Greetings from the Austin Film Festival!
I live in Northern California and up there, more people love the San Francisco Giants than they love the Oakland A’s. It’s sad really, because the A’s have had much, much more success and many more great teams, but the Giants suck up all the news coverage and local glory. I often feel as though the Austin Film Festival is the Oakland A’s to SXSW (and, newly, Fantastic Fest’s) San Francisco Giants. You can sub in Chicago White Sox to Chicago Cubs, Angels to Dodgers and so forth. My point is, the Austin Film Festival is truly an amazing fest that somehow misses out on the love.
This year’s festival is a prime example of just how many amazing films, panels, and experiences terrific AFF brings to the table. The fest kicked off yesterday with a full round of script and film pitch sessions as AFF is a huge event for screenwriters. There were panels focused on looking at a film from its script stage up to the finished film, with Cheryl Hines’ SERIOUS MOONLIGHT created from the final script by Adrienne Shelley. Later Matthew Weiner, the brain behind many episodes of “The Sopranos” and the creator of “Mad Men” hosted an event at the amazing Alamo Drafthouse where clips were shown and questions answered. The highlighted films on opening night were Hines’ SERIOUS MOONLIGHT and Miguel Arteta’s festival darling YOUTH IN REVOLT.
Friday brought many more panels and pitch sessions, including some featuring Lawrence Kasdan, Cheryl Hines, Peter Hedges, and Mike White. The only issue with the panels has truly been the fact there are so many great ones, it’s hard to pick which one to attend. Tonight’s movie offerings include Bob Byington’s great HARMONY AND ME, Lee Daniels’ Sundance fave PRECIOUS, as well as three intriguing-looking films: HUNGER, CALVIN MARSHALL, and THE SCENESTERS.
As you can see by just a glance, the Austin Film Festival is a great fest for filmmakers and screenwriters looking to be found, as well as pros. Plus, there’s parties. Lots of parties. Last night was the opening night cocktail hour followed later by a soiree at Buffalo Billiards, and now I’m out the door now for Texas BBQ at the French Legation Museum.
For more info, check out the festival’s official website HERE.
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