Short Cuts

Austin Super-8 legend-in-the-making, the Cinemaker Co-op, is, like Mickey's enchanted broom in Fantasia, completely, wonderfully out of control these days. It seems every new week brings yet another call for entries for one of their highly recommended mini-fests or satellite groups. In addition to last week's recent call for their Tiny Prophecies festival (entries due by Nov. 19), they've also hooked up with the Artists Coalition of Austin -- which conveniently shares office space with the Co-op at the Artplex building -- for a series of special screenings which will take place during the openings of new exhibits in ACA's main gallery and will be tied to themes selected by ACA for each show. The first screening will inaugurate the Co-op's 1x1 (that's one reel, one in-camera edit, Super-8 only) film series. The following exhibit will revolve around the theme of "angels and insects," and films submitted should explore that idea. The deadline for this is coming up fast -- Nov. 5, by 5pm, and the screenings will take place Nov. 13. There's no entry fee, all equipment can be rented from the Co-op, and filmmakers can submit more than one entry if they desire. Call 236-8877 or send e-mail to [email protected] for more info... On a related note, Cinemaker mastermind Barna Kantor will be initiating the Center for Youth Cinema, a pair of eight-week-long film courses for budding Sam Raimis, ages 9-13 and 14-18, taught by himself and Mireille Fornengo. For the record, Kantor's idea for the CYC arrives in the wake of a pair of his previous students -- Rusty Kelley and Duncan Kappen -- nailing the Creative Excellence Award at this year's National Children's Film Festival with their wildly inventive short "Toy Car." Kantor's hands-on course will cover all aspects of Super-8 filmmaking and wrap with the creation of a short film. Orientation meetings for parents (and/or students) are on Tue., Nov. 9, at 6pm and Sat., Nov. 13 at 2pm. Call 469-0114 for more info... A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that the Austin Film Society's administrative director, Nichole Worrell, was stepping down and that the AFS was actively seeking a replacement. What didn't get mentioned is that this is a paid position which involves the day-to-day management of the AFS, so if that piques your interest, give them a call at 322-0145... The Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival is beginning its new Out on Tuesdays series of screenings -- featuring aGLIFF-oriented programming and occurring on the first Tuesday of each month -- Tue., Nov. 2, at 7pm with a showing of this year's aGLIFF audience award winner for Best Feature Film, Blind Faith. More info at 302-9889... Manager Holden Payne over at the Dobie Theatre reminds everyone that Landmark Theaters' 25th Anniversary Foreign Film Contest is wrapping up this Sun., Oct. 31. Pick your fave subtitler on their Web site (http://www.LandmarkTheaters.com) and win a trip to Hong Kong, once a hotbed of wicked-cool filmmakers, now one really big airport and Tsui Hark. Runners-up receive either a trip to Maui or a tough-luck hug from Payne... Finally, application deadlines for submission to SXSW Film 2000 are fast approaching: Nov. 15 for for early apps and Dec. 10 for those of you still in pre-production. Everything else you'd ever need to know (about SXSW, anyway) is available by calling 467-7979 or hitting their site at http://www.sxsw.com... Happy All Hallow's, fiends -- I'm off to the Lucio Fulci Festival at the Alamo Drafthouse. See you there.