Austin Film Festival October 24 through 31

THE PIANO LESSON – Opening Night –  Opening Night – This film adaptation of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play is co-written and directed by Malcolm Washington. John David Washington stars with Danielle Deadwyler playing siblings who fight over their family’s heirloom piano in a powerful spiritual treatment about slavery and land ownership. Virgil Williams will be in attendance to talk about co-writing the script with Malcolm Washington and the challenge of adapting this film filled with so much dialogue and emotion. Danielle Deadwyler delivers an incredible performance. Watch for our interview with co-writer Virgil Williams. 

THE BRUTALIST –  Brady Corbet directs this not-to-be-missed 3 and a half hour stunning film with an intermission co-written with Mona Fastvold.  A Hungarian visionary architect escapes post-war Europe to find a new life for he and his wife, Erzsébet (Felicity Jones), forced apart because of changing regimes. Adrien Brody nails the accent as László Toth and is remarkable as the immigrant working for super rich Pennsylvanian industrialist (Harrison Lee Van Buren) who reveres the architect’s genius, until they struggle for power. Taut, complicated and visually compelling. Don’t let the run time scare you.

THE ORDER – Jude Law stars as an FBI agent investigating a series of violent crimes connected to a white supremacist group. A string of violent bank and armored car robberies in the Pacific Northwest leads him to a domestic terrorist plot to foment revolution. Inspired by a similar case in the 1980’s which lead to the Oklahoma City bombing. Also starring Nicholas Hoult, Jurnee Smolett, Marc Maron and Tye Sheridan. Watch for our Red Carpet interviews with Writer Zach Baylin and Tye Sheridan.

THE KNIFE –  Director Nnamdi Asomugha also writes the story of an African American father who confronts an intruder in his home, but his actions lead to a confrontation and a series of events that become a disturbing investigation by a veteran female detective interviewing each member of the family, including his wife and young daughters. Melissa Leo stars as the detective in this harrowing scenario with an unexpected resolution. Watch for interviews with Nnamdi Asomugha and Melissa Leo about getting a Black perspective on crime and getting to the truth. 

SILENT NOTES – Directed by Toni Comas, starring Daniel Durant (who played Leo in the Oscar award winning CODA). As Bruce, Durant plays a young man going deaf, trying to raise enough money to get a medical procedure to restore his hearing. The job that will get him the most money fast is as a bag man for the mob. Bruce crosses paths and slowly develops a relationship with a man who frequents his favorite coffee shop. Ethan (Matt Riker) is funny and engaging in this film which also takes some tense, dangerous, surprising turns. Watch for our lively interview with Comas, Durant and Riker. 

UNSTOPPABLE – This inspiring drama, directed by William Goldenberg, follows Anthony Robles (Jharrel Jerome) who was born with one leg but whose drive and dedication and empower him to defy his troubled family life and the odds to achieve his dream to be a winner. With the dedicated love and support of  his mother Judy (Jennifer Lopez), plus the encouragement of understanding coaches, Anthony fights like hell to earn a spot on the Arizona State Wrestling team. Co-starring Bobby Cannavale as the tough head of the house. Watch for our interviews with Anthony Robles and Jarrell Jerome who had to go through rigorous training to play him.  

PARTY PEOPLE –  What happens when your cast includes 20 + people playing 20-somethings all trying to get to the same party. Chaos, fun or both. Shot in Austin, we met the happiest cast on the Red Carpet, some of whom had never been in a film before. Directed by Joey LePage and written by Lindsey Robertson, a husband and wife team, like us, who told us they wrote a tight script, but let improv happen organically. Watch for our fun Red Carpet interviews with the creative couple and the exuberant cast. 

OPERATION TACO GARY’S –  Director Michael Kvamme directs Simon Rex, Jason Biggs, Dustin Milligan, Brenda Song, Arturo Castro, Tony Cavalero, and Doug Jones in a wild road trip for two brothers. The older one, (Rex) is an off-the-grid conspiracy theorist whose estranged brother is practically kidnapped to participate in his sibling’s secret agenda. Watch for our interviews with Rex, Kvamme and more cast members excited about this frantic ride. 

AMERICAN SPIRIT – Writer/Director Christopher Yates directs Yasmeen Fletcher and Cooper Roth as Melody and Jonathan in an unusual piece of filmmaking. They are college students who dated in high school and bump into each other after an unsatisfying late night of parties on the University of Texas campus. Yates shoots them walking and talking about why that relationship didn’t last in scenes that run up to 19 minutes long and in a series of long takes with a lot of well-performed dialogue. Also starring Mackinlee Waddell, Todd Terry. Watch for our interviews with Yates, Fletcher and Roth about shooting  so much dialogue in just 11 nights. 

Kathleen Kennedy  – In addition to the films and interviews, we attended talks by Super Producer, Kathleen Kennedy who talked about starting with Steven Spielberg working on ET, working on more than 70 films, and now President of Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound. She is considered the most respected and successful producer in the business having been nominated for Academy Awards more than 100 times and won 25 times.

Rian Johnson – Talked about his process for writing, which isn’t as easy for him as you think. But it is his passion, as is working with other creative people to think up the amazingly complicated stories he’s brought to big screens and small. We’ve interviewed this incredibly creative writer/director/producer twice for The Brothers Bloom and for Knives Out. Johnson, known for Brick, Looper, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Knives Out: Glass Onion, plus  TV series including Breaking Bad and Poker Face starring Natasha Lyonne.