Lights, Camera, Action

Austin Film Festival's must-see movies, plus can't-miss panels and parties

For aspiring Austin filmmakers, screenwriters, and film buffs, it's the most wonderful time of the year. During the annual Austin Film Festival, October 13-20, the city becomes the center of the universe for writers dedicated to film, television, new media, and, for the first time, stage plays.

With literally hundreds of film screenings, more than 20 world premieres, red carpet arrivals, panels, workshops, and star-studded parties, the biggest dilemma is choosing which ones to attend. We reached out to AFF insiders for a preview of the must-see films and must-attend panels and parties.

Best bets for getting the most out of the fest

Film & Food Fundraising Party
October 12, 7 pm at Driskill Hotel
See and be seen as you wine and dine with the glitterati in the elegant Driskill Ballroom. Austin’s culinary stars come together to support the film community and all of the funds raised go support the Young Filmmakers Program. Tickets are $100 and may be purchased separately from passes and badges.

Opening Night Film: Loving
October 13, 7 pm at Paramount Theatre
The highly anticipated love story of an interracial couple denied their right to live together as a married couple in their home state of Virginia focuses on a nine-year legal battle which went to the Supreme Court. Writer/director Jeff Nichols will be in attendance, and a discussion will follow the screening.

Additional recommended screenings:

La La Land, starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone
Trespass Against Us, starring Michael Fassbender and Brendan Gleeson
Wakefield, starring Bryan Cranston and Jennifer Garner, with writer/director Robin Swicord in attendance
The Edge of Seventeen, starring Oscar nominees Hailee Steinfeld and Woody Harrelson, with producer James L. Brooks and writer/director Kelly Fremon Craig in attendance
My Life as a Film, with Swiss writer/director Eva Vitija in attendance
Bleed for This, starring Miles Teller and Aaron Eckhart, with writer/director Ben Younger in attendance for the closing night screening

World-premiere films with Austin ties:

Homestate, shot entirely in Austin, mainly at the home of writer/director David Hickey
The Golden Rut, from writers/directors Joshua and Nick Holden, shot on location in Austin
Quaker Oaths, the first feature film from local filmmaker Lucy Kreutz

See the complete film schedule here.

Must-attend panels

"The Script that Shagged Me: A Conversation with Michael McCullers"
October 13, 2:45 pm, Bethel Hall at Saint David’s Episcopal Church
Yeah baby. It’s that Michael McCullers, Saturday Night Live alum and writer of Austin Powers fame. Learn the secrets of his hilarity as he engages in a conversation with Austin Film Festival executive director Barbara Morgan.

"Script Reading: War Story"
October 14, 4 pm at the State Theatre
From Beau Willimon, award-winning playwright and screenwriter of House of Cards comes this play, a story of two soldiers, two bankers, a war overseas, and a war at home.

"A Conversation with Nancy Meyers: The 2016 Distinguished Screenwriter"
October 15, 2:45 pm, Stephen F. Austin Hotel Ballroom
She's the trailblazing writer/director/producer with The Parent Trap, The Intern, What Women Want, Something’s Got to Give, The Holiday, and It’s Complicated to her credit. Moderated by Barbara Morgan.

"Script-to-Screen: The Motorcycle Diaries"
October 16, 3pm, Driskill Hotel Maximillian Room
Award-winning playwright and screenwriter Jose Rivera will discuss his translation and dramatization of Che Guevara’s memoir and adaptation for the big screen.

Other recommended panels:

"Writing for Hollywood Outside of Hollywood" — October 13, 1 pm
"Presidential Programming: A Conversation with Jennifer Salke" — October 13, 2:45 pm
"Tuning In: Music in Television" — October 14, 3:15 pm
"A Conversation with the 2016 Awardees" — October 15, 10:45 am
"Chicks with Bics" — October 16, 11:30 am

View the complete panel schedule here.

Party time

Heart of Film Conference Party
October 15, 11 pm at the Long Center Terrace
Open to capital badges and above, the Heart of Film Conference Party is the quintessential way to round out the conference weekend.

Film pass party
October 18, 10 pm at Fado Irish Pub
Must have an AFF film pass, lone star, capital, conference, producers, or press badge for entry. All parties are 21 and up.

Dove Chocolate Closing Night Party
October 20, 10 pm at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse
Must have an AFF producers badge for entry.

Film passes, badges, and conference passes from $75 to $675. Although it is often a long shot, individual tickets for screenings are sold on a space-available basis. For more details and to purchase tickets, visit the Austin Film Festival website.

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in La La Land.

Courtesy photo

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in La La Land.

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Movie Review

Director Steven Soderbergh breaks the horror-film mold with Presence

Photo courtesy of Neon

Callina Liang in Presence.

There are few directors more adept at moving between genres than Steven Soderbergh. Throughout his career, he has made dramas and comedies, heist films and thrillers, films with serious topics like drug trafficking and films with frivolous subjects like male dancers. He’s also dipped his toe into horror on occasion, something he does again with Presence.

However, typical of the hard-to-pin-down filmmaker, this film is not your typical ghost story, as its plot is told from the perspective of the presence itself. With the camera as its “eyes,” the audience sees a family of four move into an older-but-updated home: Mother Rebekah (Lucy Liu), father Chris (Chris Sullivan), son Tyler (Eddy Maday), and daughter Chloe (Callina Liang). The family dynamics are established early, as Rebekah favors Tyler and pins her hopes and dreams on him, while Chris has a strained relationship with Rebekah and tries to protect Chloe from stress, who has recently gone through a trauma.

The family’s various issues keep the atmosphere tense, and for the most part the presence is merely an observer to their conversations and activities. But Chloe can sense it whenever it’s close to her, and this connection leads it to sometimes announce itself via physical interactions with objects in different rooms. As the other family members gradually become aware of it as well, the story’s supernatural aura starts to increase.

Working from a screenplay by David Koepp, Soderbergh does a kind of switcheroo on audience expectations. In your typical haunted house story, the mystery of the ghost(s) is what drives the plot and keeps things scary. But since the audience, in essence, is the ghost, we know everything it is doing at all times. Instead, the suspense comes from the family itself, who have backstories that make the whole clan dysfunctional, at best.

Story elements are brought in through different ways than your typical film, with little hints being dropped along the way about various things that have happened in the family’s recent past. Why Tyler seems to be angry with Chloe all the time, or why Rebekah and Chris never seem to be on the same page with anything the family is dealing with are equally as interesting as anything the presence is doing.

The first-person perspective (used in a much different way than in the recent — and now Oscar-nominated — Nickel Boys) gives an intimacy to the film that is sometimes invasive, sometimes disorienting, but always engrossing. Soderbergh, who acted as the cameraman himself, takes the camera to almost every nook and cranny of the house, often getting so close to the actors that it’s uncomfortable. The constant, silent movement of the presence/camera makes for great viewing, lending the audience a knowledge they rarely have.

Liu is given a meatier part than she’s had in recent years, and she plays the complicated role for all it’s worth. Sullivan, best known for his role on the NBC TV drama This is Us, is equally good, with a demeanor that’s slightly at odds with his stature, but in a good way. Both Liang and Maday have light resumes (this is Maday’s first credit of any kind), but their performances are what make the film as effective as it is. With the presence more interested in her character than anyone else, Liang is asked to do a lot, and she is especially memorable.

While more of a family drama than a true horror film, the paranormal aspect of Presence gives enough of a spooky vibe for it to qualify. The highly successful film demonstrates that, 36 years after his breakthrough, Soderbergh remains one of the more fascinating directors out there, willing to try different projects instead of doing the same thing over and over again.

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Presence opens in theaters on January 24.

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