Film News

BY JOE O'CONNELL

The first tangible signs of the writers' strike in Austin? How about a
demontration – not an actual picket, we're assured – in front of the
Paramount Theater on South Congress, from noon to 2pm, Thursday, Dec.
13. It's part of a nationwide Day of Action by the Writers Guild...
Sure, the never-ending Writers Guild strike has Friday Night Lights crew
members twiddling their collective thumbs with no end in sight while the
show's actors fill their time busking at car shows, but this holiday
season everything Austin and Texan filmic is raking in the noms/awards.
For your consideration: Body of War, University of Texas film prof Ellen
Spiro's Iraq war saga, was named best documentary by the National Board
of Review and, as we told you previously, is short-listed for the
Oscars. The NBR named Joel and Ethan Coen's No Country for Old Men,
which was shot partially in Marfa, its best film, ensemble cast, and
adapted screenplay. The NBR is a group of film educators and other
professionals with no official Hollywood ties, but their picks often
presage the Oscars... Jayne Mansfield, Thomas Haden Church, and the film
Urban Cowboy are the first announced 2008 Texas Film Hall of Fame
inductees. Mariska Hargitay will accept her mom's award, while Debra
Winger will explain the mechanical-bull phenomenon sparked by Urban
Cowboy, and University of North Texas grad Church will find a receptive
audience for tales of the college adventures that inspired his Rolling
Kansas. Uh, he might mention his Oscar nom for Sideways, too. Expect
more Hall of Fame names in January and a ceremony in March to benefit
the Austin Film Society's many wonderful programs... Charlie Koones,
publisher of Variety, ranks Fantastic Fest as one of the Top 10 most
"interesting and exciting" festivals, which he defines as the ones that
aim to provoke their audiences rather than tame them. Tim League, Alamo
Drafthouse kingpin and FF point man, responds, "Long live the relentless
pursuit of pissing off your audience!"... For those of you who haven't
yet heard, Austin's Sundance Film Festival class of 2008 includes
Margaret Brown's competition doc The Order of Myths, David and Nathan
Zellner's Goliath, and Baghead from Jay and Mark Duplass (sure, they
don't live here anymore, but we still claim them as our wayward
children). Oh, and P.J. Raval shot Sundance competition doc Trouble the
Water, about New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina... Film
Independent's Spirit Awards nominees? Chris Eska's August Evening is up
for the John Cassavetes Award for the best feature made for less than
$500,000, while Laura Dunn and her Austin environmental epic, The
Unforeseen, is up for the Truer Than Fiction Award. The awards take
place Feb. 23... Austin Film Festival film program director Kelly
Williams was honored for excellence at the International Film Festival
Summit in New York City earlier this month... Hey, somebody's working!
Austin native Ray Prewitt has a part in Jim Sheridan-directed Brothers,
now filming in, gulp, New Mexico, and starring Natalie Portman, Jake
Gyllenhaal, and Tobey Maguire.
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