Short Cuts

Is it already that time of year again? That build-up period to the 1999 South by Southwest (SXSW) Film and Interactive Festivals in March? Seems it's so. Both festivals are soliciting entries for their upcoming competitions. Early deadline for submissions to the upcoming Film Festival competition is November 16 -- exactly one month off. Entry fees are $20 for shorts and $25 for features. And the Interactive Festival has also issued a call for entries in its second annual Web site competition. That deadline is December 19 and the entry fee is $10 for individuals and $20 for a company-associated site. The categories are quite numerous and if all else fails there's always the reliable "none of the above." Finalists in each category will receive free admission to this year's SXSW Interactive Fest and winners will get to have their sites linked to SXSW's. Info about the judging criteria and categories can be found on the SXSW Web siteand application forms for both festivals can be downloaded there as well. See http://www.sxsw.com, request a form via e-mail at [email protected], or call 467-7979...

More deadlines: The Cinemaker Co-op is hosting its third and final Super-8 film festival of the year and has issued a call for entries. The theme of this one is "Cold Turkey," and filmmakers are invited to be free with their interpretations. Films may be four minutes maximum in length and edited in camera (with a maximum of four splices). For the complete rules and more info see http://www.cinemaker.austin.tx.us/announcements.html.The deadline is November 16; send submissions to Austin Cinemaker Co-op, 906 E. 5th St. -- #106, Austin, TX, 78702...

The deadline for submissions to the F3 Film Festival is this Monday, October 19. Sponsored by FringeWare, Mojo's Daily Grind, ND Magazine, 33 Degrees, Vulcan Video, and Blackchair Productions, the festival's focus is on short independent films and video under 15 minutes or less. This new, free, quarterly film festival is scheduled to take place on Saturday, October 24. For more info see this week's "Film Listings," call 494-9273, or visit http://www.fringeware.com/film/shorts...

The Video Association of Dallas is also accepting entries for the 12th annual Dallas Video Festival. There are no thematic or content restrictions and submissions may fall into a wide range of categories that include narrative, animation, music videos, documentaries, performance, works by children, and much more. The festival is also accepting multimedia entries for its interActive Zone (CD-ROM, CD-I, 3DO, hypertext, etc.) and short digital entries to run on its Web site. A monetary award of $1,200 is offered to the best emerging video artist. Works under 25 minutes by Texas artists may be eligible for consideration in the juried "Texas Show." Deadline for submissions is November 25; entry fees are $30 for non-members of the Dallas Video Association. To obtain entry forms or other info call 214/999-8999, send e-mail to [email protected], or see http://www.videofest.org...

This month's meeting of Reel Women is on Wednesday, October 21, 7:30pm, at the GSD&M conference room (828 W. 6th Street). The speaker will be Nancy Schafer, co-producer of the independent film Olympia that will open next month at the Dobie...

KLRU (cable 9/channel 18) continues its unique election season programming with an airing this Friday, 9pm, of Part 1 of local documentary filmmaker Paul Stekler's award-winning Vote for Me: Politics in America. Part 2 airs the subsequent Friday night.