Austin Film Festival premiere

Improvised mockumentary from Austin satirizes all-too-real HOA drama

Wally Kaplan (played by Lowell Bartholomee) in Subtopia

Wally Kaplan (played by Lowell Bartholomee) is interviewed in Subtopia.

Photo from SUBTOPIA: The Story of Hueco Canyon

A buzzy film premiering at this year's Austin Film Festival will hit close to home for many viewers: Subtopia: The Story of Hueco Canyon, is about heated drama with an HOA.

Directed by long-time best friends Clifford Wildman and Luis Caffesse, Subtopia tells the 2011 story of Wally and Julia Kaplan (played by Lowell Bartholomee and Liz Fisher) "looking for a community and [finding] the neighborhood of Hueco Canyon," the film's description reads. "But when leadership at the Homeowners Association changes hands, their idyllic life is soured. As a joke, Wally runs for President. That joke leads to the largest suburban riot in Texas history."

An advance screening of the film reveals this description doesn't begin to cover the many surprising layers of this film.

This mockumentary is shot in a Park and Rec-meets-Unsolved Mysteries style, moving from one-on-one interviews with the neighborhood's residents, to dramatic re-enactments of their stories (with actors who look nothing like their "real world" counterpart), all spliced up with professional-looking animated titles. Like this:

One of the title images used in SUBTOPIA: The Story of Hueco Canyon The movie is broken up by title pages, animations, and "dramatic re-enactments."Photo from SUBTOPIA: The Story of Hueco Canyon

In addition to Lowell Bartholomee and Liz Fisher, the cast list includes Hilah Johnson, Ellie McBride, Ken Edwards, and Lana Dieterich, all of whom are also listed as writers on the film, because the whole movie was improvised.

"We gave each actor a sort of breakdown of all the characters in the movie but everyone's breakdown was written from their perspective. So basically everyone was treated as though they were the protagonist of the story," says Caffesse. He adds, "This movie would be absolutely nothing without the actors we got."

The film does tell the story of Wally and Julia Kaplan running into some major issues with the new president of their HOA, Ellen Nickel, masterfully played by Johnson. But it also gets into some themes that are universally applicable: The rights of the individual versus what's good for the community; security versus freedom; blatant lying in politics; presidential election drama; and what can happen when it's "us" versus "them."

An "Ellen Nickel for HOA President" sign in somebody's lawn. Themes like political drama and security versus personal freedom make this movie feel like it was filmed during this election season; not 2011. Photo from SUBTOPIA: The Story of Hueco Canyon

Caffesse and Wildman, who met at the University of Texas and filmed short works and series like Project: Rant together, started shooting Subtopia in the Austin area in 2010, yet the themes are still relevant more than a decade later.

"We started this a long time ago, in 2010, and actually the idea came shortly after 9/11 with the Patriot Act," says Caffesse. "We saw this sort of extreme reaction and we thought an HOA was a funny backdrop and would highlight the absurdity of what we were seeing."

"When we started it, it all actually felt more absurd," he adds. "But now the world has become more absurd. And so many people have told us how relevant they think it is [today]."

Most of this film was shot between 2010 and 2012 (evident in the characters' wardrobes). But this movie with a budget of just $2,000 eventually ran out of funds, and life led everyone in different directions. Production had to be put on pause.

It wasn't until 10 years later that Caffesse picked the project back up again, and then it was only to surprise his best friend for his 50th birthday. The plan: He'd finish shooting and editing the film they'd started over a decade ago and show it to Wildman as a gift.

"In 2012 we had a rough cut of the movie. So the entire spine was there, it was just missing most of the B-roll; the news articles, the titles, most of the re-enactment footage... That was all shot today," says Caffesse. In fact, the hilarious dramatic re-enactment scenes are a happy accident because of this pause in filming.

Once Caffesse was done, he rented out a theater and screened it for the two of them for Wildman's 50th.

Subtopia movie birthday screening Caffesse finished up "Subtopia" just in time to surprise his best friend and co-director with a screening for his 50th birthday. Photo courtesy of Luis Caffesse

"I pretty much cried," says Wildman. "It was a huge deal. It was an unfulfilled dream, and so for it to be dropped in my lap for my birthday... It was just so special to me to sit there with my best friend... One of the best days of my life."

Shortly thereafter, the two sent it out to Austin Film Festival, not expecting it to get in, really; just as a "Hail Mary," says Caffesse.

"But then the programmer [of AFF] reached out to us, and I think it may have been one of the best compliments we've gotten so far," says Wildman, "Because he thought it was real through a good chunk of it. When we submitted it, we did not say the word 'mockumentary' at all. So yeah, we got in, and... it's been a surreal trip."

"My goal for the last year was really just to make my friend laugh," says Caffesse. "It was a movie for two people... Originally, we got in our own way and didn't allow ourselves to finish it because it was never going to be good enough. When we finally let go of that external focus... that's when it finally got done.

"It has shown me... there's no expiration on creative projects. It's never too late."

The Austin Film Festival runs October 24-31. Subtopia: The Story of Hueco Canyon screens on Sunday, October 27 at 2:30 pm at the Rollins Theater at The Long Center, and Thursday, October 31 at 6:15pm at Galaxy Theater 6. For more information, visit subtopia-movie.com.

Belles of the Ballroom

9 Austin bar and venue experts take over popular Old Austin space near UT

29th Street Ballroom/Facebook

Changes are coming at the 29th Street Ballroom, but the goal is to preserve what already makes it special.

The evolution continues at the 29th Street Ballroom, the music venue formerly attached to Spider House Café. It's no secret, Resound Presents CEO and co-founder Graham Williams says, that he and a large team of other industry pros are taking over the space; but now they're ready to talk about what comes next for the venue and adjoining bar.

Although Spider House Café closed in 2020, the Ballroom stayed open, and has continued serving University of Texas students and anyone else who wants to see a show outside of the ordinary: punk shows, burlesque revues, fundraisers, and more. It'll stay open through most of the renovations, scheduled through January of 2025, and is expected to hold a grand opening in March.

Now Resound — one of Austin's top live music organizers, which was itself born from the ashes of another Austin institution — is lending two of its co-founders to managing the space going forward: Williams and Ian Orth. They're joining seven other team members from venues around town, many of them overlapping: Amy Mullins, Brian Tweedy, Jason McNeely, John Yaklin, and Shannon LeBoeuf of Hotel Vegas, Chess Club, Kinda Tropical, Tweedy’s, and Yellow Jacket Social Club, in varying capacities; and Brian Buscemi and Mike Sanchez of the Little Darlin’.

Williams emphasizes that although things will be changing at the Ballroom, the goal isn't to change anything people already love.

"Over the next few months as we kind of ease into the spring, we're using this downtime to revitalize things, decorate, revamp some of the stuff in the venue and the bar, and just kind of get things moving in the right direction," Williams says, "taking what's already popular about the venue and just adding to it, really."

Bar updates
The biggest shift will be turning the bar from an accessory to live shows into its own entity that's open even when there's nothing else going on. Amy Mullins, best known as a co-owner of Yellow Jacket Social Club, is overseeing that transition. She's never operated a venue that is primarily focused on music, and has been enjoying learning more about how to do it; she even worked the door recently when a staff member called out sick.

Mullins echoes Williams in assuring that the change is more about logistics than tone. It'll still feel like Old Austin, but she does express a hope to run more than the "typical venue bar," handing out simple drinks as quickly as possible. She's working on a new menu that includes wine, beer, craft cocktails, and non-alcoholic options like tea, kombucha, or mocktails. Regardless of what's on the schedule on any given night, Mullins says the menu will stay the same.

"There's no drink too complicated for us to make, however busy we are," she says.

Food options
Another goal for the team will be making sure the space works when there's not someone onstage to crowd around. They'll expand the front and side patios and create a food truck food court that features the same trucks that are there now, plus one newcomer. All in all, that includes Yalla Burger & Wings, Gyro Center, Li’l Nonna’s Vegan Pizzeria, Guppy’s Indian Fried Chicken, Waylon J’s BBQ, and Ay Chihuahua Tacos.

The expanded patio will connect to Tweedy's Bar next door, which also has its own food trucks. The idea is to create a space to hang out after shows that feels fit for the purpose. It's possible to stick around after events now, but the layout does create a vague feeling of loitering.

Artist and fan-friendly tweaks
On the entertainment side, Williams says some of the renovations include putting in a new sound system, redoing the green room, updating the facade, and repainting signs. Since the winter is a slower time for live music, they'll be taking advantage of the extra time to work on things before packing the calendar with more events than before. Resound will handle most of the bookings in live music, comedy, and DJ sets, welcoming both national and local talent.

Whatever the details end up being, this team has proved to Austinites that they know how to run venues worth visiting. And since they're all friends and business partners on multiple levels, it sounds like having this many cooks in the kitchen just isn't an issue.

"Some of us have been roommates and known each other since we were young," says Williams. "It's a good mix of people who are all very like minded, so a lot is being brought to the table per decision. So yeah, it's it's really exciting. Sometimes that's not the case. .... But with this project, it's a lot of really great, creative people that are good at what they do [and] they trust each other."

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