Short Cuts
What Russell Crowe's been smoking.
By Marc Savlov, Fri., Dec. 14, 2001
... Congrats to local filmmaker Heather Courtney, whose film Los Trabajadores (The Workers), about Austin's immigrant day laborers, recently won the International Documentary Association's David L. Wolper Student Achievement Award... The Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF) is seeking youth participants for its GYM Project, "a film/video course for gay youth between the ages of 13 and 19." Consisting of twice-weekly class meetings during which gay-related topics are discussed from a production standpoint, the GYM Project is free and will feature presentations from the gay and lesbian community and the local professional film community. Interested? Contact Chris White at 656-9566 or e-mail him at chriswhite@mindspring.com... Finally, two notable film-related events came and went over the weekend while you were stuck at the mall. First, Harry Knowles' Third Annual Butt-Numb-a-Thon at the Alamo Drafthouse left fans with aching patooties and plenty of bragging rights, while simultaneously raising "somewhere in the vicinity of $5,000," according to Alamo headmistress Karrie League, for Knowles' Saturday Morning Film Club. Among the 24-hour marathon's highlights were a filmed introduction from Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson and a screening of legendary Florida splatter director H.G. Lewis' Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat. See left for other films shown. (Given the wealth of misinformation Harry and his minions have planted regarding the lineup, accuracy cannot be guaranteed.) The weekend's other big to-do was the regional premiere of Ron Howard's new film A Beautiful Mind at the Metropolitan Theatre, with star Russell Crowe in attendance. On Monday, Crowe held a bull session with a smattering of local journos during which he waxed eloquent on the film (which is going to be a shoe-in come Oscar time, trust me), Austin, and the locally shot documentary of his band Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts -- aptly titled Texas -- helmed in part by local filmmaker Bryant Jackson (The Journeyman). That film, said the Man Who Would Be Burly, is available on the band's Web site at www.gruntland.com. Other notable news from Crowe included his bittersweet memories of trying to "ride my push-bike up South Congress with a mangled shoulder" following a mishap that eventually curtailed the short production of the film Flora Plum last year, and, most alarmingly, his switch from Marlboros to Benson & Hedges Ultra-Lites, which no doubt signifies something or other, most hopefully a somewhat lengthier life expectancy.
