For Your Consideration ...

AUSTIN FILMMAKERS SHOWCASE

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THE DUO

W: Ryan Wickerham/D: Tony Hewett; with Wickerham, Bill Wise, Marie Black, Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr. (88 min., video)

The Duo, aka the Terrific Two -- or, more intimately, Best Man and Buddy Boy -- are a crime fighting team battling shopping-mall evil in this mock-documentary about a couple of maybe-gay and definitely dubiously super-powered schmoes in suburbia. Hewett's film tosses in cartoon-y action sequences peppered with illustrative word balloons ("Pow! Blam!") in a half-slap, half-French-kiss to comic book fandom. -- K.J.

(10/11, 9:15pm, Driskill; 10/18, 11:30pm, Driskill)

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THE LAST HOPE

D: Christopher Hrasky and Kurt Volk. (91 min., video)

In the spring of 1999, hundreds of fans set up camp outside Mann's Chinese Theater in L.A. for six full weeks to stand in line for the long-anticipated premiere of Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace. But soon the event organizers from the Web site Countingdown.com introduce corporate sponsorship and ego into the formula, and things begin to veer far, far off course. Hrasky, drummer of local instrumental rock sensations Explosions in the Sky, and fellow Austinite-via-Rockford, Ill resident Volk document this bizarre dystopia. -- M.C.

(10/17, 7:15pm, Driskill)

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WRONG NUMBERS

W: Alex Holdridge and Sam Merrick/D: Holdridge; with Matt Bearden, Scoot McNairy, Matt Pulliam, Kjerstin Cunnington. (75 min., video)

The "wrong numbers" in question here are the numbers listed on James and Russell's IDs. They reveal that these two are indeed a couple of 19-year-olds, too young to buy beer yet too old to not at least try. Following in the footsteps of such locally made films as Slacker and Rock Opera, Wrong Numbers becomes an all-night journey through the streets of Austin. Looking to "score some beer" is this film's ostensible storyline; an unending stream of colorful characters and challenging camerawork is the film's raison d'$#234;tre. -- M.B.

(10/12, 7:30pm, Driskill; 10/18, 9:30pm, Driskill)