https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/screens/2013-09-20/film-flam/

Film Flam

By Monica Riese, September 20, 2013, 3:33pm, Picture in Picture

Workshopping in Italy, celebrating with the Muppets, and programming at the Drafthouse: There's plenty of Austin film news this week.

• David Hartstein, who directed Along Came Kinky… and was a producer on The Happy Poet, wrote this week to let us know he'd been accepted, along with directors Jason Cortlund and Julia Halperin (Now, Forager), to Biennale College, a cinema lab program in Venice that workshops a dozen projects before picking three to fund and premiere at next year's Venice Film Festival. The trio's new project is La Barracuda, which Hartstein describes as "a Texas Hill Country thriller in the tradition of Patricia Highsmith with deep roots in the music of the region." Good luck, gang!

• We've already shown you some shots of the Machete Kills gang, thanks to their Fantastic Fest premiere, but if that has you itching to see more, now's your chance. The Austin Film Society and Robert Rodriguez's Troublemaker Studios are co-presenting a screening at the Paramount Theatre (713 Congress) on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 7pm. Today's your last day to get a ticket at the discounted AFS member rates, but general admission just went on sale at noon. Check out the complete details at the AFS website.

• The Alamo Drafthouse crew announced this week that they have four new members of the programming team: UT film school alum and former Austin Film Society apprentice RJ LaForce, Vulcan Video veteran and preshow guru Tommy Swenson, Hey Homo homie Kayla Williams, and the archive-minded Laird Jimenez. Welcome them aboard, and keep your eyes peeled for their new voices in Drafthouse programming.

• Celebrate Jim Henson's birthday on Tuesday at the North Door with a special screening of Muppets Take Manhattan; he would have been 77. The world is just a little sadder without the puppet master in it, but there's still joy to be had with the Muppets.

Got tips? Email filmflam@austinchronicle.com.