Austin Film Festival

If you know me well you know that I would never be considered a film expert or even someone who watches movies often. I grew up in a home where watching anything besides the news was almost illegal. My brother and I would sneak in some quality Jerry Springer before our parents came home and then we were only allowed 1 hour of television which generally consisted of The Simpsons and Home Improvement. When our Dad was out of town I remember going to the video store with my Mom and "sneaking" movie time. Clearly Movies are related more as a guilty pleasure rather than a lifestyle. 

Not surprisingly, I have a dearth of knowledge on anything to do with the film industry. I know when I like a movie, but I probably couldn't tell you all the actors much less who the producer or the writers were. I do however, have y friend, Trever, who knows a lot more that I could ever care to know about films. I only enjoy about 10% of the movies Trever presents me, but that's not surprising since we have two totally different lifestyles. 

The only photo I took... I was watching movies!

When my brother Harlan was offered two producer badges to the Austin Film Festival for Parkside's involvment in the Film and Food Gala he naturally asked his wonderful sister and her movie fanantic friend Trever if they wanted the badges. Little did Harlan know these badges were worth about $700 a piece, because surely he would have tried to sell them. The Producer badge granted priority access to the week of movies, the conference, and of course parties. 


While I didn't partake in the conference nor did I take the week off of from work to spend to go to movies, I did see quite a few unique films and rub shoulders with famous writers and producers at various free parties around Austin. To be honest, I didn't quite know who I was rubbing shoulders seeing that I don't know who famous screenwriters and producers are, much less what they look like. I'm not complaining, because I still go my free drinks and shwag. :-)


The word on the street is the Austin Film Festival is unique because it focuses on the writers. It is also unique because it is in Austin. Luckily, Austin has the wonderful Alamo Drafthouses, an IMAX, the historic Paramount, and numerous other movie watching venues to host dozens of movies throughout the city. While the Austin Film Festival is less glitzy and well known as other film festivals such as Sundance or Cannes it is close to home and suitable to the Austin culture. And for me, it was an affordable fun new experience. I love the fact that I was able to    take part in some of the arts and culture Austin has to offer for free! 


The films I saw: I Love You Philip Morris (feature film), Dog Sweat (documentary), Treme (HBO series premier), Burned: Life in and Out of Texas Youth Prisons (documentary), Paradise Recovered (feature film), Weakness (feature film), and Black Swan (feature film, and my fave!).  

http://www.austinfilmfestival.com/new/mission

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Film_Festival