Fresh film news; contents include: Untitled Gay Retiree Documentary, a Tugg screening for Earth Day, “How To Mow Your Yard on PCP,” and more.
Perennially accoladed – for his work as a documentarian, a cinematographer, a music video maker, and gay power player – PJ Raval is currently raising funds for his new project about retirement and aging in the gay community. In a video posted to the film’s fundraising page at USA Projects, Raval explains:
“I think we live in a youth-obsessed culture and we overlook and ignore the senior communities, and I think they have their own set of challenges and issues that they’re dealing with. And I think in the LGBT community, it’s even more so. A lot of these people don’t have family structures to support them or rely upon. A lot of them are single and don’t have partners to age with. These are some of the stories that we’re looking at in the documentary – how some of these individuals are finding their support systems and their community as they age.”
The video also includes snippets of interviews with gay retirees; it’s well worth a watch. Also worth noting: Donation dollars are currently being matched by the Austin Film Fund. Double the fun!
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PJ Raval has already received two grants from the Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund, an essential resource for local moviemakers. It just so happens TFPF is accepting grant applications right now. Deadline is June 1, and TFPF workshops explaining the process are ongoing. Find out more here.
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On 11/11/11, filmmakers in every country of the world picked up cameras to document their tiny pockets of the planet. That footage has been compiled into one picture – One Day on Earth – which has its worldwide premiere on April 26 (Earth Day, natch). Austinites can get a first look then, too – provided they ask for it. The Alamo Ritz is reserving tickets through the Austin-based collective action platform Tugg (still in beta, go here for more a more thorough explaining). The lowdown: If 70 tickets are reserved in advance, then the screening gets locked in. If not enough people express interest, the screening doesn’t happen. The clock’s ticking (the deadline is in 2 days), so if you’re interested, take a look here.
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Love film, will travel? Fredericksburg’s Hill Country Film Festival runs April 26-29. Included in this year’s programming is the debut of Cowboy Smoke director (and former UT footballer) Will Moore‘s latest, Satellite of Love, as well as a sidebar of 3D short films and a screening of Christian Remde‘s short doc on the farm-to-table movement, “Local,” produced as part of his Twelve Films Project (which the Chron chronicled last summer).
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Yesterday the Humordy guys posted a new short about the benefits of phencyclidine on lawn maintenance, and it’s already poised for viral greatness. Byron Brown, as ever, cracks our shit up.
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Film Flam lives here: filmflam@austinchronicle.com.
This article appears in April 13 • 2012.