Short Cuts

'Tis the season for ham hocks and Jujubes (at least in our part of the world), but judging from the floodtide of screenings and special events taking place in the next week and a half, it's also time for myriad happenings across the Austin indie board. Without further ado: Acclaimed director Nancy Savoca (Dogfight, Household Saints) will be UT's Sixth Annual RTF Gender and Sexuality Lecturer and will present a screening of Dogfight this Friday, Dec. 3, 7pm, at the Texas Union Theater on the UT Campus. The following day, Dec. 4, Savoca will host a workshop on indie filmmaking from 11am, in CMA Studio 4E. The Friday screening is free and open to the public. However, space is limited for the Saturday workshop: Seats are available to Austin Film Society members by calling 322-0145, RTF students by calling 471-6617, and Reel Women members by calling 280-8706. For those of you who haven't experienced Savoca's crafty blend of post-feminist sexual politics and brilliant storytelling abilities, this should be a can't-miss opportunity... Cinemaker Co-op, your haven for all things small-gauge and filmic, is presenting yet another in its ongoing series of locally produced Super-8, 4x4 (that's four minutes, four edits) festivals, this one titled Tiny Prophecies, on Dec. 5-6, 7 & 9:30pm, at the Ritz Lounge. A paltry admission of $5 ($2.50 members) gets you 15-plus "visions of the apocalyptic, the fantastic, and the heavenly." (No word on what happened to "the wacky," though rest assured "the gritty" will be there with bells on.) Call 236-2877 for more info... Bob Ray's local ode to, uh, Roche Industries and the kids who love 'em -- Rock Opera -- is having a CD release party Sat., Dec. 4, 10pm, at the Red Eyed Fly (715 Red River) and will feature more chaos than you can shake a Rohypnol at, presumably... Take this, Bill Gates: Local software company Ecommercesoft and the Austin Film Festival join forces this Sat., Dec. 4, 3-6pm, at Bottom Line Distribution (715 W. 23 St, Suite N) to unveil Apple Computer's new iMovie desktop film editing software for the iMac. Rumored to be (like Apple shill Jeff Goldblum) "friendly," the software should allow practically anyone with the time to kill to knock out Blair Witch Project sequels 2-7 without raising a sweat. As if that weren't enough, one lucky attendee to the launch will be in the running for a new iMac DV and Canon UlturaDV camcorder bundle valued at $2,300. Admission is free and free parking is available in the University Towers parking garage. Flatbed, we hardly knew ye... Spending way too much time in front of that iMac and wondering when all the cash will show up on your doorstep? From the SXSW 2000 Interactive arm comes word of their upcoming Web site competition featuring categories ranging from "Best User Interaction" to "Best New Website of 1999." The early deadline for entry is coming right up -- Dec. 10 -- with the late deadline exactly one month later. Applications can be downloaded directly from http://www.sxsw.com/inter or by calling 467-7979... Last but not least, Thursday, Dec. 2, kicks off the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema's already notorious High Times Film Festival, featuring a triptych of bleary-eyed paeans to that ole debbil Maryjane as well as the First Annual Stoner Olympics, which includes such non-APD-sanctioned events as water-pipe building, "cigarette" rolling, and pizza eating -- all under the semi-glazed gaze of judges Tony Scalzo (Fastball) and High Times columnist Potstar. More info (if you can find the phone, dude) at 867-1839.