Short Cuts

"Seen any good movies lately?" As we go to press SXSW Film 2000 is still going strong, and tossing out a question like that will elicit either a wry, "I haven't slept in four days" smile or an instantaneous, impassioned, hours-long debate on the pros and cons of DV vs. the silver-nitrate school of filmmaking. Or maybe a smack in the kisser. For those of you who, for whatever inexplicable reason, are already bored senseless of the hoards of laminate-emblazoned cineastes clogging up your favorite theatre/restaurant/maison du café, there are other avenues to explore coming up soon enough. Case in point: This Sat., Mar. 18, from noon-4pm, the Cinemaker Co-op -- Austin's small-gauge film cooperative -- will be presenting an Introduction to Super-8 Filmmaking workshop. If you haven't got a short in this year's SXSW like everyone else, then this could be your chance to get a leg up on next year's competition. Cinemaker directors Aaron Valdez and Jen Proctor will be leading the workshop, which will "introduce participants to camera operation, shooting skills, labs and lab services, processing, film stocks, as well as touch on more innovative techniques such as bleaching, hand-painting, and hand-processing." The workshop will take place at the Cinemaker office (1705 Guadalupe, Suite 201), and costs $50 general/$30 members. Call 236-8877 for more info or e-mail Proctor at canetoad@mail.utexas.edu... Harry Knowles and the Alamo Drafthouse Theatre (with co-sponsors HumanCode, Hog Wild Toys, and The Austin Chronicle) have teamed up for the rebirth of the Saturday Morning Film Club, a kid-friendly, once-a-month crash course in the cool films that every kid oughta see (at least once, if not a gazillion times like the rest of us). The club kicks off Sat., Mar. 25, at noon with Clash of the Titans, featuring stellar stop-motion effects by the legendary Ray Harryhausen, along with prizes and a stop-motion animation tutorial from Knowles himself. Admission is free to kids under 15 (and their guardians) and the series will continue on the last Saturday of every month... Also at the Alamo (and co-presented by local author/film maniac Stephen Romano) are a deuce of horrific mini-fests (make no mistake, these are definitely not for the kids), a Tom Savini Fest on Mar 25, 9:30pm-"?", featuring the gore-and-monster effects legend himself, and the three-day Phantasmania fest on Mar. 30-Apr. 1 at midnight, which will screen all four of the films in the Phantasm series with director Don Coscarelli, stars Angus "The Tall Man" Scrimm and Reggie Bannister in attendance. Expect a wild mix of films, trailers, anecdotal hellraising, and assorted brain-drilling silver spheres and zombie meltdowns, amongst a gob-bag of other gooey red treats. Tickets are already going fast ($20 for SaviniFest/$35 for Phantasmania), so ooze by the Alamo or call 476-1320 to charge by phone... Finally, the 72nd Academy Awards are Sun., Mar. 26, 6pm, and both the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival and the Alamo will be hosting blowouts to celebrate this vaguely auspicious, oddly entertaining event. Tix to the Alamo party, which begins at 6pm and includes Champagne, prizes, and a cunningly orchestrated sing-a-long, are $7, while the aGLIFF event, being held at the MACC (600 River Street) at 7pm, will run you $10 advance or $12 at the door. For the Alamo, call 476-1320 for info, for aGLIFF, call 302-9889, or check out http://www.agliff.org.