Louis Black's Linklater Doc Headed to Sundance

Filmmaker and subject: Richard Linklater (l) is the star of the debut documentary feature by Chronicle co-founder Louis Black (right, with Jonathan Demme), premiering next year at Sundance. (Photo by John Anderson)

It's always a great moment when a film fan becomes a filmmaker, so allow us a particular moment of pride in announcing that Austin Chronicle co-founder and Editor Louis Black will be debuting his first feature as a director, Richard Linklater: Dream Is Destiny, at the Sundance Film Festival.

The documentary centers on Austin cinematic powerhouse and, with Black, co-founder of the Austin Film Society, Richard Linklater. Produced and co-directed by Karen Bernstein (Arts in Context, Children of Giant), the meat of the movie is three original interviews with the director of Slacker, Boyhood, and the upcoming Everybody Wants Some. That material will be augmented and complemented by archive footage of his career, and interviews with colleagues and peers including Matthew McConaughey, his Before trilogy collaborators Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, Hawke's Boyhood co-stars Patricia Arquette and Ellar Coltrane, and his longtime editor, Sandra Adair.

This will be the second documentary about Linklater, following on from 21 Years: Richard Linklater. Similarly, this is not Black's first trip behind the lens. Back in 1981, he directed the short "Fair Sisters" (included in the upcoming Made in Texas compilation of Eighties experimental Austin films), and he's become a patron saint producer for films like Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt and the upcoming The Honor Farm.

Explaining his shift from producer to documentarian, Black said, “I am so proud and excited to premiere at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in 2016 after a lifetime of writing about the work of artists and filmmakers in Texas. Richard Linklater is the catalyst behind the advance of the Texas film community as we know it today and is a natural choice for its face to the world. Since Boyhood made its successful sweep of the film awards season last year, audiences of all ages have wanted to know more about Linklater and his filmography; from the classics like Slacker and Dazed and Confused to the less appreciated A Scanner Darkly and Me and Orson Welles.”

Black's documentary will debut on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016 at noon at the Library Center Theater, Park City, Utah, with three additional screenings to follow. However, he won't be the only Austinite whose work will make the trip to the snowy slopes of Wasatch Back. David Gordon Green (Manglehorn, Our Brand Is Crisis) is one of the co-writers on Goat, the adaptation of Brad Land's autobiography/expose on fraternity hazing, directed by Andrew Neel (King Kelly, Darkon).

As for someone at the beginning of their career, UT grad Kerem Sanga gets the world premiere of third feature First Girl I Loved, a high school love triangle set in Los Angeles' public schools.

The Sundance Film Festival runs Jan. 21-31 in Park City, Utah. More info at www.sundance.org.