Screening Date: Sat. Dec. 14, 2024
Time: 6:30pm
Venue: Austin Film Society
Cost: $15
Select filmmakers will be in attendance for a post screening Q&A
Co-presented by Austin Film Society, Frances Modern Inn, Selig Polyscope, KUTX
SELECTIONS
Not the order they will play in
Film Title: THE HEART OF TEXAS
Director: Gregory JM Kasunich
Run Time/Year/Country: 14min, 2024, USA
Synopsis: When an aspiring country singer gets the chance of her lifetime, she collides with an unexpected dilemma that forces her to examine the cost of her very own "American Dream."
Film Title: TR(ol)L: NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK, TOTAL REQUEST LIVE AND THE CHAIN LETTER THAT CHANGED THE INTERNET
Director: Yourgo Artsitas
Run Time/Year/Country: 17min, 2024, USA
Synopsis: In 1999, a chain letter began to matriculate around online message boards. The goal? Get New Kids On The Block’s 1989 music video “Hangin’ Tough” on Total Request Live.
Why?
Cuz it wud b funny lmao.
Film Title: DION & DENVER
Director: Zack Hosseini
Run Time/Year/Country: 15min, 2024, USA
Premiere Status: TX
Synopsis: In the late 1960s, an aging Dion DiMucci, struggling to stay relevant in a rapidly changing America, meets and ambitious young John Denver who helps reignite his passion for music and reminds him of their place in the cultural spotlight.
Film Title: STUD COUNTRY
Director: Lina Abascal, Alexandra Kern
Run Time/Year/Country: 11min, 2024, USA
Premiere Status: TX
Synopsis: Stud Country, the largest queer country western line dancing event in America, was created to preserve Los Angeles' little known 50+ year queer line dancing tradition. Despite its success and fiercely committed community, the event is set to lose its venue due to gentrification.
Film Title: DALE
Director: Justin Streichman
Run Time/Year/Country: 9min, 2024, USA
Premiere Status: TX
Synopsis: Dale Hikawa was the first Asian American woman to join the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Taking stock of her long career, this trailblazing violist reflects on her life and work.
Film Title: IN THE DARKNESS
Director: Adilet Abish
Run Time/Year/Country: 6min, 2024, USA
Premiere Status: TX
Synopsis: A frightened and lonely child arrives at an orphanage, where a newly acquired friend finds a way to shine light on his grief that he has to pass on to the next newcomer.
Film Title: PIZZA MY HEART
Director: Elizabeth V. Newman
Run Time/Year/Country: 12min, 2024, USA
Premiere Status: World
Synopsis: A Pizza Telegram Delivery Specialist (PTSD Specialist) delivers comfort food with a song to a heartbroken customer – a 12-year old girl. As the two characters share their experiences with heartbreak, they enter musical dreamscapes that lead to connection and healing.
Film Title: Branjae - "Too Much"
Director: Bobby Ross
Run Time/Year/Country: 4min, 2024, USA
Synopsis: TOO MUCH is an empowering anthem that offers others the option to exit peacefully and positively, rather than forcing conformity to undesirable expectations.
Film Title: Variety - "Plover"
Director: Taylor Browne
Run Time/Year/Country: 3min, 2024, USA
Synopsis: A sentient clay television set guides its viewers through a world of surreal stop motion programming.
