The Austin Film Festival has reached a halfway point.
The conference has come to an end and the films have just started premiering all over town. At this point, it seems an appropriate time to reflect on the conference but also look ahead to the festival.
While attendees at other festivals might jabber about spotting actors on the street or the latest Oscar-bait, the first question asked by any amicable stranger at the festival is always, “So, do you have a film here, or are you shopping a script?”
Nearly everyone attending has translated their love of films into a fervent desire to make them, giving its attendees a certain nervous but nonetheless friendly charm. They may not know you, but they know what it’s like to be you. I started my conference experience with a panel titled “The AFF Conference: How to Work It.” Though I didn’t quite know what it would help me work, I thought that because I was a first-timer, I would check it out.
Two festival alums (Julie O’Hora and Karl Williams) headed the panel and explained, in strikingly paternal tones, how they had used the festival to jump-start their film industry careers. It was a curious mix of inspiring the supposedly anxious writer types to network and deterring them from acting overly aggressively.
As the panel came to a close, those in attendance glanced around the room and began striking up conversations with one another, employing their newfound networking abilities. But the real miracle of the festival is that they found they weren’t only networking but actually enjoying themselves. They were in a room of individuals much like themselves — driven to create but never knowing if the seeds they would sow would reap anything at all.
Of course, not everyone in attendance feels this same sense of camaraderie, but it seems to be the feeling that sets this festival apart. It gently instructs its attendees about the difficulties and possible triumphs that lie ahead, treating them more like a family than an audience.
In addition to the panels, there are, of course, the films. I was rather busy with panels as the conference went along but I was able to check out “Precious,” the brutal story of an obese, black 16-year-old, pregnant with her second child. The film has received critical praise at every festival it’s been shown. It supposedly received a 20-minute standing ovation at Cannes and lived up to its reputation. Admittedly, melodrama rears its saccharine head once or twice, but it does nothing to lessen the impact of this incredible movie.
And more films sit on the Austin horizon. “The Road” and “Up in the Air” round out the marquee series but many smaller-budget films will be playing around town. “Tenure” and “Love and Tambourines” have piqued my interest.
For those of you without badges or tickets that just want to check out some good cinema, I highly recommend getting into line and giving it a shot. The Paramount Theatre, where the marquee screenings play, seats 1,200 and has yet to fill up this year, and most smaller screenings are easy enough to get into at a moment’s notice.
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