Austin Film Festival – October 26th – November 2nd

American Fiction – Writer/Director Cord Jefferson’s first film is a novel comedy. When a high brow author,  Thelonius “Monk,” played by Jeffrey Wright, has trouble selling his intellectual books, he turns to what worked with  smart Black female writer (Issa Rae) who writes in street vernacular and hits the best seller lists. Frustrated, his agent suggests he do the same with a pen name and when he garners attention, it’s up to his own creativity to come up with a thuggish, fugitive persona causing him to create a double life. One with a family of distinguished doctors, the other as a bad dude on the lam. Watch our lively interview with Jefferson about poking the bear at the literary world.

Saltburn – Oscar winning screenwriter Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) directs a provocative film about a student (Barry Keoghan – The Banshees of Inishirin) of meager means on scholarship at Oxford who befriends an attractive rich student (Jacob Elordi – Euphoria, Priscilla) who invites him to his family’s opulent Saltburn estate. Provocative film where this young man explores and acquires the appetites of the decadent rich.  In theaters November 22nd. 

The Holdovers – Director Alexander Payne and Writer David Hemingson have created a well-paced, witty, film with just enough physical comedy for Paul Giamatti and film newcomer Dominic Sessa. We could see The Holdovers become a new holiday classic to be held over year after year about a teacher, a student and a cook at a New England prep school who struggle with each other when they get left behind during the holidays. Push comes to shove between the teacher played by Giamatti, and the rebellious student (Dominic Tessa) with head cook Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) playing referee in this fun Christmas gift.  

The Problem with People –  World Premiere. Writer Paul Reiser and Director Chris Cottam create a meeting of two worlds for the first time in 2 generations when an Irish grandfather on his death bed asks his son to make peace with an estranged member of the family. That estranged member is a Jew living in New York. Paul Reiser and Colm Meany play the cousins who meet in Ireland for a chance to bring the family back together. Of course, comedy ensues in beautifully shot love letter to Ireland as the cousins try to understand each other’s customs and foibles.

Finestkind  –  Director Brian Helgeland’s tense New England seafaring thriller stars Tommy Lee Jones, Ben Forster, Jenna Ortega and Toby Wallace. Family drama as the aging patriarch struggles to tries to manage the transition within his family of his fishing business. Helgeland and Cinematographer Crills Forberg capture show difficult it is to find find and net scallops to make a living, in spite of trying to reject pressure from organized crime to transport illicit drugs. Excellent performances of well-developed characters  Watch for our interviews with Helgeland and Crille Forsberg.

Bolt From the Blue – World Premiere. This sci-fi adventure directed by Jack Martin and starring his brother Kevin Michael Martin (The Last Ship), Kevin’s wife, Page Tudyk Gomez plus Kate Flannery (The Office), Matt Walsh (Veep), and Manny Spero (Thor: Love and Thunder) in a mashup of  Back to the Future meets Twister and even a tech decked out Rover. Sparks fly when an eccentric young scientist tries to  finish his parents’  mission to turn lightening into renewable energy.  It gets complicated when a young female scientist comes to pick his brain to beat him to the punch. Thought-provoking fun.

Studio One Forever – The first gay disco attracted thousands of men who could be themselves and dance till they dropped bare chested and sweaty in West LA 1070’s. This became a huge hit with celebrities as well with a Backlot showroom attended by everyone from Rock Hudson, Cary Grant, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, to Joan Rivers, Bette Davis and Chita Riviera. Watch our internview with Director Marc Saltarelli and Hollywood writer Bruce Vilanche for the history of the club and what happened when AIDS struck decimated the community. 

The Trap – Lena Heady is more than the evil Cercie Lancaster in The Game of Thrones. Challenging for her directorial debut, she has written and directed a film about love and life that was inspired 13 years ago when she was pregnant with her first child.  She told us she was terrified of the prospect of unconditional love. In this film, she cast actors Michelle Farley (Game of Thrones) as a woman who lives a solitary life.  Relatively sedentary, she is content until a mysterious stranger shows up and wreaks havoc on her life,  not wanting anyone to disturb her passive existence. Heady told us she hand-picked the cast for the short, keeping the same actors for the feature, knowing what she wanted and what they could bring to her project. Heady told us she always loved being behind-the-scenes more than in front of the camera, already writing her next screenplay. Watch for our interview with Lena Heady who was fascinated that we were a husband and wife team. 

For When You Get Lost –  World Premiere. Writer and lead, Jennifer Sorenson, is a force to be reckoned with whether her sisters want to get involved or not. In another case of broken family, Jennifer plays a fictionalized version of herself on a road trip to say good-bye to her dying father who is not held in great esteem. Michelle Steffes directs this test of wills with comic situations as well as beautiful travelogue through the scenery and breweries from Southern California up the coast up through the Northwest. Watch our interview with Sorenson and Steffes who explain why they wore winter hats in 80 degree heat at Austin Film Festival.

Home Free –  When Lenny Barszap and Aaron Brown  went to college, they shared a house with 4 other people, but their porch became the home of a homeless man they affectionately called “The Professor.” This film starts out as Animal House showing how the crazy college kids lived, but also how they took in a person who gave just as much to him as he gave to them in life lessons, With an original soundtrack evoking 90’s rock music, Barszap and Brown set the tone for their do good comedy. Watch our lively interview where they talk about their commitment to set up their Do Good organization to help the homeless. 

I’ll Be There – World Premiere. In this film, written by Cindy McCreery and Direct Andrew Shea, a blended family is thrown together against an unusual backdrop. Their ailing family member is in a hospital next door to where an autopsy is being performed on Michael Jackson next door. The film title and the song come together in this drama sorting out family history and emotions. Watch for our interview with the directors and two of the stars. 

Susan Feniger: Forked! – Liz Bachman directs this documentary of dynamic chef Susan Feniger’s career from being the first female chef at the posh Le Perroquet in Chicago, creating one of the first TV cooking shows with Mary ?, cooking with Julia Child, touring the world for her favorite street foods, writing cook books and more. Once settled in LA, Bachman a former architect, documents Feniger’s 4 year journey of ups and downs to create a restaurant that failed. But that hasn’t stopped this dynamic duo. Watch our serious but also hilarious interview with these two fun women, one who loves food, and the other who doesn’t! 

Don’t Tell Larry –  World Premiere. Greg Porper and John Schimke wrote and directed this workplace comedy dealing with who becomes CEO when something happens to the soon-to-be-retiring boss played by Ed Begley, Jr. Susan (Patty Guggenheim) believes she’s worked hard enough to deserve the job until Larry shows up. She and work buddy and Patrick (Kenneth Mosley) keep coming up with crazy schemes to derail Larry. Comedy including a couple of gasp worthy moments create this frantic scenario.

The Stars at Night – World Premiere. Writer/Director Betty Buckley has a mission. In this film, she explores the connection between astronomy, mythology and original storytelling. She has studied the stars and, specifically, the Milky Way as a professor. But she is trying to turn out the lights. Not of the stars, but those street level lights that keep us from seeing them as those did before they blocked out the beauty of the constellations and the stories previous civilizations created to explain creation, life, and more.  Watch for our interview with Betty who enlightens us about how important it is to be able to see the stars and learn from them.