Short Cuts

FringeWare's quarterly film festivals are becoming quite the local events. The next one, the F3 Film Festival, is scheduled for Saturday, October 24, and curator Vincent O'Brien is currently soliciting entries of short films on VHS that must be no longer than 15 minutes. The deadline is October 19 and there is no entry fee or application form. Send them to FringeWare, ATTN: Shorts, 2716 Guadalupe, Austin, TX 78705. For more details call 494-9273, e-mail shorts@fringeware.com, or visit http://www.fringeware.com/film/shorts. The festival is also seeking volunteers and sponsors for the free event that will kick off on October 22 with a special sister-city interactive film project between Blackchair Productions of Seattle, F3 Films, and FringeWare in which a screening of Holloweird, a new collection of experimental, bizarre, and cutting-edge horror films will be shown simultaneously at the Speakeasy Cafe in Seattle and FringeWare. There also will be interactive hookups and live music...

Tickets have gone on sale for "East Meets West," the special double screening of Robert Rodriguez's legendary El Mariachi and directorCheung Man Kwok's Run, a Hong Kong remake of El Mariachi (not an imaginary prequel to Akira Kurosawa's great movie, Ran, as my wishful-thinking publisher was hoping for). The event is a benefit for the Austin Film Society (AFS) on Saturday, October 10 at the Alamo Drafthouse, which will be serving border tacos al pastor for the Rodriguez film and handmade Chinese dumplings during Run. Rodriguezwill be in attendance for a Q&A, a sneak preview of his video on the making of El Mariachi, and the signing of collector's edition posters that will be available for purchase. The $30 tickets are on sale to AFS members only through October 6 by calling 322-0145. If any tickets remain, they will go on sale to the general public beginning October 7...

The Austin Writers' League will present a free lecture by playwright, screenwriter, and professor Richard Krevolin on Saturday, October 3, 12-1:30pm, at the Austin History Center (810 Guadalupe). The title of his lecture (the same as the title of his newly published book) is Screenwriting From the Soul. He will also be signing copies of his book at Book People, 7pm, on Friday, October 2...

A weekly film aesthetics class titled Cinema Eye begins on October 20 at theArt School of the Austin Museum of Art. The instructor will be UT Ph.D. candidate Dick Cutler. The class will meet on Tuesdays, 7-9:30pm, through November 17. Registration is $70/$64 for museum members. Call 323-6380 for more info or to register...

Dov S-S Simens' famous crash course in filmmaking is scheduled to come to Houston the weekend of October 31-November 1. The 2-Day Film School teaches the "38 steps of filmmaking" and fundamentals of producing, directing, shooting, distributing, and selling a first feature film. The cost is $289 and includes a producer's workbook and diploma. For more info or to register call 800/366-3456...

Closer to home, the Cinemaker Co-op's next Super-8 Workshop is scheduled to begin Saturday, October 10, 1-6pm. The three-part workshop offers hands-on experience and costs $60/$45 members. Call 469-0114 to register or get more info...

Anyone who's not here in Austin partaking in the Austin Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference and Film Festival might find it worth their while to head east to the 10th annual New Orleans Film & Video Festival scheduled for October 9-15. Some of their advertised guests include directors Todd Solondz (Happiness) and Brian Sloan (I Think I Do). For more info call 504/523-3818.