After last week’s tease, the Austin Film Festival has announced its official lineup for the 2008 fest, which runs October 16-23. Joining previously announced Marquee Screenings of Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut Synecdoche, New York, and Kelly Reichardt’s followup to Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy, are Paul Schrader’s Adam Resurrected (starring Jeff Goldblum), videogame adaptation/fanboy-bait Max Payne (from local screenwriter Beau Thorne), and James Gray’s Two Lovers, which netted a lot of attention at Cannes in May and closes out AFF on Oct. 23.
Also on our shortlist of must-sees: Bart Got a Room, which sounds like it might fit the inevitable “this year’s Juno” slot; Largo, a doc about the famous L.A. nightclub that regularly hosts comics like Zach Galifianakis and musicians like Fiona Apple, Aimee Mann, and Jon Brion (who scored Eternal Sunshine and I Heart Huckabees); and – get this – a retrospective of Top Gun hosted by Tom Skerritt. Nice!
Full lineup and descriptions after the jump.
Marquee Screenings
“Adam Resurrected”
(Germany/Israel/USA, 106 min.)
Director: Paul Schrader
Writers: Noah Stollman
Cast: Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, Derek Jacobi, Ayelet Zurer
In the aftermath of WWII, a former circus entertainer who was spared from the gas chamber becomes the ringleader at an asylum for Holocaust survivors.
“American Swing”
(USA, 81 min.)
U.S. Premiere
Directors: Jon Hart, Matthew Kaufman
A documentary chronicling the rise and fall of the 1970s New York City swingers’ nightclub known as Plato’s Retreat.
“Bart Got a Room”
(USA, 80 min.)
Writer/Director: Brian Hecker
Cast: Williams H. Macy, Cheryl Hines, Steve Kaplan, Alia Shawkat, Jon Polito
Regional Premiere
Danny needs a prom date. Now. I mean, even Bart has one.
“Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story”
(USA, 86 min.)
Director: Stefan Forbes
Featuring: Michael Dukakis, Sam Donaldson, Tom DeLay, Mary Matalin, Robert D. Novak
Regional Premiere
A documentary about the late Lee Atwater, former head of the GOP and mentor to Karl Rove.
“Crazy”
(USA, 105 min.)
Writers: Brent Boyd, Jason Ehlers, Rick Bieber
Director: Rick Bieber
Cast: Lane Garrison, Waylon Payne, Ali Larter
Regional Premiere
Inspired by the life of Hank Garland, “Crazy” is the story of a legendary guitar player who emerged from Nashville in the 1950s.
“D Tour”
(USA, 70 min.)
Director: Jeremy Konner
Featuring: Jack Black, Kyle Gass, Ben Stiller, Jon Stewart
Regional Premiere
A tour documentary chronicling Tenacious D’s tour in support of their film, “The Pick of Destiny.”
“Death in Love”
(USA, 97 min.)
Writer/Director: Boaz Yakin
Cast: Jacqueline Bisset, Lukas Haas, Adam Brody, Josh Lucas
Regional Premiere
A Jewish woman’s love affair with the doctor in charge of human experiments in a Nazi concentration camp affects the lives of her sons many years later.
“A Good Day to Be Black & Sexy”
(USA, 92 min.)
Writer/Director: Dennis Dortch
Cast: Chonte Harris, Marcuis Harris, Mylika Davis, Alphonso Johnson, Emily Liu
Regional Premiere
Several vignettes combine to create a between-the-sheets peek at black love and sexuality.
“The Great Buck Howard”
(USA, 87 min.)
Writer/Director: Sean McGinly
Cast: Colin Hanks, John Malkovich, Ricky Jay, Griffin Dunne, Tom Hanks, Emily Blunt
Regional Premiere
A young man, much to the chagrin of his father, becomes the new assistant to an illusionist in decline.
“Happy-Go-Lucky”
(UK, 118 min.)
Writer/Director: Mike Leigh
Cast: Sally Hawkins, Alexis Zegerman, Eddie Marsan
Regional Premiere
Just how hard is it to be happy? In this new comedy from director Mike Leigh, an irrepressibly free-spirited schoolteacher brings an infectious laugh and an unsinkable sense of optimism to every situation she encounters.
“How to Be”
(UK, 83 min.)
Writer/Director: Oliver Irving
Cast: Robert Pattinson, Rebecca Pidgeon, Powell Jones, Alisa Arnah, Jeremy Hardy
Regional Premiere
A young man (Robert Pattinson) having an existential crisis convinces a Canadian self-help guru to visit London and become his personal life coach.
“Lake City”
(USA, 92 min.)
Writers/Directors: Hunter Hill, Perry Moore
Cast: Sissy Spacek, Troy Garity, Rebecca Romijn, Dave Matthews, Drea de Matteo, Barry Corbin, Keith Carradine
Regional Premiere
In this searing Southern drama, a mother and son reunite under desperate circumstances years after a family tragedy drove them far apart.
“Largo”
(USA, 112 min.)
Directors: Mark Flanagan, Andrew van Baal
Featuring: John C. Reilly, Fiona Apple, Zach Galifanakis, Paul F. Thomkins, Jon Brion, Louis C.K., Fred Armisen, Aimee Mann, Patton Oswalt, David Garza, Sarah Silverman, Colin Hay, Andrew Bird, Grant Lee Phillips, Dave Allen
Regional Premiere
A concert film covering the last days of the L.A. club Largo in their original location, a regular home to comedians and musicians.
“The Last Deadly Mission”
(France, 123 min.)
Writer/Director: Olivier Marchal
Cast: Daniel Auteuil, Olivia Bonamy, Catherine Marchal, Francis Renaud
Regional Premiere
A washed-up Marseilles cop earns a chance at redemption by protecting a woman from the man who killed her parents and is about to be released from prison.
“Max Payne”
(USA, 100 min.)
Writer: Beau Thorne
Director: John Moore
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Chris Bridges (Ludacris), Mila Kunis, Olga Kurylenko, Chris O’Donnell, Beau Bridges, Donald Logue, Amaury Nolasco, Nelly Furtado
A DEA agent (Mark Wahlberg) whose family was slain as part of a conspiracy and an assassin (Mila Kunis) out to avenge her sister’s death come together to solve a series of murders in New York City.
“Noble Things”
(USA, 98 min.)
Writers/Directors: Dan McMellen, Brett Moses
Cast: Brett Moses, Lee Ann Womack, Michael Parks, Ryan Hurst, Tracy Bird, Dominique Swain
World Premiere
Singer Jimmy Wayne Collins finds himself adrift when forced to return home to Southeast Texas to face his dying father and the demons he left behind.
“On the Count of Zero” (Sifir Dedigimde)
(Turkey, 90 min.)
Writer/Director: Gokhan Yorgancigil
Cast: Aykut Bilgin, Özhan Carda, Oktay Kaynarca, Hazim Körmükçü, Özge Özder, Riza Pekkutsal, Semih Sergen
US Premiere
A young girl loses a precious book she has borrowed from her teacher. Unable to find it, she is driven to depression and eventually enters a world for forgotten people and the realms of traditional Turkish fairy-tales.
“Phantom Punch”
(USA, 104 min.)
Writer: Ryan Combs
Director: Robert Townsend
Cast: Ving Rhames, Nicholas Turturro, Stacey Dash, Bridgette Wilson
Regional Premiere
The fascinating life story of Sonny Liston, the controversial heavyweight-boxing champion of the world.
“The Poker Club”
(USA, 81 min.)
Writer: Richard Chizmar, Johnathon Schaech
Director: Tim McCann
Cast: Johnathon Schaech, Judy Reyes, Johnny Messner, Loren Dean, Jana Kramer
World Premiere
Four friends discover and accidentally kill a burglar — who may not be alone — in the kitchen during their weekly poker night.
“A President to Remember: In the Company of John F. Kennedy”
(USA, 85 min.)
Director: Robert Drew
Regional Premiere
An intimate portrait of the president by famed documentarian Robert Drew.
“Sita Sings the Blues”
(USA, 82 min.)
Writer/Director: Nina Paley
Regional Premiere
An animated version of the epic Indian tale of “Ramayana” set to the 1920s jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw.
“Song Sung Blue”
(USA, 87 min.)
Director: Greg Kohs
Regional Premiere
Koh’s documentary follows the alternately inspiring and tragic love story of Lightning & Thunder, a homegrown Milwaukee husband and wife singing duo that pay tribute to the music of Neil Diamond.
“Slumdog Millionaire”
(UK/India, 120 min.)
Writer: Simon Beaufoy
Director: Danny Boyle
Cast: Dev Patel, Madhur Mittal, Freida Pinto, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan
Regional Premiere
The story follows an 18-year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning it all on India’s “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”
“Strangers”
(Israel, 85 min.)
Writers/Directors: Guy Nattiv, Erez Tadmor
Starring: Liron Levo, Lubna Azabal, Abdaliah El Akal, Birol Ünel, Partick Albenque
Regional Premiere
When an Israeli man and a Palestinian woman fall in love during the 2006 World Cup finals in Berlin, star-crossed complications ensue.
“Summerhood”
(Canada, 96 min.)
Writer/Director: Jacob Medjuck
Cast: John Cusack, Joe Flaherty, Christopher McDonald
Regional Premiere
A coming of age summer-camp saga featuring four best friends who hate each other. Narrated by John Cusack.
“Synecdoche, New York”
(USA, 124 min.)
Writer/Director: Charlie Kaufman
Cast: Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Emily Watson, Dianne Wiest, Michelle Williams, Samantha Morton, Tom Noonan, Catherine Keener
Regional Premiere
A theater director (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play. Directorial debut of Charlie Kaufman (writer of “Being John Malkovich” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”)
“Tree of Ghibet”
(USA, 90 min.)
Writer: Amedeo D’Adamo
Directors: Amedeo D’Adamo, Nevina Satta
Cast: Corinne Cameny, André Bang, Olivier Ngoundé, Samyong Samy, street children in Akwa-Douala
Regional Premiere
DJ, an 8-year-old child, is suddenly accused by his aunt of being possessed by devils and then abandoned on the hard streets of Douala, Cameroon.
“Vampiro: Angel, Devil, Hero.”
(Canada, 90 min.)
Director: Lee Demarbre
US Premiere
A documentary that exposes the underbelly of professional wrestling and traces one man’s personal journey from the top rope to rock bottom and back up again.
“Wendy and Lucy”
(USA, 80 min.)
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Writers: Jonathan Raymond, Kelly Reichardt
Cast: Michelle Williams, Will Patton, Larry Fessenden, Will Oldham
Regional Premiere
A woman’s life is derailed en route to a potentially lucrative summer job. Her car breaks down, her dog is taken to the pound and she is led through a series of increasingly dire economic decisions.
AFF Presents…
“Danny Boyle Presents… Shallow Grave”
(UK, 93 min., 1995)
Writer: John Hodge
Director: Danny Boyle
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Christopher Eccleston, Kerry Fox, Keith Allen
Three friends discover their new flat mate dead but loaded with cash.
“Greg Daniels Presents…”
(USA, 60 min., Various)
Greg Daniels brings some highlights from his TV career.
“Jake Kasdan Presents… Zero Effect”
(USA, 116 min., 1998)
Writer/Director: Jake Kasdan
Cast: Bill Pullman, Ben Stiller, Ryan O’Neal, Kim Dickens, Angela Featherstone
The 10-year anniversary screening of Kasdan’s first feature film about the greatest detective in the world.
“Tom Skerritt Presents… Top Gun”
(USA, 110 min., 1986)
Writers: Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr.
Director: Tony Scott
Cast: Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards, Tom Skerritt
“Let me ask you something, if you had to go into battle, would you want him on your side?”
Narrative Feature Competition
“A Quiet Little Marriage”
(USA, 85 min.)
Writer/Director: Mo Perkins
Cast: Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Cy Carter, Jimmi Simpson, Charlie Day, Michael O’Neill, Lucy DeVito
World Premiere
It is because they love each other that things will go wrong for Olive and Dax.
“Agent 5: A Night in the Last Life Of”
(USA, 77 min.)
Writer/Director: Matthew Desotell
Cast: Ryan Burnham
World Premiere
A lone “agent” discovers he has outlived his usefulness in this anti-thriller steeped in noir.
“Bigga Than Ben”
(UK, 85 min.)
Writer/Director: Suzie Halewood
Cast: Ben Barnes, Andrei Chadov, Ovidiu Matesan, Hero Fiennes-Tiffin
Regional Premiere
Two likeable but wayward “pieces of Moscow scum” arrive in London intent on bettering themselves and amassing an easy fortune.
“Left” (Links)
(Netherlands, 80 min.)
Writer/Director: Froukje Tan
Cast: Jeroen van Koningsbrugge, Lotte Verbeek
North American Premiere
Dexter has a problem: he sees his girlfriend everywhere. Even when it’s not her.
“Lost & Found”
(Japan, 75 min.)
Writer/Director: Nobuyuki Miyake
Cast: Shun Sugata, Tomoyuki Hatanaka, Moeki Tsuruoka
North American Premiere
The lives of the denizens of a train station, from the lovelorn to the lonely, all intersect in and around the lost and found department.
“The Map Reader”
(New Zealand, 90 min.)
Writer/Director: Harold Brodie
Cast: Jordan Selwyn, Bonnie Soper, Mikaila Hutchison, Rebecca Gibney
World Premiere
Michael lives a dead-end life with his mother in New Zealand. To escape, he wraps himself in a world of maps, until two women come into his life.
“Shades of Ray”
(USA, 90 min.)
Writer/Director: Jaffar Mahmood
Cast: Zachary Levi, Brian George, Kathy Baker, Sarah Shahi, Franz Kranz, Bonnie Sommerville
World Premiere
American-born Ray Rehman comes home one night to find his Pakistani father on his doorstep.
“The Skyjacker”
(USA, 70 min.)
Writer/Director: Jeff Pickett
Cast: Jeff Pickett, Joan Alperin, Joe Willand, Lizzy Davis, Scott Edgecombe, Skip Colvin, Steven Klein
Regional Premiere
A loner with a plan: hijack a plane, collect ransom money, disappear.
“The Thacker Case”
(USA, 90 min.)
Writers: Brian Jun, Robert Dean Klein
Director: Brian Jun
Cast: Gabriel Mann, Eliza Dushku, Michael Welch
World Premiere
When a young man is brought in for drunk driving and ends up dead, the stories simply don’t add up. His parents hire a young attorney to find justice for their son.
“Trucker”
(USA, 90 min.)
Writer/Director: James Mottern
Cast: Michelle Monaghan, Nathan Fillion, Joey Lauren Adams, Benjamin Bratt, Jimmy Bennett
Regional Premiere
A truck-driver’s wild, dead-end existence is changed when her son re-enters her life.
Documentary Feature Competition
“Art 365”
(USA, 81 min.)
Directors: Cacky Poarch, Melissa Scaramucci
World Premiere
In March 2007, six Oklahoma artists were chosen from 134 entries to receive $10,000 to create a new body of work in one year.
“The Atom Smashers”
(USA, 81 min.)
Director: Clayton Brown
US Premiere
A team of U.S. scientists search for the last undiscovered part of the atom, racing against a new European laboratory and declining government funding.
“Bunnyland”
(USA, 86 min.)
Director: Brett Hanover
Regional Premiere
Johnny Tesar claims to have found a lost civilization in Tennessee – by looking at the rock “artifacts” he finds on the ground.
“Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison”
(USA, 87 min.)
Director: Bestor Cram
World Premiere
In January 1968, in a gray prison cafeteria in Northern California, hard men doing hard time witnessed the making of a legendary album.
“Les Ninjas du Japon”
(Italy, 80 min.)
Director: Giommi Giovanni
Regional Premiere
A team of Japanese semi-professional cyclists have traveled to Burkina Faso to compete in Africa’s most prestigious bicycle race, the Tour du Faso.
“Paper or Plastic?”
(USA, 80 min.)
Director: Justine Jacob and Alex D. da Silva
Regional Premiere
Somewhere in this country lives the nation’s best grocery sacker. The film follows contestants as they prepare for the National Grocery Bagging Competition in Las Vegas
“School Play”
(USA, 72 min.)
Directors: Eddie Rosenstein and Rick Velleu
World Premiere
In this charming film, a group of fifth graders in upstate New York stages a performance of “The Wizard of Oz.”
“Summer Child” (Kesän lapsi)
(USA, 60 min.)
Director: Iris Olsson
Regional Premiere
Only 40 miles separate Svetlana’s orphanage in Russia from the house in Finland where she spends her summers, but the disparity between her two lives couldn’t be greater.
“This Dust of Words”
(USA, 60 min.)
Director: Bill Rose
Regional Premiere
Elizabeth Wiltsee was a promising young student at Stanford in the late ’60s. After graduation she could have had anything, but chose to live on the edge of society.
“Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman”
(USA, 83 min.)
Director: Eric Bricker
Regional Premiere
Julius Shulman, the favorite photographer of L.A.’s mid-century modernist architecture scene, shot buildings by Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry. Narrated by Dustin Hoffman.
Comedy Vanguard
“Adventures in Power”
(USA, 96 min.)
Writer/Director: Ari Gold
Cast: Ari Gold, Michael McKean, Jane Lynch, Adrian Grenier, Nick Kroll, Steven Williams
Regional Premiere
Power is obsessed with drums. Only problem is, he’s never played them—but he has become an expert “air-drummer.”
“Happy Birthday, Harris Maldin”
(USA, 80 min.)
Writers/Directors: Juan Cardarelli, Ben Davidow, Nick Gregorio, Eric Levy, Matthew Sanchez
Cast: Juan Cardarelli, Ben Davidow, Nick Gregorio, Eric Levy, Matthew Sanchez, Matt Walsh, Brigitte Hagerman, Susan Slatin
Regional Premiere
Harris wears fake facial hair, but no one in his small, protective neighborhood has the heart to tell him it looks ridiculous. But one day, an outsider points out the obvious.
“HottieBoombaLottie”
(USA, 75 min.)
Writer/Director: Seth Packard
Cast: Seth Packard, Lauren McKnight, Matthew Webb, Shay Williamson
Regional Premiere
Trapped in Utah with an overbearing mother and an older brother bent on sabotaging his entire life, teenaged Ethan channels all his ambitions into a deluded obsession with uber-hottie Madison Sweet.
“The Stanton Family Grave Robbery”
(USA, 81 min.)
Writers: Cole Selix, Kevin Costello, Mark Potts
Director: Mark Potts
Cast: Avery Cannon, Brand Rackley, Cole Selix, James Blackmon, Kevin Costello, Lisa Selix, Sara Rae Foster, Mark Potts
Regional Premiere
Against his wishes, a man is buried in Texas. His older two sons decide to take matters into their own hands by kidnapping their baby brother and digging up their father’s coffin to return it to Oklahoma.
“Psycho Sleepover”
(USA, 86 min.)
Writers/Directors: Adam Deyoe and Eric Gosselin
Cast: Rachel Castillo, Emilia Richeson, Ariel Teal Toombs, Frankie Frain, Ryan Martin, Todd Prictchett
World Premiere
Debbie has a problem: her boyfriend went crazy and she had to kill him with an axe. Now she’s sixteen, a misfit, harassed by her mother, and invited to a party. With psychos.
“Visioneers”
(USA, 90 min.)
Writer: Brandon Drake
Director: Jared Drake
Cast: Zach Galifianakis, James LeGros, D.W. Moffet, Judy Greer, Missi Pyle
Regional Premiere
When people around him begin to spontaneously explode, George tries to ignore them, like the rest of the population. But as the epidemic increases, he is told by his doctor that the dreams he’s having are the first symptom.
“Who is KK Downey?”
(Canada, 90 min.)
Writers: Darren Curtis, Pat Kiely, Matt Silver
Directors: Darren Curtis, Pat Kiely
Cast: Darren Curtis, Matt Silver, Pat Kiely, John Lameray, David Fruchter, Charles D’Angelo, John Webb, Katye Stevens, Trevor Barnes
Regional Premiere
Two hipsters, sick of rejection, hatch a plan to take the literary world by storm by taking the book written by one and saying it is the autobiography of the other.
Dark Matters
“100 Feet”
(USA, 105 min.)
Writer/Director: Eric Red
Cast: Famke Janssen, Bobby Cannavale, Micael Pare, Ed Westwick
World Premiere
After Marnie Watson kills her husband in self-defense, she is placed under house arrest only to discover that the house is possessed by the violent spirit of her dead husband.
“Alphabet Killer”
(USA, 100 min.)
Writer: Tom Malloy
Director: Rob Schmidt
Cast: Eliza Dushku, Cary Elwes, Timothy Hutton, Michael Ironside, Tom Noonan, Martin Donovan
Regional Premiere
An obsessive police investigator begins seeing the ghost of the murdered girl whose case she is trying to solve.
“Eden Log”
(France, 98 min.)
Writers: Franck Vestiel, Pierre Bordage
Director: Franck Vestiel
Cast: Clovis Cornillac, Vimala Pons, Zohar, Wexler, Sifan Shao
US Premiere
A man wakens in a digital fantasia with no knowledge of who he is, but pursued by ravenous mutants and phantoms.
“Nightmare Detective 2”
(Japan, 90 min.)
Director: Shinya Tsukamoto
Writers: Hisakatsu Kuroki, Shinya Tsukamoto
Cast: Ryuhei Matsuda, Yui Miura
US Premiere
The Nightmare Detective, a man who can enter your dreams, is back. A high school girl, hearing of his abilities begs him to free her from recurring nightmares.
“Splinter”
(USA, 90 min.)
Writers: Kai Barry, Toby Wilkins
Director: Toby Wilkins
Cast: Shea Whigham, Paulo Costanzo, Jill Wagner, Charles Baker, Laurel Whitsett, Rachel Kerbs
Regional Premiere
Trapped in an isolated gas station by a parasite that transforms its victims into deadly hosts, a couple and an escaped convict must to work together to survive this primal terror.
“Strange Girls”
(USA, 97 min.)
Writer/Director: Rona Marks
Cast: Angela Berliner, Jordana Berliner, Andre DeLawrence Rice, Adrienne Wehr, Kasey Daley
Regional Premiere
Twin sisters, unable and unwilling to talk to anyone but each other, are released from a psychiatric institution after the shocking murder of their psychiatrist.
Target Family Film Series
“All Roads Lead Home”
(USA, 108 min.)
Writer: Doug Delaney
Director: Dennis Fallon
Cast: Peter Coyote, Peter Boyle, Vivien Cardone, Jason London, Vanessa Branch
Regional Premiere
After a tragedy, a girl’s life is changed by the appearance of Atticus, a new puppy.
“Blind Ambition”
(USA, 95 min.)
Writer: Alpesh Patel
Director: Bala Rajasekharuni
Cast: Christopher Atkins, Michelle Massey, Deep Katdare, Gulshan Grover, Soren Bowie
Regional Premiere
Sapna is a pretty, smart, fun-loving teenager who is all about celebrating life despite being legally blind.
“Familiar Strangers”
(USA, 86 min.)
Writer: John Bell
Director: Zackary Adler
Cast: Shawn Hatosy, DJ Qualls, Tom Bower, Nikki Reed, Ann Dowd
Regional Premiere
A young man returns home only to find he has to do in his father’s beloved dog and lead the family to victory in a high stakes game of donkey basketball.
“The Flyboys”
(USA, 118 min.)
Writer/Director: Rocco DeVilliers
Cast: Jesse James, Reiley McClendon, Stephen Baldwin, Tom Sizemore
Regional Premiere
Two kids from a small town accidentally stow away on board an airplane owned by the mob.
“Sticks and Stones”
(Canada, 90 min.)
Director: George Mihalka
Writers: Andrew Wreggitt, Sharon Buckingham
Cast: David Sutcliffe, Alexander De Jordy, Daniel Magder, John Robinson
Regional Premiere
A Canadian peewee hockey team attempts to mend Canadian/U.S. relations in the world of amateur sport.
Austin Screens
“American Widow Project”
(USA, 73 min.)
Directors: Taryn Davis, Don Swaynos
World Premiere
On May 21, 2007, 21-year-old Taryn Davis lost her husband, Michael, to a roadside bomb in Baghdad, Iraq. Feeling lost and alone in the new life she’d been thrown into, she began traveling around the country to hear other stories of love, tragedy and survival.
“Cowboy Smoke”
(USA, 92 min.)
Writer/Director: Will Moore
Cast: Chad Mathews, Mike Lutz, James Paul, Estella Perez, Matthew Johnston, Bum Phillips
World Premiere
Joe dreams of becoming a cowboy, so he packs his boots and relocates to South Texas. His ideas are quickly shattered when he finds himself holed up in a town that survives on a human smuggling trade.
“Happiness Is…”
(USA, 90 min.)
Director: Andrew Shapter
Cast: Willie Nelson, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, John Mellencamp, Pinetop Perkins, Leanne Morgan
Regional Premiere
A documentary on happiness: what is it and how do we all find it?
“I’ll Come Running”
(USA/Denmark, 112 min.)
Writers: Line Langebek, Spencer Parsons
Director: Spencer Parsons
Cast: Melonie Diaz, Jon Lange, Christian Tafdrup, Birgitte Raaberg, Hallie Bulleit
Regional Premiere
A young Danish man traveling through Texas hooks up with a girl, but they don’t plan to see each other again until tragic circumstances lead her to his doorstep in Denmark.
“Six Gun”
(USA, 91 min.)
Writer: Luke Hill
Director: Scott Perry
World Premiere
In this indie Western, a group of aging cowboys head out on one last heist only to get tangled up in more trouble than they bargained for.
“Six Man, Texas”
(USA, 70 min.)
Director: Alan Barber
Regional Premiere
With too few students for regular 11-man football, some shrinking Texas communities have elected to play a six-man version. At the center of the story are the players from Aquilla, Texas (pop. 136), their coach and their families.
“Webb Wilder’s Amazing B Picture Shorts”
(USA, 75 min.)
Director: Steve Mims
Webb Wilder lumbers through a shadowy southern gothic underworld flush with casino cash, trailer trash and alien invaders in this “hillbilly-noir” comedy compilation.
This article appears in September 19 • 2008.
