Short Cuts

Awaking in the Dark Dept.: It's been a long time coming, but Austinites are finally going to have a chance to see for themselves just how groundbreaking local auteur Richard Linklater's acclaimed new film Waking Life is. As has become more or less standard practice with local productions over the years, the Austin Film Society, in conjunction with the upcoming Austin Film Festival, will present a special benefit screening of the digitally animated movie, Friday, Oct. 14, 8pm, at the Paramount Theatre (713 N. Congress). Director, cast, and crew will be in attendance to handle what promises to be an especially interesting post-show Q&A session. Premium tickets, including preferred seating and "a private post-premiere party with hosted food and drink," are now available for $125 directly from the AFS (www.austinfilm.org or 322-0145). For those on a budget, $15 tickets (including just the screening and Q&A) are available to AFS members and AFF badge and pass holders and can be purchased via the Paramount box office or from Star Tickets (469-SHOW) for the former, and from the AFF for the latter. A (very) limited amount of $20 tickets will go on sale to the general public through the aforementioned box office and Star Tickets on Saturday, Sept. 29... Regal Arbor 7 manager Kevin Prewitt sends word that Thursday, Oct. 4, all local Regal theatres will be holding their annual Canned Film Festival for the Capital Area Food Bank. Three canned, nonperishable food items gets you a free movie and a free small popcorn at any local Regal outlet... South by Southwest's 2002 Interactive Web site competition is now accepting entries in 20 different categories, from webcam naughtiness to "virtually" everything else you can think of. For complete info on the competition and to find out how to submit your site, check out www.sxsw.com... Austin-based film composer Brian Satterwhite will be teaching three new film music courses through the Armstrong Community Music School and Boxer Academy, two of which will be offered at various dates beginning Saturday, Oct. 6: "Music for Cartoons 101" and "Film Music -- Listening to Movies." Both, um, sound terrific, and all necessary information can be found at www.austinlyricopera.org or by calling 474-2311... The AFS screening of Eric Rohmer's My Night at Maud's has been rescheduled for Sunday, Sept. 30, 2pm, at the Arbor 7 Theatre... Finally, the Alamo Drafthouse Downtown will screen Buster Keaton's silent comedy Steamboat Bill, Jr. with musical accompaniment by the Asylum Street Spankers on Wednesday, Oct. 3, 7 and 9:30pm.