Austin
Film Festival 2003 - Day 8 - October 16, 2003
Last Day of AFF I had penciled-in "Off the Map" and
"Movie Hero" to see on the last day of AFF but I knew
by the time Thursday afternoon arrived that this was too
ambitious and a bit of wishful thinking on my part. I
was dog tired and there was no way I was going to be able
to cram two more movies into my brain. I resigned myself
to the idea of just seeing the first one, the closing
night film. Sam Elliot was supposed to be in attendance
and it would be a nice closer to the 8 days of movies
and schmoozing that is the Austin Film Festival.
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I drove downtown at around 6:45 and assumed
there would be not be a sell-out crowd to see
the film. I was right but by being late, I missed
a chance to take some close-up pictures of Elliot.
As I drove past the Paramount, I could see a small
crowd gathered around a silver haired man and
flashbulbs were flashing brightly. I hurried and
parked and trotted to the Paramount, but the crowd
had dispersed and Mr. Elliot was nowhere to be
seen. I remembered to take a picture of the Paramount
marquee and headed inside.
I walked towards my usual seat in the front
and noticed some people standing around and taking
pictures. Elliot was sitting in the audience and
a gaggle of giddy middle-aged women were circling
around him taking snapshot. He was very congenial
about this and talked with friends and fans as
he continued to be the center of attention.
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The Marquee
at the Paramount
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I decided that since all the other folks taking
snaps were female and no press guys seemed to be around,
I wouldn't take a picture. After all, I could take one
when he got on stage. I hate bothering celebs when they
are just sitting around trying to have a normal time.
After a few minutes, a girl came and sat right
beside me. (The ladies love Lodger!) She struck up a
conversation with me and we ended up talking about AFF
and documentaries. AFF added documentaries to their
films this year (finally) and had even more films to
choose from. The girls told me that this was the biggest
crowd she had seen all week, so I asked her if she had
mainly been going to documentaries and she told me yes.
We talked about how documentaries have really emerged
in the past year in the art film world and gotten even
more interesting in subject matter. We discussed "Spellbound"
and "Capturing the Friedmans" (she had seen neither)
and then she brought up "The Weather Underground" and
we discussed what a great film it was and how comprehensive
the achieve footage in the film is.
About this time, a female I had never seen before
walked on stage, introduced herself as being from KLBJ
and introduced the film. The lights went down and a
couple of the Bombay Sapphire ads/films played again.
The AFF trailer was "The Kid" and I noticed that the
cool song, "The Kid's are Alright" is by a band called
Nooner. The film began with some image logos of the
film's distributors and I swear one of these had a mis-frame
on it. I could be wrong, it could have been projectionist
error, but I think it was actually in the film print.
Maybe this film hasn't been picked up for distribution
yet and this is a early print. I don't know.
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Turk
Pipkin and Sam Elliot
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After the film, Turk Pipkin, a local author,
screenwriter and actor, brought Elliot up on stage
and did a Q&A. Pipkin asked a lot of his own questions
and mentioned how he tried to get local musician
Jimmy Dale Gilmore to come (I can't remember what
his obscure connection to Elliot was) but he had
a gig and couldn't be here. Then he looked for
R. Lee Ermey, who was supposedly in the audience,
but he had left as well. Again, I'm not sure of
the connection to Elliot, but there must be one.
Ermey is in Austin filming the comedy "Cheer Up!"
with Tommy Lee Jones. (You must have the middle
name Lee to be in the film.) Ermey recently did
an appearance for the Alamo Drafthouse premiere
screening of the remake of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre"
which was also filmed here near Austin and in
which he appeared.
Elliot answered a lot of questions and spoke
highly of his director, Campbell Scott, and co-stars
Joan Allen (whom he starred with in "The Contenders,"
she brought him to this project) and Jimmy True-Frost.
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It was not the best Q&A I've ever seen as Elliot
tends to cover his face a lot when he talks. He also
had a wicked cold and coughed a lot during the interview.
Still, Elliot was a delightful speaker and seem genuine
and nice.
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The Q&A ended at 9:30, making it impossible
to see a final film even if I had wanted to. In
a unprecedented turn of events at any film happening
I've ever attended at the Paramount, Elliot stayed
on the stage after the Q&A and was swamped by
folks seeking autographs. He obliged with his
charm remaining intact. I left and walked back
to my car, on my way out I passed Barbara Morgan,
AFF Executive Director and said hello.
AFF 2003 turned out to be a pretty nice event
for me this year. I got to see a lot of advanced
screenings and took a pretty casual approach to
the festival. I still feel bad because I don't
feel like I have a good relationship with AFF
now, especially with Competition Film Programmer
Lisa Albracht, and because of this so many small
indie filmmakers seem ignored by me. I didn't
have time to get to several of the screenings
I would have liked to attend and some of these
smaller filmmakers need all the press attention
they can get. I could have worked harder to hook
up with Lisa and get some screeners and see some
things, but neither one of us seemed inclined
to make it happen.
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Sam
Elliot
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Films I would have liked to see include "The Failures,"
"Broadway's Golden Age," "Movie Hero," and "Love Object."
I didn't get to see many shorts this year either.
I guess there's always next year... right?
Lodger2003
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