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No, it’s not that one…or that other one.
To attend this festival, you’re going to need to go deep. Underground in fact. We are talking about the Austin Underground Film Festival and its films will screen this Friday, December 19 at the Salvage Vangaurd Theatre. The Austin Underground Film Festival really stands for everything that is independent and everythinig that is Austin. Started by Andy Gately, Jeremy Van Doren and Caitlin Leach in 2006, the idea was to get some great short films screened, see some awesome live bands, and hang out with all kinds of like-minded Austinites, passionate about the art and science of making movies.
Living in Austin, we are fortunate enough to be the host city for some of the best film festivals in the world. Great opportunities for Austin-based film lovers and makers alike. But having international events like the Austin and SXSW film festivals here in town doesn’t necessarily give Austin filmmakers any sort of edge on getting their films in. Even the large festivals only have enough space to host a small percentage of the thousands of submissions coming from all over the world. Great news for the indie film fans who get to see some of the best work on the planet screened in their back yard, but not quite enough programming slots for all of the great work which comes from the locals. That's why Gately, Van Doren, and Leach came up with the Austin Underground Film Festival.
They started simply by snagging a great domain name, throwing up a site, and praying that someone submitted something. Guess what? People did. Breathing a cautiously optimistic sigh of relief, the AUFF team started grass rootsing this thing; Austin style. Putting up their Facebook and Myspace pages, getting in on local film networking events, posting their bills all over town and telling everyone and their brother to come to the event.
 AUFF founders Van Doren, Leach, Gately (l to r) If you want to get a finger on the mainline pulse of Austin’s independent film and music scene, you gotta check out the Austin Underground Film Festival on the 19th. You will see about 30 films crafted by people who define all that is great about the scene here. Not only that, but during your film intermission you get to see some great live bands. Everything you need to know about it is right on Austin Underground Film Festival BLOG page. One more thing, here’s a footnote to help you get a better idea for what to expect on Friday. Have a look below at the AUFF’s note to filmmakers on the kinds of work they like to encourage people to submit.
“We seek to provide a venue for films that might not otherwise be exhibited for the public, and virtually no genre or concept is excluded from consideration. However, films of a radical, critical, progressive, provocative, confrontational, controversial, subversive, seditious, irreverent, illicit, offensive, obscene, rebellious, profane, pornographic, conspiratorial, corruptive, psychotropic, phantasmagoric, volatile, violent, anarchic, blasphemous or otherwise irresponsible nature are especially encouraged.”
Enjoy. Steve Muccini is president of SpotEdge Media, an award winning video production company that produces TV commercials and films. He is a film editor, cameraman, actor, and writer in Austin, Texas. You can view his profile and contact Steve here. |
