Austin Film Festival

  • Coen Brother’s INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS is Centerpiece Film; plus Full Lineup for Austin Film Festival

    INSIDE LLEWYN DAVISINSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS

    INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS starring Oscar Isaac ,Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund, and Justin Timberlake, will be the Centerpiece Film for this year’s Austin Film Festival (AFF) which takes place October 24th to 31st, 2013, in Austin, Texas. Winner of the Grand Prix at the 2013 Cannes International Film Festival, the film follows a week in the life of a young folk singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961. Inside Llewyn Davis features the Coen brothers’ fourth collaboration with Grammy and Academy Award®-winning music producer T Bone Burnett. Additionally, the festival announced the full film lineup of over 70 feature films.

    Additional films include: Steve McQueen’s 12 YEARS A SLAVE starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender and Chiwetel Ejiofor, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play and featuring a powerful ensemble cast including Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts; Alexander Payne’s NEBRASKA  starring Will Forté (in attendance) and Bruce Dern; biopic MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM starring Idris Elba; James Franco’s CHILD OF GOD; BIG SUR with Josh Lucas, Jean Marc-Barr and John Robbins in attendance; and the World Premiere of the romance drama  LIGHT YEARS, starring Allison Janney and Clark Gregg. Also playing is PHILOMENA with Judi Dench and Steve Coogan;  HBO’S  WHOOPI GOLDBERG PRESENTS MOMS MABLEY; COLD COMES THE NIGHT starring Alice Eve and Bryan Cranston; crime drama MYSTERY ROAD; AND WINTER IN THE BLOOD.

    AFF 2013 FILM LINEUP:

    MARQUEE SCREENINGS:

    INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS – Joel and Ethan Coen (Writer/Directors); Oscar Isaac and T Bone Burnett in attendance

    12 YEARS A SLAVE – John Ridley (Writer), Steve McQueen (Director) 

    NEBRASKA– Bob Nelson (Writer), Alexander Payne (Director); Will Forté in attendance

    AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY– Tracy Letts (Writer), John Wells (Director)

    MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM– William Nicholson (Writer), Justin Chadwick (Director)

    PHILOMENA– Steve Coogan (Writer), Jeff Pope (Writer), Stephen Frears (Director)

    BIG SUR– Michael Polish (Writer/Director); Josh Lucas, Jean Marc-Barr and John Robbins in attendance

    WINTER IN THE BLOOD– Ken White (Writer), Alex and Andrew Smith (Writer/Directors); cast in attendance

    CHILD OF GOD – James Franco (Writer/Director), Vince Jolivette (Writer) 

    HBO’S WHOOPI GOLDBERG PRESENTS MOMS MABLEY– Whoopi Goldberg (Director)

    MYSTERY ROAD– Ivan Sen (Writer/Director)

    IF YOU BUILD IT– Patrick Creadon (Director)

    LAST I HEARD – David Rodriguez (Writer/Director); Paul Sorvino in attendance

    YUMA – Wojciech Gajewicz (Writer), Piotr Mularuk (Writer/Director)

    NUMBER 10 BLUES/GOODBYE, SAIGON – Norio Osada (Writer/Director) – US Premiere

    MOM, DAD, I’M MUSLIM – Anat Tel Mendelovich (Writer/Director) – US Premiere

    NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION
    BESIDE STILL WATERS – Chris Lowell (Writer/Director), Mohit Narang (Writer)
    CRACKHEADS – Tim Tsiklauri (Writer/Director), Andy Sophocleous (Writer) – US Premiere
    FINDING NEIGHBORS – Ron Judkins (Writer/Director) – World Premiere
    JACK, JULES, ESTHER AND ME – Daniel Poliner (Writer/Director) – World Premiere
    A LEADING MAN – Steven J. Kung (Writer/Director)
    THE MAID’S ROOM – Michael Walker (Writer/Director)

    THE ODD WAY HOME – Rajeev Nirmalakhandan (Writer/Director) Jason Ronstadt (Writer) – World Premiere
    SIREN – Jesse Peyronel (Writer/Director) – US Premiere

     

    DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION
    ALL OF ME – Alexandra Lescaze (Director)
    DOG DAYS – Kasey Kirby, Laura Waters Hinson (Directors) – World Premiere
    ICEBOUND – Daniel Anker (Director) – US Premiere
    LIVING DOLLS – Maureen Judge (Director) – World Premiere
    POLITICAL BODIES – Christopher Englese (Director) – World Premiere
    TAKE AWAY ONE – William Lorton (Director) – World Premiere
    THE PROJECT – Shawn Efran (Director)
    120 DAYS – Ted Roach (Director) – World Premiere

    HEART OF FILM

    A BIRDER’S GUIDE TO EVERYTHING – Luke Matheny (Writer), Rob Meyer (Writer/Director) 
    CIRCLE THE WAGEN – Ryan Steven Green (Writer/Director)
    FAVOR – Paul Osborne (Writer/Director)

    FOREVER’S END – J.C. Schroder (Writer/Director)

    GIRL ON A BICYCLE – Jeremy Leven (Writer/Director) 
    GREAT CHICKEN WING HUNT – Matt Reynolds (Writer)

    HOW TO FOLLOW STRANGERS – Chioke Nassor (Writer/Director)

    LA NAVAJA de DON JUAN – Tom Sanchez (Writer/Director) – World Premiere

    THE LIFE AND CRIMES OF DORIS PAYNE – Kirk Marcolina and Matthew Pond (Directors) 
    LIGHT YEARS – Matthew Mullen (Writer), Maggie Kiley (Writer/Director) – World Premiere

    SCRAPPER – Brady Hall (Writer/Director); Aidan Gillen in attendance
    SOLE SURVIVOR – Ky Dickens (Writer/Director)

    THAT BURNING FEELING – Jason James (Writer/Director) – US Premiere

    COMEDY VANGUARD

    CAVEMEN – Herschel Faber (Writer/Director); Chad Michael Murray in attendance – World Premiere
    COFFEE, KILL BOSS – Sigurd Ueland (Writer), Nathan Marshall (Director); Eddie Jemison in attendance – World Premiere
    G.B.F. – George Northy (Writer), Darren Stein (Director)
    THE GOLDEN SCALLOP – Kevin Harrigan (Writer), Joseph Laraja (Director)
    HELLAWARE – Michael M. Bilandic (Writer/Director)
    I’M DATING YOU NOT – Pablo Flores (Writer), Guillermo Groizard (Director) – US Premiere
    THE LITTLE TIN MAN – Dugan Bridges, Matthew Perkins (Writers), Matthew Perkins (Director)
    MOP KING – Ace Dixon (Writer/Director) – World Premiere

    DARK MATTERS
    BLOOD PUNCH – Eddie Guzelian (Writer), Madellaine Paxson (Director) – World Premiere
    DARK MOUNTAIN – Tara Anaïse (Writer/Director) – US Premiere
    DUG UP – Dustin Rikert (Writer/Director) – World Premiere
    INNOCENCE – Hilary Brougher (Writer/Director), Tristine Skyler (Writer) – World Premiere
    OXV: THE MANUAL – Darren Paul Fischer (Writer/Director) – US Premiere

    TEXAS INDEPENDENTS
    DEAR SIDEWALK – Jake Limbert (Writer), Jake Oelman (Director) – World Premiere
    LITTLE HOPE WAS ARSON – Theo Love (Director)
    THE ROAD TO LIVINGSTON – Erik Mauck (Director), Chelsea Hernandez (Director) – World Premiere
    SOMBRAS DE AZUL – Kelly Daniela Norris (Writer/Director) – World Premiere

    WRITE/REC
    ALWAYS LEARNING – Robert Krakower (Writer/Director) – World Premiere
    THE BLOCK – Max Sturgeon (Writer/Director) – World Premiere
    DRONES – Matt Witten (Writer), Rick Rosenthal (Director) – US Premiere
    THE FABLE OF SHANNON CABLE – Vinnie Hogan (Writer/Director) – World Premiere
    HANDY – Vincenzo Cosentino (Writer/Director) – World Premiere

    NOT SAFE FOR WORK – Ryan Balas (Writer/Director) – World Premiere
    SPEAK NOW – Erin Cardillo (Writer), Noah Harald (Director) – World Premiere
    3 REFERENCES – James Christopher (Writer/Director) – World Premiere 

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  • Shane Black, Jonathan Demme Among Lineup for 2013 Austin Film Festival Conference

    Austin Film Festival Conference 

    Austin Film Festival (AFF) announced the 2013 lineup of Panelists at this year’s Conference and what the festival describes as ” the strongest brain trust of writers and filmmakers ever assembled in the twenty year history of the Festival.” Attendees include Shane Black, Jonathan Demme, Leslie Dixon, Vince Gilligan, Brian Helgeland, Rian Johnson, Richard Kelly, Jenji Kohan, Chris Lowell, David Lowery, Ray McKinnon, Jeff Nichols, Ron Nyswaner, Roberto Orci, Dan Rather, Robert Rodriguez, David Shore, Norman Steinberg, Jim Taylor, Rob Thomas, Beau Willimon, and more.

    AFF will award Callie Khouri the Distinguished Screenwriter Award. Khouri galvanized women and sparked nationwide debate in 1991 with the hit movie Thelma and Louise, her screenwriting debut, which was nominated for six Academy Awards®. She received the Oscar, the Golden Globe, the Writers Guild of America Award and a PEN Literary Award for Best Original Screenplay. Her second picture,Something to Talk About, starred Julia Roberts, Dennis Quaid and Robert Duvall. Her directorial debut, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, starred Sandra Bullock and Ashley Judd, which she also adapted for the screen. In 2006 Khouri collaborated with legendary television producer Steven Bochco and wrote and directed the television drama, Hollis and Rae. She is currently the creator and executive producer of the TV show Nashville starring Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere. Khouri will accept the award at the Festival’s annual Awards Luncheon held on Saturday, October 26, 2013 at the Austin Club. Past Distinguished Screenwriter Honorees include Lawrence Kasdan, David Peoples, Frank Pierson, Eric Roth, Paul Schrader, Caroline Thompson, Bill Wittliff, and Steven Zaillian.

    Scheduled Panelists for the 20th Anniversary Conference are Robert Rodriguez (director/producer Sin City, Machete, Machete Kills) andRoberto Orci (creator Fringe, writer Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness), who will discuss their recent collaboration on El Rey, Rodriguez’s owned and operated cable network, which will host their upcoming original scripted series.

    Jenji Kohan (creator Weeds, Orange is the New Black), joins David Shore (creator House), Terri Edda Miller, and Andrew Marlowe(creators Castle) by way of the Writers Guild Foundation as part of the Scribble-to-Screen panel series, complimented by an extensive exhibit showcasing the Foundation’s renowned traveling script library.

    AFF will feature a staged script reading of Vince Gilligan’s unproduced feature screenplay “2 FACE”, directed by Rian Johnson. The script follows a man with a split personality disorder who finds himself taking opposite sides of the political spectrum

    Dan Rather (journalist, producer, news anchor CBS Evening News) joins writer/director Anne Rapp for a discussion on their upcoming documentary on playwright Horton Foote, using their research and production process as one of the Conference’s many case studies for aspiring filmmakers.

    Additional Conference case studies include:

  • A conversation on launching a television show, and the creator/executive producer relationship using Ray McKinnon and Mark Johnson’s Sundance original series Rectify as a blueprint.

  • An in-depth look at adapting the Veronica Mars television series into a feature film, with creator Rob Thomas and actor Chris Lowell.

  • Script-to-screen panels on the writing and directing processes that went into Kiss Kiss Bang Bang with Shane Black and Brickwith Rian Johnson.

    • AFF’s continuing ‘Conversation in Film’ series will highlight the craft and career of leaders in the film and television industry, includingBeau Willimon (creator House of Cards), Ron Nyswaner (writer Philadelphia, The Painted Veil), Leslie Dixon (writer Overboard, Limitless, The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)), Jim Taylor (writer Sideways, About Schmidt ), and more.

    Indie film favorites, David Lowery (writer/director Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, Pioneer), Jeff Nichols (writer/director Mud, Take Shelter), and Richard Kelly (writer/director Donnie Darko, The Box) will speak to the state of independent filmmaking within an ever-changing industry.

    Brian Helgeland (writer/director 42, A Knight’s Tale, writer L.A. Confidential, Mystic River) will present a retrospective screening of Cool Hand Luke. He joins the compilation of special retrospective screenings guest programmed by this year’s Conference panelists. Guest programmers include: Jonathan Demme presenting Greaser’s Palace; Vince Gilligan presenting The French Connection; Shane Blackpresenting My Man Godfrey; Jim Taylor presenting his own Election; and Norman Steinberg presenting Blazing Saddles which he co-wrote with Mel Brooks and Richard Pryor.

     

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  • First Wave of Films Announced for 2013 Austin Film Festival

    NEBRASKA, written by Bob Nelson and directed by Alexander PayneNEBRASKA, written by Bob Nelson and directed by Alexander Payne

    The Austin Film Festival (AFF) celebrating its 20th anniversary, announced the first ten films in this year’s lineup taking place from October 24th to 31st, 2013. The 2013 Festival will also include a special retrospective series of films presented by Panelists, showcasing films that have inspired their own work. One retrospective film track: “Out of the Vault: Jonathan Demme” will include films selected by the 2013 Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking award recipient and Academy Award® winning director, Jonathan Demme, including a work in progress of his latest film, Fear of Falling, written by Wallace Shawn — an adaptation of the Henrik Ibsen play ‘The Master Builder’ based on the story of an architect increasingly caught up in his own fantasies.

    Additional retrospectives include: Vince Gilligan, creator of Breaking Bad, and AFF’s 2013 Outstanding Television Writer award recipient, presenting William Friedkin’s classic crime thriller The French Connection, written by Ernest Tidyman. Shane Black, writer and director of Iron Man 3 and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, will present Morrie Ryskind’s screwball comedy, My Man Godfrey. Jim Taylor, long-time collaborator of Alexander Payne and writer of Sideways, About Schmidt and Citizen Ruth, will host a screening of Election, his 1999 screenplay following a high school student election that is taken to the extreme. Norman Steinberg will show the revolutionary comedy that he co-wrote with Mel Brooks and Richard Pryor, Blazing Saddles.

    Other Festival highlights include:

    NEBRASKA, written by Bob Nelson and directed by Alexander Payne. After receiving a sweepstakes letter in the mail, a cantankerous father (Bruce Dern) thinks he’s struck it rich, and wrangles his son (Will Forte) into taking a road trip to claim the fortune. Shot in black and white across four states,Nebraska tells the stories of family life in the heartland of America.

    COFFEE, KILL BOSS (World Premiere), the first feature film from director Nathan Marshall, follows ten executives who secretly meet to sell off their company but instead become victims of an outrageous murder scheme. The script, written by Sigurd Ueland — a 2010 Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition Semifinalist — is a dark comic romp through the halls of corporate America.

    INNOCENCE (World Premiere), written and directed by Hilary Brougher (director, Stephanie Daley), produced by Christine Vachone (Bluebird, Boys Don’t Cry), follows a young woman who discovers that her elite private school harbors a dark secret. This suspenseful horror film, based on Jane Medelsohn’s 2000 novel explores themes of loss, love, and theInnocence will screen as a part of AFF’s Dark Matters Category.

    THE ODD WAY HOME (World Premiere), directed by Rajeev Nirmalakhandan, co-written by Nirmalakhandan and Jason Ronstadt, and produced by Peter Touche. The film follows Maya (Rumer Willis), the product of a neglected childhood, and Duncan (Chris Marquette), a slave to his obsessions of order and pattern, as they journey through the American Southwest, finding happiness in the unlikeliest of places.

    SIREN (North American Premiere), Television writer Jesse Peyronel’s feature script directorial debut. Starring Vinessa Shaw (3:10 to Yuma, The Hills Have Eyes) and Rob Kazinsky (Pacific Rim), Siren is a dark fairytale about a woman with an unusual curse: an alluring scent. She is irresistible to every man she meets, but when confronted with a man immune to her power, she is presented with the possibility of real love.

    SPEAK NOW (World Premiere), directed by Noah Harald and written by Erin Cardillo, Speak Now is a Romantic Dramedy following high school friends reuniting for a wedding. Old offenses and newly mounting scandal plunge the group back into a pool of high-school drama. Entirely improvised from an outline and character studies, the whole feature was shot in three days. Speak Now will screen as part of Austin Film Festival’s new WRITE/REC Series, focusing on the best in low-budget storytelling.

    TAKE AWAY ONE (World Premiere), the first feature film written and directed by seasoned tv editor William Lorton (Face Off, Bridezillas), this documentary film follows Lorton’s aunt, Mary Baratta-Lorton, and her mysterious unsolved murder. Mary, in her short 38 years, rose from obscurity to become one of the most famous teachers in the US. Personally inept with math, yet placed as a UC Berkeley student-teacher in one of the roughest inner-city classrooms of the San Francisco Bay Area – Mary’s intuitive strategy of teaching arithmetic with hands-on manipulative materials quickly blossomed into a nation-wide career as an author, lecturer, and movement leader.

    MOM, DAD, I’M MUSLIM (US Premiere), a documentary film, written and directed by Anat Tel Mendelovich and distributed by Seventh Art Releasing, examines the trials of May Davidovich, a 22-year old devout Muslim searching for equilibrium between her belief in Islam and her parents’ devotion to Judaism. The religious conflict between May and her parents makes for a fascinating case study on the balance between pursuing spiritual fulfillment and inherent family expectations.

    SOMBRAS DE AZUL, (World Premiere), the Spanish-language feature film debut of local Austin writer/director, Kelly Daniela Norris, who re-imagines her own experience of bereavement following the death of her brother by weaving together real memory and personal reflection through the sights and sounds of Cuba. 

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