Film Flam

Kirsten Dunst joins Midnight Special, Tim League throws down, and more festival news than you know what to do with.

• Texas forever! Connie Britton spilled to Ladies Home Journal that she's got a completed script for the Friday Night Lights movie. No word yet on when or if it'll be made, but y'all better cross your fingers.

• Indiewire reports that Kirsten Dunst has joined the cast of Jeff Nichols' forthcoming thriller, Midnight Special. Already confirmed were Joel Edgerton and Nichols regular Michael Shannon.

• The film slate is only part of the fun at Fantastic Fest (slated to run Sept. 19-26 at Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline); the Fantastic Debates pit film-industry folks against one another in a knock-down, drag-out brawl. And Drafthouse CEO Tim League himself might end up lacing up his gloves this year against Hunter Walk, a man who promotes wi-fi and texting in movie theatres. We'll see if he accepts.

• Winter in the Blood, an adaptation of the James Welch novel by the same name, last week took first prize at the Montreal First Peoples Festival. The film, which follows an alcoholic Blackfoot man as he comes to terms with a trauma in his past, was co-directed by twin filmmakers Andrew and Alex Smith, the latter of whom teaches in the University of Texas Radio-Television-Film Department. Congrats to all those involved.

• Meanwhile, Rewind This!, a VHS documentary that premiered at South by Southwest and includes interviews with Austin favorites like Lars Nilson and Zack Carlson, took home the award for Best Documentary at Fantasia Fest.

• Austinites will be well-represented at both the Toronto International Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival at the end of this month and early next: Matthew McConaughey's Dallas Buyers Club, David Gordon Green's Joe, and Sandra Bullock outfit Gravity make their world premieres in Toronto, while Lance Armstrong documentary The Armstrong Lie debuts in Italy.

• Last but not least on the festival front, the inaugural Capital City Black Film Festival, presented in conjunction with the Austin Urban Music Festival, Sept. 26-28, is still accepting films for its competition slate. If you have a feature, short, or music video that includes a director, writer, or producer who's black or of African heritage, send your submission in by Aug. 30. Visit www.capcitybff.com for complete details.

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