Film Flam

Acid ballers, banned Google Glasses, and technical snafus are in today's edition of Film Flam.

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Today is the 44th anniversary of Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis’ legendary, LSD-fueled no-hitter, and the makers of this year’s terrific documentary portrait of Ellis are marking the occasion with some very good news: The locally produced No No: A Dockumentary has been picked up for theatrical and digital distribution by the Orchard, an indie music, video, and film distributor.

Directed by Austinite Jeffrey Radice, No No: A Dockumentary was a favorite at SXSW 2014. (The Chronicle praised its portrait of the pioneering but troubled Dock Ellis and called it a “riveting lens on seismic change in baseball and American culture at large.”) No word yet on an Austin opening date, but according to this morning’s press release, “The film will be released by The Orchard theatrically in U.S. markets and digitally to international audiences this fall.” We’ll let you know when we hear more.

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While the Alamo Drafthouse, dogged champion of nerd culture, is usually four-eyes-friendly, CEO Tim League made waves Tuesday when he announced that Drafthouse theatres are a Google Glass-free zone, citing the “potential piracy problem” of the product, which has video recording capabilities. Following Deadline’s report, League struck a bemused tone on Twitter: “In the partially obscured eyes of GoogleGlass early adopters, I seem to be the most hated man in America.”

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In other Drafthouse news, Christian Parkes has been newly hired as Chief Brand Officer of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. He’ll oversee the branding and strategy of the Drafthouse empire, including Drafthouse Media, Drafthouse Films, Fantastic Fest, Mondo, and Rolling Roadshow.

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Austin author, illustrator, and exploitation film historian Stephen Romano is on the slow road to recovery after a devastating accident on April 18 when a truck jumped a curb on North Lamar and rammed into Romano, who has no medical insurance. An online fundraising campaign is already underway, and a benefit screening is now scheduled for Wednesday, June 25, at the Alamo Village, featuring a 35mm print of the Shaw Brothers’ 1975 film Infra-Man.

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Apparently the Austin Film Festival had a technical hiccup happening this week on the web, which prevented badge-buying. In their own words, "our mistake is your gain," and so AFF is offering a discount of $10 off any badge purchase before midnight on Friday (6/13). Just type the code "OOPS" in the "Apply Coupon" box on the badge purchase page to receive the discount. On the fence about attending? You might want to take a look at the attendees they've already lined up for the October fest.

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In other festival news, the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival – which appears to be quietly reclaiming the aGLIFF moniker after a brief dalliance rebranding as "Polari" – recently announced its 2014 dates and location: Sept. 10-14 at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar. Yep, South Lamar. No formal proclamations have been made regarding an opening date for that much-missed, long-in-renovation-hell location, but our spy network reports they're in the polishing the i's, last coat of paint on the t's place. As for where to park while the rest of the complex is still being built – well, that's a question for another day.

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Have Austin film, TV, and tech news to share? Email filmflam@austinchronicle.com.