Other Worlds Austin Announces Lineup

Strap in: New sf film fest Other Worlds Austin will close with the US premiere of The Reconstruction of William Zero.

Clones, zombie hands, eternal nights, and a day's worth of shorts: New sci fi festival Other Worlds Austin has announced the complete lineup for its inaugural excursion.

The festival (Dec. 4-6) had already announced water wars thriller The Well as its opening night film, and temporal headscratcher Time Lapse as its centerpiece film. Now The Resurrection of William Zero, which received positive notices after its world premiere at Fantastia Fest, makes its U.S. debut as the closing night title.

That's just one of six new features and 25 short films added to the lineup today. Festival founder Bears Fonté said his programming team was "overwhelmed with the quality of the submissions we received, especially for a first-year festival. … This is everything I thought our festival could be. I’m excited to share these films with Austin, the so-called geek capital of the world.”

See full lineup below.

The Well
Opening Night Film, Texas Premiere
D: Tom Hammock
Writers: Jacob Forman and Tom Hammock Cast: Haley Lu Richardson, Booboo Stewart, Max Charles, Nicole Fox, Michael Welch, Jon Gries
It’s been a decade since the last rainfall, and society at large has dried up and blown away. When a greedy water baron lays claim to what little of the precious resource remains underground, seventeen-year-old Kendal must decide whether to run and hide or bravely fight for the few cherished people and things she has left.

Time Lapse
Centerpiece film, Texas premiere
D: Bradley King Writers: BP Cooper and Bradley King
Cast: Danielle Panabaker, Matt O'Leary, George Finn, Amin Joseph, Jason Spisak
A modern thriller with a SciFi element about three friends who discover a machine that takes pictures 24 hours into the future. They conspire to use it for personal gain, until disturbing and dangerous images begin to develop.

The Reconstruction of William Zero
Closing night film, US premiere
D: Dan Bush
Writers: Dan Bush and Conal Byrne
Cast: Conal Byrne, Amy Seimetz, Tim Habeger, Adam Fristoe, Scott Poythress, Lake Roberts, Melissa McBride, Jeff Rose
William Blakely, a cutting-edge geneticist, wakes up from a mysterious accident with fragmented memories and he must re-learn his identity from his twin brother. But when William digs deeper, he realizes the shocking truth: This is not his life at all.

Apt 3D
World premiere D: Zack Imbrogno and Horst Dieter Baum
Writer: Zack Imbrogno
Cast: Maxxe Sternbaum, Zack Imbrogno, Jordan Lewis
A young couple moves to New York City in the dead of winter to find themselves emotionally and physically imprisoned in their apartment by their enigmatic neighbors.

Aura
US premiere
D: Zsolt Bernáth
Writer: Dániel Hamvas Cast: Szénási Bálint, Szénási Kristóf, Kapócs Panka, Dubai Péter, Ungvár Ádám
Four kids wake up in the morning in an abandoned field only to find that the Sun did not rise. As darkness covers them the whole day, with no hope of light, they must face mysteries rooted deep in mankind's very beginning.

Backyard Blockbusters
Austin premiere, world premiere of new cut
D/W: John E. Hudgens
Featuring: Bill Corbet, Chris Gore, Walter Koenig, Harry Knowles
For years, people have been making home movies called "fanfilms", using pop culture properties that they may not own, but love. Backyard Blockbusters looks at the history and influence of the fanfilm genre, as well as the copyright and fair use problems these films create.

Censorship gets skewered in comics-and-fundamentalism satire Bloody Knuckles

Bloody Knuckles
Texas Premiere
D/W: Matt O'Mahoney
Cast: Adam Boys, Kasey Ryne Mazak, Ken Tsui, Gabrielle Giraud, Dwayne Bryshun
Travis is an underground comic book artist with a penchant for the obscene. When one of his comics insults a Chinatown crime boss, the gangster punishes Travis by removing his drawing hand. A daunted Travis retreats into a life of alcoholic misery. That is, until his hand returns from the grave …

The Sun-Devil and the Princess
World Premiere
D/W: Steven Ayromlooi
Cast: Mandy Amano, Dragon Dronet, Yoshio Iizuka, Stephen Meyer, Pancho Moler, Evan Parke
The realm is embroiled in war between the Sun Goddess and the Witch Queen, Goddess of the moon. Hirohawa The Sun Devil returns to save the princess as a way of paying of a long-standing debt of honor.

Shorts

"7300 Days Later" D: Luca Bertoluzzi
"Blackout" D:Andrew Olson
"Crash Course" D: Simon Heath
"Dear Lucas" D: Winnie Cheung
"The Developer" D: Robert Odegnal
"Emit" D: J S Mayank
"Gasmask" D: Pablo Bonelli
"Gear" D: Joe Ksander, Kevin Adams
"The House at the Edge of the Galaxy" D: Gleb Osatinski
"Jupiter's Glare" D: Jack Holden
"The Last Wildflower" D: Jonathan Hal Reynolds
"LiFi, Preston Peterson" D: Jason Boesch
"Little Man of Steel" D: Larry Ziegelman
"Malaise" D: Daniel Beaulieu
"Martian American" D: Lee Citron
"Moon-Lite" D: David Dibble
"New" D: John Harden
"Odessa" D: Cidney Hue
"One Last Question" D: Sean Corbin
"One-Minute Time Machine" D: Devon Avery
"Roommates" D: Justin McLachlan
"Sleepworking" D: Gavin Williams
"Slumptown" D: Bryan Costanich
"Strangers" D: Justin Nickels
"The Trail's End" D: David Rosenbaum
"Vimana" D: Faroukh Virani

Other Worlds Austin film festival runs Dec. 4-6 at the Galaxy Highland. Visit www.otherworldsaustin.com, or read our June 3 story, "Austin to Visit Other Worlds."