admit, it’s hard not to get caught up in this stubbornly sunny worldview.

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.

Excitement and anticipation was thick in the air last night as Austin Film Festival goers began to claim their badges and passes. Today is the first day of AFF 2009, and while it starts a little bit later than all the other days, there is still a lot of content to pack in this afternoon. Here are the things we think you should ink in on your schedule.

When you think about all the big name film festivals, we bet it sets off a soundtrack of ka-ching ka-ching in your head. Expensive to get to and pricey to attend, most folks like us can't work that sort of expenditure into our yearly budget. Well, we would like to remind you that this isn't Utah; you're livin' in Austin, baby, and around these parts Austin Film Festival passes start at the totally-affordable-even-if-you-don't-have-a-ton-of-money price of $42 (General Admission to individual screenings is just $9!), and it all happens right in your backyard.

Terry Hitchcock, the self-professed "dreamer of the family," found himself grounded in harsh reality when his wife passed away from breast cancer in 1984. After losing his job shortly thereafter, Hitchcock was starting to fade away. The daunting task of single parenthood loomed large overhead, channeling fears of constant uncertainty, crushing loneliness, and general hardship; he had three kids to usher through adolescence, not to mention a major grieving process. Hitchcock discovered that he still needed to learn how to be a parent and that's what he did for over ten years before realizing he felt incredibly passionate about the lack of knowledge, resources, and empathy for single-parent families. Inspired by his hero, Terry Fox, Hitchcock decided to bring attention to single parenthood by challenging himself to run 75 consecutive marathons in 75 consecutive days. **Insert Forrest Gump reference here**

The genre of romantic comedy is not everyone's favorite; indeed, the lead character Momoko in Happy Ending deplores romantic comedies, preferring the slasher genre instead. But then Momoko finds herself in a series of meet-cute scenarios with an attractive patron of her library. Her video store-owner friend Kuroda suggests that perhaps her "life is actually a movie." This adds another layer to the film; if Momoko knows she is in a film, is she aware we are watching her? Still, when she thinks her life has become a rom-com cliche, no one really doubts her.

A murderer with a well-dressed conscience, bloody humor and plenty of existential meandering characterize Little Fish, Strange Pond, an Austin Film Festival Narrative Feature.

The Austin Foodie scene has truly exploded over the last couple of years, exposing our growing metropolis to so many opportunities to eat tasty food and drink delicious drinks. It is overwhelming to consider just how long it would take, and just how many pounds we would gain, in order to experience the best of what Austin has to offer in the dining realm. Thankfully, over the last seven years, the Austin Film Festival's Film & Food Party has been able to compress all of the tasty business around town into one night of bites, booze and bidding.

You can look around at various injustices in the world and in a sotto voice decry, "Oh, the humanity!" But what does that really mean? What defines our humanity? Is it social constructs? Is it chemical reactions in our brain the cause us to react to certain situations, images or ideas in a predestined way? What if you are put into a situation where the confines of your own humanity are tested outside the bounds of what you thought was possible? Perhaps you would find that your own humanity differs from those around you and that in the end we are all just animals, attempting to survive in a cruel and graceless world. Hunger, a new film by writer/director Steven Hentges, explores these basic instincts in a dark and brooding new way.

Though still considered something of a force in terms of culture and energy, once upon a time in the late 1970s, New York City was the true epicenter of all things gritty, wild and revolutionary in terms of music, art and fashion. That’s according to the AFF Documentary Feature Downtown Calling, which focuses on a few transformative years in one of the world’s liveliest cities.

As we've noted in the past, festival schedules are never completely set in stone until the projectionist rolls the film. A couple of TBA slots had remained empty in the Austin Film Festival docket until today when they announced the newest additions to this year's Marquee Screenings line-up, which include Youth in Revolt, An Education, Facing Ali, The Fourth Kind, The Road and The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia.

Calvin Marshall, directed by Gary Lundgren, captures baseball's charms by introducing us to a few archetypal characters - the gruff, washed up coach who may or may not have a secret soft side, the optimistic player with more heart than talent, and a beautiful woman with a habit of throwing curve balls.

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire premiered to glowing reception at the Sundance Film Festival. Yet despite love from critics and fans alike, there were still doubts the film would make wide release until both Oprah and Tyler Perry put their names (and money) behind it. The film tells the story of an illiterate teenage girl impregnated (twice) by her father, living with her abusive mother (Mo'Nique), and desirous of a way out. Working to help her towards this goal is Mariah Carey (yes, you read that right) as a social worker, as well as a teacher (Paula Patton) at an alternative high school. Starring as Precious, a refreshingly atypical Hollywood heroine, is new actress Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe.

LOST and Mad Men are the stuff that water cooler salesmen everywhere dream of, the kind of television shows that inspire viewing parties and passionate debate for weeks after an episode has aired. How could Don Draper so callously break our hearts week after week? Do the writers on LOST actually know where the story is going? Have they ever known? Lucky for you, the Creator of Mad Men, Matthew Weiner and the Co-Creator of LOST, Damon Lindelof, will both be in town for the Austin Film Festival this week, and even luckier for you, you could win the chance to ask them the questions that you so desperately want, nay, need answered.

There are very few certainties in life, the old saying goes, which is just as true for film festivals as it is for anything else. Just last Friday we were gushing about how excited we were that The Men Who Stare at Goats was one of the Marquee Screenings for the 2009 Austin Film Festival, and not 72 hours later we found out that it had been pulled from the line-up. However, we lucked into a secret screening of the film at Fantastic Fest over the weekend—which was actually the leading factor in the film being nixed from the AFF schedule—and we can pretty confidently tell you that you shouldn't be heartbroken over this development (the film is a big ole' mess), especially considering that you can still get your George Clooney fix with the official closing night film, Up In the Air.