• Assistance Please, Dept.: The venerable Austin Film Society is on the prowl for a new administrative assistant “to provide general office support and assist the executive director,” namely the very nice and pleasant-to-work-for Rebecca Campbell. Duties including calling “Short Cuts” at the last minute to give us the scoop, as well as general office support and, you know, office-type-thingies. This, of course, means a big bon voyage to exiting and indispensable right-hand-man Gregory Collins, who’s off to “chase my dream of shooting the first live-action Muppet movie based on Polanski’s Repulsion.” (At least we think that’s what he said – our T-Mobile reception is for shit these days.) See the job description and oh so much more at www.austinfilm.org/afs/jobs.php.
• The Never-Ending SXSW Story Dept.: Nobody – and we mean nobody, although possibly Jeff “The Dude” Dowd comes close – can manage to catch all the films that screen at any given South by Southwest Film Festival, right? You know the drill: Come March, you’re sitting in a darkened theatre wondering how on earth any sane filmmaker could make a 120-minute-plus opus dei-cum-homage to Bergman’s Wild Strawberries using only stop-motion persimmons, while your pals are down the street reveling in the glory that is, um, Super Size Me. Granted, thanks to SXSW’s top-notch programmers, the range of quality among films is rarely if ever that wide, but still – you can’t see everything. SXSW programming head Matt Dentler, however, begs to disagree and points you in the direction of the South by Southwest Summer Film Festival, a cunning means to take up the slack by rescreening the best and the brightest of the previous year’s entries at our very own Alamo Drafthouse Downtown (409 Colorado). Upcoming films you might have missed, partied through, or just plain dozed off in, because, let’s face it, Ritalin doesn’t work forever, include Bush’s Brain, Dear Pillow, A Few Good Dykes, The Naked Feminist, and Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story, among others. Advance tickets for the whole shebang can be purchased at www.drafthouse.com, and, as always, more info is available at www.sxsw.com.
• It Came From Mike Judge’s Garage Dept.: Local wunderkind/director Mike Judge (of Office Space fame) is holding a garage sale to sell off items recently used as props and whatnot in his new – as yet untitled – film, which recently wrapped production here in Austin. Sale items include “furniture (including chairs, sofas, and some modern items), movie props, after-market vehicle accessories, tools, office supplies, lighting, light bulbs, water tanks, insulation, metal racks, etc.” The event will have already begun by the time you read this but continues through Thursday, July 15, at Austin Studios, 1801 East 51st. Follow the signs to “Hangar/Warehouse,” and you’re there.
This article appears in July 16 • 2004.