Dames, Turtles, and More

The Austin Film Society will host the Texas premiere of Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller’s Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, the followup to 2005’s Frank Miller’s Sin City. Rodriguez will introduce the film and stick around for a Q&A afterward. The screening is set for Wednesday, August 20, at the Paramount Theatre at 7pm.

Ticket are now on sale to the public at the Austin Film Society website.

The Film Society has also announced its selection of jurors for this years AFS Grants, which will total $115,000 and be handed out at the end of August. Begun in 1996, the AFS Grants have been awarded annually, and over the years has given $1.35 million in cash and $157,790 in goods and services to over 385 film and video projects. This year’s jury members are Aaron Katz, the co-writer/director of Land Ho!, which is scheduled to open in Austin during his time here; Angela Tucker, a documentary producer and creator of the web show, Black Folk Don’t; and curator and film journalist Tom Hall, who is the newly named Director of the Montclair Film Festival. A Moviemaker Dialogue with Angela Tucker is scheduled for August 25, during which she will show a few episodes of her series and discuss platforms and opportunities for documentary storytelling on the web and for public broadcasting.

Meanwhile Austin Film Society Creative Director Richard Linklater is on a roll with his critically acclaimed movie Boyhood, which continues its national expansion and financially is one of the indie mega-success stories of the year. Nickelodeon announced this week that it has ordered a new 13-episode seres for The School of Rock, derived from Linklater’s 2003 film which starred Jack Black. Linklater and Scott Rudin will be the executive producers for the fictional show, which will focus on the substitute teacher portrayed by Black in the film. A co-production with Paramount TV, the series is scheduled to air in spring 2015. The story in Variety also mentions a Broadway-bound stage show based on the movie. Planned for 2016, the play will feature all new material, and is being developed by music maestro Andrew Lloyd Webber. A notice in The Hollywood Reporter this week announced Linklater’s departure from the planned remake of The Incredible Mr. Limpet. Since he’s a pretty busy guy these days, his disattachment from this project is understandable, but those who delighted in this show as children are nevertheless mourning the loss

News regarding the pickup for distribution of Alex and Andrew Smith’s film Winter in the Blood was recently announced. Kino Lorber will open the film at New York’s IFC Center on August 20. The film, which screened during the 2013 Austin Film Festival, is adapted from Native-American author James Welch’s breakthrough novel. Alex Smith teaches at UT. This is the second collaboration for the filmmaking brothers who received numerous awards for their 2002 film The Slaughter Rule, which starred David Morse, Ryan Gosling, and Amy Adams. Morse again has the lead in in Winter in the Blood, which also co-stars Dana Wheeler-Nicholson and features a soundtrack by the Austin band Heartless Bastards

Go by the Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter Lane to catch sight of the chain’s latest venture titled the Premiere Project. Local artist Mike Johnston, also known as TRUTH, transformed the theatre’s MoPac-facing exterior wall into a tribute to the world-famous heroes in a half shell, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It’s a 40' tall x 75' wide concrete canvas that you can't miss.

Any Breaking Bad fans in the house? AMC launches its Breaking Bad Binge this Sunday, August 10. Continuing through October 5, viewers can indulge in six-hour programming blocks every Sunday night, beginning with the pilot and concluding with finale, with additional never-before-aired interviews with the cast and crew. The Binge will be accompanied with 40-50 pieces of new, interactive content on AMC.com.