Nothing but Love

Chris Doubek in Lovers of Hate

No matter how much success comes the way of an indie filmmaker – and Bryan Poyser has had quite a lot, as an award-winning writer/director (Dear Pillow), an Independent Spirit Award nominee, heck, even a 2009 Austin Chronicle "Best of Austin" winner – chances are, he's still hungry to show his film at the Sundance Film Festival, still almost a mythic institution. As the Austin Film Society's director of artist services, Poyser has attended Sundance for years, but come January he'll be wearing the badge of a competition filmmaker.

The occasion will also mark something of a homecoming: Poyser shot the bulk of his feature film Lovers of Hate in Park City, Utah, last winter. A black comedy about two brothers and the woman caught between them, Lovers of Hate – which we think is pretty terrific, by the way – stars local actors Chris Doubek, Heather Kafka, and Alex Karpovsky. The latter, who day-jobs as a filmmaker, had some good news last week, too: His feature documentary Trust Us, This Is All Made Up was picked up for distribution by B-Side Entertainment.

Sundance announces its short-film lineup on Dec. 7 (we hear tell Texas filmmakers found some love there, too). For more news on Sundance and all things Austin film-centric, visit our Screens blog at austinchronicle.com/pip.