We were so busy cramming for Fantastic Fest last week that we forgot to mention that the Austin Film Festival has released its complete lineup, including the just-announced bookend opening and closing night films Serious Moonlight and Up in the Air.
Serious Moonlight was written by the late Adrienne Shelly and marks the directorial debut of Curb Your Enthusiasm star Cheryl Hines, who had a funny supporting role in Shelly’s first – and, tragically, last – film, Waitress. And Up in the Air is Jason Reitman‘s followup to Juno – based on a Walter Kirn novel and starring George Clooney, this one came out of Toronto with buzz than an Oscar nom a foregone conclusion.
Other films in the lineup include Centerpiece Film The Messengers, about two military men (Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson) working in the Casualty Notification Office; Brit biopic The Young Victoria, starring Emily Blunt; Bob Byington’s Harmony and Me; and Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire – and speaking of foregone conclusions, this thing practically has the Oscar gold sitting pretty on its mantle already; I swear, I’ve seen the trailer about five times now, and every time I tear up like a sap.
Interestingly, we also got word today that The Men Who Stare at Goats, which was on the original list of AFF films, has been pulled from the lineup. Wondering if that has anything to do with Fantastic Fest sneaking the film this weekend? (I wondered that in an email, too, to an AFF publicist, but didn’t hear anything back.)
Lineup below. For more info, visit austinfilmfestival.com.
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Marquee Screenings:
Calvin Marshall – Gary Lundgren (Writer/Director) – (World Premiere)
Con Artist – Michael Sladek (Director) – (Regional Premiere)
Harmony and Me – Robert Byington (Writer/Director) – (Regional Premiere)
La MISSION – Peter Bratt (Writer/Director) – (Regional Premiere)
Love the Beast – Eric Bana (Director) – (Regional Premiere)
PoliWood – Barry Levinson (Director) – (Regional Premiere)
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire – Geoffrey Fletcher (Writer), Lee Daniels (Director) – (Regional Premiere)
Red Cliff – John Woo (Writer/Director), Chen Han (Writer), Sheng Heyu (Writer) – (Regional Premiere)
Tales from the Script – Peter Hanson (Director) – (Regional Premiere)
The Vicious Kind – Lee Toland Kreiger (Writer/Director) – (Regional Premiere)
Warlords – Tin Nam Chun (Writer), Junli Guo (Writer), Jiping He (Writer), Jianxin Huang (Writer), Jo Jo Yuet-chun Hui (Writer), Oi Wah Lam (Writer), Lan Xu (Writer), James Yuen (Writer), Peter Chan (Director), Wai Man Yip (Director) – (Regional Premiere)
Why We Laugh – Robert Townsend (Director), Quincy Newell (Director) – (Regional Premiere)
William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe – Emily Kunstler (Director), Sarah Kunstler (Director) – (Regional Premiere)
The Young Victoria – Julian Fellowes (Writer), Jean-Marc Vallée (Director) – (Regional Premiere)
Centerpiece Film:
The Messenger – Oren Moverman (Regional Premiere)
AFF Presents…
Ron Howard Presents… Apollo 13
Michael Hurwitz presents…
Stewart Stern presents… The Ugly American
SyFy presents… Caprica
Matthew Wiener presents… Mad Men
Steven Zaillian presents… The Falcon and the Snowman
Narrative Feature Competition:
American Cowslip – Mark David (Writer/Director), Ronnie Gene Blevins (Writer) – (World Premiere)
Cummings Farm – Ted Beck (Writer), Andrew Drazek (Director) – (Regional Premiere)
Earthwork – Chris Ordal (Writer/Director) – (World Premiere)
Godspeed – Robert Saitzyk (Writer/Director), Cory Knauf (Writer) – (Regional Premiere)
Happy Ending – Atsuhiro Yamada (Writer/Director) – (U.S. Premiere)
How I Got Lost – Joe Leonard (Writer/Director) – (Regional Premiere)
Little Fish, Strange Pond – Robert Dean Klein (Writer), Gregory Dark (Director) – (World Premiere)
Myna Se Va – Sonia Escolano Pujante (Writer/Director), Sadrac González Perellón (Writer/Director) – (Regional Premiere)
Passenger Side – Mattew Bissonnitte (Writer/Director) – (Regional Premiere)
Tenure – Mike Million (Writer/Director) – (Regional Premiere)
Thor at the Bus Stop – Jerry Thompson (Writer/Director), Mike Thompson (Writer/Director) – (Regional Premiere)
Tobruk – Václav Marhoul (Writer/Director) – (U.S. Premiere)
Documentary Feature:
Automorphosis – Harrod Blank (Director) – (Regional Premiere)
Downtown Calling – Shan Nicholson (Director) – (World Premiere)
Floored – James Smith (Director) – (World Premiere)
Grown in Detriot – Mascha Poppenk (Director), Manfred Poppenk (Director) – (U.S. Premiere)
Houston, We Have a Problem – Nicole Torre (Director) – (Regional Premiere)
In 500 Words or Less – Amanda Zinoman (Director), Molly Fowler (Director) – (Regional Premiere)
Left Field – Ben Steger (Director) – (Regional Premiere)
My Run – Tim VandeSteeg (Director) – (World Premiere)
Torey’s Distraction – Tisha Blood (Director) – (World Premiere)
Warrior Champions – Craig Renaud (Director) – (Regional Premiere)
Target Family Film Series:
31 Minutes – Alvaro Diaz (Writer/Director), Pedro Peirano (Writer/Director), Rodrigo Salinas (Writer), Daniel Castro (Writer) – (Regional Premiere)
Alabama Moon – Watt Key (Writer), James Whittaker (Writer), Tim McCanlies (Director) – (Regional Premiere)
Missy and the Maxinator – D.J. Lynch (Writer/Director) – (Regional Premiere)
Wild Texas Weather – John Lewis (Director), Patrick Fries (Director) – (World Premiere)
Comedy Vanguard:
Herpes Boy – Byron Lane (Writer), Nathaniel Atcheson (Director) – (World Premiere)
Punching the Clown – Gregori Viens (Writer/Director), Henry Phillips (Writer) – (Regional Premiere)
The Scenesters – Todd Berger (Writer/Director) – (World Premiere)
Simmons on Vinyl – Mark Potts (Writer/Director), Cole Selix (Writer) – (World Premiere)
Dark Matters:
The Donner Party – TJ Martin (Writer/Director) – (World Premeire)
Hunger – Steven Hentges (Writer/Director), L.D. Goffigan (Writer) – (World Premiere)
Lo – Travis Betz (Writer/Director) – (Regional Premiere)
Strigoi – Faye Jackson (Writer/Director) – (Regional Premiere)
ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction – Kevin Hamedani (Writer/Director), Ramon Isao (Writer) – (Regional Premiere)
Off the Record, presented with Waterloo Records:
Bob Schneider Live at the Paramount – King Hollis (Director) – (World Premiere)
Cowtown Ballroom… Sweet Jesus – Joe Heyen (Director) – (Regional Premiere)
D Tour – Jim Granato (Director) – (Regional Premiere)
Pocket Full of Soul – Marc Lempert (Director) – (World Premiere)
Todd P Goes to Austin – Jay Buim (Director) – (Regional Premiere)
Austin Screens:
Baghdad Texas – David Hickey (Writer/Director), Shaneye Ferrell (Writer), Al No’Mani (Writer) – (Regional Premiere)
Hockey Night in Texas – Craig Knapp (Director) – (World Premiere)
Holy Hell – Rafael Antonio Ruiz (Writer/Director), Lowell Bartholomee (Writer) – (World Premiere)
Love & Tambourines – Jeremy Cohen (Writer/Director) – (World Premiere)
Straight To the Bone – Erik Mauck (Writer/Director – (World Premiere)
Stoner – Michael Greene (Writer/Director) – (World Premiere)
This article appears in September 25 • 2009.
