Austin at SXSW 2013: All the Features (Part Two)

Continued from earlier today, here are the rest of the SXSW 2013 films with Austin or Texas ties: documentaries and films that have already been hits at other festivals.

Documentary Spotlight:

• An Unreal Dream: The Michael Morton Story -- If you watch the local news, you are likely quite familiar with the wrongful conviction of Michael Morton in Williamson County. This documentary looks further into his story and the years of work by his attorneys to get him released.
  Jette butts in: Filmmaker Al Reinert (screenwriter for For All Mankind, Apollo 13) lives in Houston. The film is produced by local filmmakers Clark and Jesse Lyda (who also own Monument Cafe) and Marcy Garriott -- all three worked previously on The Least of These (SXSW 2009). Jason Wehling (The Retrieval) is credited as a consulting producer. One of the composers is Chuck Pinnell, brother of the late Texas filmmaker Eagle Pennell. (screening times)
• Before You Know It -- PJ Raval's (our Slacker 2011 interview) film depicts a year in the life of gay retirees in three different senior care facilities. Raval received Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund grants in 2009 and 2010 for this one (as Untitled Gay Retiree Documentary). Filmmaker/former Austinite Kyle Henry (Fourplay) edited; he's among several UT RTF grads in the crew. (screening times)
  
  
• Getting Back to Abnormal (see trailer above) -- Professor of Public Affairs at the LBJ School and Dept Chair of RTF at UT Paul Stekler produced and co-directed this look at New Orleans politician Stacy Head as she deals with post-Katrina racial politics. (screening times)
• Rewind This! -- A love letter to VHS, directed by Josh Johnson; produced by former Austinite Carolee Mitchell and shot/edited by  Christopher Palmer. The production ran a very successful Kickstarter campaign last year. Among the dozens of interview subjects are a few Austinites: filmmaker Ben Steinbauer (Winnebago Man), Zack Carlson (who also produced Zero Charisma), and Caroline Frick, executive director of Texas Archive of the Moving Image. The trailer is below. (screening times)
  
  

24 Beats Per Second:

• All the Labor -- This glimpse at the history and music of Austin band The Gourds will be making its world premiere at the fest. (screening times)

Festival Favorites:

• Before Midnight -- The third film from the trifecta of Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke premiered at Sundance to rave reviews (here's Debbie's).  It's been close to 20 years since Celine and Jesse first met on a train to Vienna; Greece is the location of their most recent reunion. (screening times)
• Computer Chess -- Jette butts in: Shot in Austin by local filmmaker Andrew Bujalski (Beeswax), this black-and-white film is set in the '80s and is about a man-versus-computer chess tournament. The cast includes Austinites like Wiley Wiggins, animator Bob Sabiston, Daniel Metz (who sadly no longer lives here), Cyndi Williams (Zero Charisma), Chris Doubek (again) and Jonny Mars (again again). Producers include Carlyn Hudson (our Slacker 2011 interview). Slackerwood contributor Rod Paddock appears briefly as an extra. The film ran a successful crowdfunding campaign and also received a Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund grant in 2011. (screening times)
• Mud --  This Matthew McConaughey film premiered at Sundance (Debbie's review).  Director and Austinite Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter) spins a tale of two boys who help a criminal escape and find his way to his lady love. (screening times)
• Pit Stop -- Debbie reviewed this drama after it screened at Sundance. Yen Tan's film follows the parallel stories of two gay men in small town Texas dissatisfied with their love lives. Part of its funding for this movie came from a Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund grant in 2011.
  Jette butts in: See above movies and earlier post for lots of Austin cast/crew who worked on this film and other SXSW 2013 selections. Produced by Kelly Williams. (screening times)
• Prince Avalanche (pictured at top) -- Two city guys spend the summer of 1988 as highway road workers in a rural county dealing with the after-effects of a fire. The movie was filmed in Bastrop and based on the Icelandic film Either Way. David Gordon Green (All the Real Girls, Pineapple Express) now lives in Austin and used some local cast and crew. Austin filmmaker Berndt Mader (Five Time Champion) is a co-producer, and the film is scored with music from Texas artists David Wingo and Explosions in the Sky. (screening times, Facebook page)
  
  
• A Teacher -- Hannah Fidell's drama (see trailer above) depicts an ill-fated romance between a young teacher and her student in Austin.  There are some recognizable local faces in the cast. Read Matthew Odam's interview of Fidell at Sundance (where the film premiered) on Austin Movie Blog. (screening times)
• Upstream Color -- Director Shane Carruth (Primer) recently moved from Dallas to NYC (according to this LA Times piece), but we'll still count him as a Texas connection. His new film is a sci-fi romance about a man and a woman drawn together after both were possibly brainwashed by a strange organism. Upstream Color won a special jury prize for sound design at Sundance. Star Amy Seimetz (also in Pit Stop) is a native Texan; sound designer Johnny Marshall and editor David Lowery both hail from Dallas. Check out the trailer below. (screening times, Facebook page)
  
  

Special Events:

• This Ain't No Mouse Music! -- Texas musicians (including the great accordionist Flaco Jimenez) are among those interviewed in this documentary about American roots music. (screening times)

If we missed something, feel free to let us know in the comments.