HOME: SEPTEMBER 7, 2007: SCREENS

Film News

BY JOE O'CONNELL

They're in the Money

If you want a good idea of what's upcoming and cool in the Texas
independent film scene, take a look at the filmmakers snagging grants
from the Austin Film Society's Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund, which
this year doled out a record $150,000. The biggest bucks ever awarded,
at $20,000, went to June Lee, a Master of Fine Arts grad from the
University of Texas' Department of Radio-Television-Film. The money will
go toward production of Starfish, a feature film about a middle-aged
ex-gangster trying to make amends with his mom after eight years in
prison. The next biggest award was $15,000 to Laura Harrison of Houston
for Ant, a documentary about the Seventies artist collective Ant Farm,
which is best known for Cadillac Ranch outside of Amarillo. Harrison
also received a grant for the film last year. Two Austin documentarians
received large awards. First-timer Mitch Schulz got $12,000 for DMT: The
Spirit Molecule, about the science behind the drug DMT, and Heather
Courtney got $11,000 for Where Soldiers Come From, about young National
Guard recruits in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Other winners include: John Bryant, $5,000 for short "Loveolution";
Sergio and Victor Carvajal, $5,000 for experimental feature Lo Que Daria
por Volver; Steve Collins, $2,000 in Kodak film stock for short "Dead
Dreams Incorporated"; Lucia Duncan, $4,000 for the documentary Stories
of the San Ignacio Lagoon; John Fiege, $10,000 for the documentary Goal
Citesoleil; Walter Glass, $1,000 in Kodak stock for the feature film
Corpus; Paul Gordon, $10,000 for the feature Naomi, Naomi; Deb Lewis,
$6,000 for postproduction on the doc Supercollider; David Lowery, $6,000
for feature St. Nick; Geoff Marslett, $5,000 for postproduction on the
animated Mars; Lucas Martell, $5,000 for the animated short "Pigeon
Impossible"; Darius Monroe, $8,000 for the doc Evolution of a Criminal;
Douglas Newman, $5,000 for the doc Gone to Texas: The Lives of Forrest
Carter; frequent Chronicle contributor Spencer Parsons, $5,000 for
distribution of feature I'll Come Running; Michel Scott, $5,000 for doc
The Horse Boy; Leah Sharpe and the Chronicle's own Jason Stout, $5,000
for experimental "Doodad's Moon Pad"; and Arie Stavchansky, $5,000 for
animated short "Optitronic."

This year makes a total of $750,000 in cash and $80,000 in goods the
film society has given to 243 projects over 11 years. Where does all of
this money come from? Much is from you, the film viewer, who shows up
for glitzy Film Society events like the premiere of director/co-star
Ethan Hawke's film The Hottest State Sept. 19, at the Paramount. Austin
native Hawke adapted his own novel into the film, a romance about first
love starring Mark Webber, Catalina Sandido Moreno, Laura Linney, and
Michelle Williams. Tickets are $75 and get you into a swinging
afterparty at a location soon to be announced with celebs galore. Get
your tickets at www.gettix.net and fund some independent films.

'Bella's 'Unforeseen' success

Laura Dunn's doc The Unforeseen has been picked up for distribution by
the Cinema Guild, with an opening planned in New York and Los Angeles
this fall, followed by a national rollout. Dunn's film, executive
produced by Terrence Malick and Robert Redford, premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival. It's about the big-picture story of Austin's
growth as developers slobber in glee and environmentalists become
activists to protect dear old Barton Springs. Dunn has said she got the
idea for the doc from Malick. She took 150 hours of film shot over three
years and then spent two years editing it down into an intriguing tale
surrounding a very humanized developer Gary Bradley and the
ever-vigilant Save Our Springs gang. Meanwhile, Bella, by former
Austinite Alejandro Gomez Monteverde, has been picked up by Roadside
Attractions. The People's Choice Award winner at the Toronto
International Film Festival, which also screened at South by Southwest,
will be distributed in the U.S. through Lions Gate with a big
promotional push.

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