Interview:
Colin Hyer,
creative director,
Andy Volk,
lead film programmer,
Austin Film Festival and Writers Conference
The 29th annual Austin Film Festival runs Oct. 27 through Nov. 3 at various venues, with its Writers Conference running Oct. 27 through Oct. 30. The film festivals opens Oct. 27 with Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale and closes Nov. 3 with Rian Johnson’s sequel Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Other high-profile films include James Gray’s Armageddon Time, Sarah Polley’s Women Talking, Stephen Frears’ The Lost King, Elegance Bratton’s The Inspection, Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun, Nikyatu Jusu’s Nanny, the Jennifer Lawrence drama Causeway, and Damon Le Gallo’s Sam & Kate, starring Dustin Hoffman and Sissy Spacek. 1-800-Hot-Nite, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Ashkal, The Baker, Four Samosas, Good Night Oppy, Moon Garden, Savage Waters, Thug Rose, Turn Every Page—The Adventure of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb, and Who Invited Charlie? round out the Austin Film Festival’s Marquee titles. Narrative features include Absence, Blow Up My Life, Golden Delicious, Little Jar, MEDUSA, Quicksand, Salma’s Home, Under Water, Welcome, Violeta!, and The Wild Man. Comedies include The Bystanders, Checkout, Dance Dads, Daniel’s Gotta Die, The Library Boys, Long Flat Balls: Broken Promises, and Wake Up, Leonard. Dark Matter entries include #Blue_Whale, The Domestic, Do Not Disturb, Fixation, and Follow Her. Films by Austin filmmakers or with Austin-area ties include the narrative features Beauty of a Blank Space and Dance Dads and the documentaries The Other Fellow and Song of the Cicada. Other Texas features include Pepe Serna: Lie is Art and What Remains, starring the late Anne Heche. Documentaries include American: An Odyssey to 1947, The Baby Daddy, Fenom, The Fire That Took Her, For the Love of Friends, Showbusiness is My Life, But I Can't Prove It (A Film about Gary Mule Deer), The ‘Vous, and With this Light. The Writers Conference, which runs Oct. 27 through Oct. 30, will feature individual and group conversations with this year’s Austin Film Festival honorees: the Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award Recipient Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, Noah, The Whale); the Bill Wittliff Award for Screenwriting Recipient James Gray (We Own the Night, Ad Astra, Armageddon Time); Recipient of the Polly Platt Award for Producing Dede Gardner (the co-president of Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B); the Recipient of the New Voice Award Nikyatu Jusu (Nanny); and the Recipient of the Outstanding Television Writer Award Stephen Merchant (co-creator of the U.K. version of The Office, writer/director of Fighting With My Family). The conference will also include conversations with The Inspection’s Elegance Bratton, Barry co-creator Alec Berg, Painkille creators Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster, Ultra Violet & Black Scorpion’s showrunners Leo Chu and Eric S. Garcia, development executives from Rooster Teeth, and RoboCop screenwriter Edward Neumeier, who will also present a retrospective screening of the classic 1987 dystopian action thriller. The conference also includes "On Writing" panels on Dark Winds, Ghosts, Never Have I Ever, Soul, and The Whale; film and television roundtables; James V. Hart’s “HartChart” session on Severance; and closing remarks by The Nice Guys and Iron Man 3’s writer/director Shane Black. In addition to film and television, the conference will spotlight writing for games and podcasts. Aired: Oct. 11, 2022 Web sites: http://www.austinfilmfestival.com/ https://www.facebook.com/AustinFilmFestival |
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