AFS Cinema Hosts Tribute to the “Quiet Engine” of Austin Film

A film scene is not built on big names but on reliable and committed workhorses. Such a constant figure was Mark Reeb, an actor and producer who was a regular on the Austin film scene for over two decades. His death last August at the age of 47 was a blow to the many friends he made in the local community, but now they are coming together at AFS Cinema on Jan. 27 for a night of shorts and stories celebrating his work and life.

The program will include films connected to the multi-talented Reeb, including 2012’s “Happy Voodoo” by Jenny Goddard-Garcia, 2019’s “Shucky Darn” by Zero Charisma writer/directors Katie Graham and Andrew Matthews, Reeb’s 2020 directorial debut, “Wiggle,” and two directed by John S. Bryant (2006’s “Momma’s Boy” and 2015’s “The Samaritans”).

Bryant met the Temple-born Reeb through a mutual friend and classmate at UT, filmmaker Jay Duplass. Reeb had starred in one of Duplass’ earliest student projects, an experiment in improvisation called “The Intervention,” and Bryant was immediately blown away. “He had such a small role, but just his reactions were so perfect, and I went, ‘Who was this guy?'” They met and bonded at Duplass’ bachelor party (“We went to all the gay bars, and all of us were heterosexual”) and so began years of collaboration and friendship.

After graduating from UT with a B.F.A. in acting, Reeb actually took a long trip East, where he earned an M.F.A. from NYU’s Tisch graduate acting program before returning to Austin. He became a regular presence on local stages but increasingly turned his energy to cinema. He went on to star in and – as was common in the all-hands-on-deck world of indie filmmaking, especially in Austin – produce a series of shorts and features in and around Austin, including Bryant’s South by Southwest 2009-selected feature The Overbrook Brothers, the award-winning Sun Don’t Shine, and Austin Film Festival 2014 selection, The Sideways Light, directed by Reeb’s wife, Jennifer Harlow.

Filmmaker Don Swaynos met Reeb through local filmmaker Yen Tan: Through that connection, Swaynos ended up editing The Sideways Light and “The Samaritans.” More importantly, he became good friends with Reeb, and saw his impact on the Austin film community. “He was always around,” Swaynos said.

“Don came up with the phrase, ‘the quiet engine,'” Bryant added, “and I think that was apt. He would find projects for people that he believed in [and] if he believed in something and it needed some seed money, he’d put his money where his mouth was.”

“He really got a lot of projects made that wouldn’t have existed otherwise,” Graham added. She and Matthews met Reeb just before South by Southwest 2013, when they were about to debut Zero Charisma, at the wrap party for The Sideways Light. “We were relatively new to town,” Matthews said, “and we were thinking, ‘Oh, there are going to be these independent film producers and they’re going to be really snobby,’ and he and his wife were just so friendly and open and wild. Very fun, eccentric personalities.”

Even though the Reebs moved to Colorado just before the pandemic, they stayed involved with the Austin scene, and with their Austin friends. Indeed, Swaynos said he had just finished post-production on his last work with Reeb as an actor: a short they filmed at the end of 2022 called “Roger Is a Serial Killer.” However, before his untimely death, Reeb had told Swaynos that he was considering a return to the stage. “It’s a real shame he didn’t get to,” Swaynos said, “because he had the approach of a classically trained actor … He had this great presence, this amazing voice, and he could bring this weight to things. He had this seriousness, but he also had this great sense of humor, which is why he could work so well in comedy. He could take something that was funny and give it this weight.”

Bryant noted that he had learned what an incredible improviser Reeb was from “The Intervention,” but, he added, “he was also religious about his preparation.” He recalled one day during filming of The Overbrook Brothers, when they were all traveling in the camera car. “Mark was sitting there, reciting his lines for a scene that wasn’t for another couple of weeks … He would try it 50 different ways. It felt like an insight into his process.”

The end result was that “every single take with him was usable,” Bryant said, and he was eager to workshop, refine, collaborate. Both “Momma’s Boy” and “The Samaritans” were heavily reshaped by that process, with the ending of “The Samaritans” completely rewritten because of it. “He had really good instincts,” said Bryant.

Swaynos added there was nothing cynical or pretentious about Reeb. “He just wanted to have fun making films with his friends.”

This article appears in January 19 • 2024.