Short Cuts

Fuel-Injected, Turbo-Charged, Nitro-Burning Mobile Movie Mayhem Dept.: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema owners Tim and Karrie League get my vote in the Most Bestest Ideas Ever category. Not only have they opened a second location in North Austin in the past year (taking over the sadly defunct Village Cinema Art and turning it into a venue that, if anything, tops both the Village and the Alamo's own downtown location), but they've quietly begun taking their show on the road, literally. Bemoaning the utter lack in Austin of that utterly essential Texas staple, the drive-in theatre, the Leagues have built a mobile version of the Alamo, dubbed the Rolling Roadshow, complete with a full-size screen and a 35mm projector mounted in the back of a trailer that can be hauled anywhere Tim League sees fit to tow it. Currently, this show palace on wheels is doing duty as part of the Austin Parks Foundation and Time Warner Cable's "Movies in the Park-- series. Future screenings include a drive-in double header, set for May 4 (location TBA), of Russ Meyer's classic Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (with buxom stars Tura Satana, Haji, and Lori Williams in attendance) and H.G. Lewis' She-Devils on Wheels, and a June 8 screening of Richard Donner cult fave The Goonies -- in a cave 200 feet below the earth with Corey Feldman live in person. The level of ambient coolness involved here is enough to make Harry Knowles' head explode sans scanning. "We've had a couple of off-site events previously," says League, "and it's made the events really expensive to do. We needed to come up with a system to run the outdoor shows, and so what we've done is build a system from scratch -- it's like a 35mm projection system in a trailer that we can then tie into city of Austin electricity, or, if it's really remote, use a generator." At 40 feet by 20 feet, the Rolling Roadshow's screen is actually larger than the one at the Alamo's downtown location, and League, ever the traditionalist, has gilded this particular lily with a sound system incorporating only the best in "glorious, old-fashioned mono." More info on upcoming Rolling Roadshow events can be unearthed at www.rollingroadshow.com or www.drafthouse.com... Local small-gauge maniacs the Cinemaker Co-op are hosting another of their popular workshops on Super-8 Basics, Saturday, April 13, noon-4pm (location TBA). Austin filmmakers Andre Silva and Shannon Owens will be droppin' cinematic science like the USAF drops bombs and will single-handedly transform your life forever and ever, amen, all for a measly $50/general; $35/Cinemaker members. E-mail [email protected] to enroll and/or pester... Finally, congratulations to local film transgressor-cum-Kate-Winslet-fanatic Mocha Jean Herrup, whose short comedy-documentary "Lesbianfilm-- (which screened at SXSW 2002 and is co-directed by San Franciscans Evie Leder, Gretchen Lee, and Dan Janos) has been bought by the Sundance Channel for a June airing. Props to my homies, and all that sort of thing, y'all.