News

In today’s film news roundup, Kristen Schaal and Holland Taylor have joined the cast of “Bill & Ted Face The Music”; Gravitas sets a pair of release dates; Alamo Drafthouse unveils its “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” plans; and Peter Weir is set for an honor.

Castings

Kristen Schaal and Holland Taylor have joined the cast of “Bill & Ted Face The Music” as characters from 700 years in the future.

Schaal will play a messenger while Taylor is set to take on the role of The Great Leader, the most powerful person in the universe. Keanu Reeves will again portray Ted “Theodore” Logan, and Alex Winter will reprise his role as Bill S. Preston, Esq. Other cast members include Scott Mescudi – best known by his stage name Kid Cudi – William Sadler, Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine.

Amy Stoch and Hal Landon Jr. have signed on to reprise their...

Female filmmakers in the sci-fi and fantasy genre will be celebrated with the first ever Etheria Film Festival, to be held in September 2012.

Etheria is the brainchild of film journalist Heidi Honeycutt and the Viscera Organisation, a not-for-profit group dedicated to increasing the visibility of female genre filmmakers.

Last month, the Viscera Film Festival Carpet Ceremony put the spotlight on up-and-coming women directors in the horror genre with a programme of new short films and a celebrity judging panel of industry veterans.

A Viscera spokeswoman said: "The Viscera Film Festival has been showcasing the best in emerging female horror film talent since 2007.

"But why stop with horror? There are talented women filmmakers across every genre. The Etheria Film Festival is the only film festival in the world that screens, exclusively, the best new short science fiction and fantasy films directed by women from around the globe."

Etheria is co-presented by...

The Arizona Underground Film Festival has announced their list of award winners for their 4th annual edition that rocked the Tucson area last week on Sept. 16-24.

Jack Perez’s Some Guy Who Kills People took home the top award as Best of the Fest. The dark, comedic thriller stars Kevin Corrigan and Karen Black; and was executive produced by John Landis.

Other winners include the neo-grindhouse biker bloodbath Dear God No!, directed by James Bickert, which took home Best Exploitation. You can watch the trailer for Dear God No! here. Also, Adam Rehmeier’s controversial The Bunny Game took home Best Horror Feature, Susan Marks’ Of Dolls and Murder took home Best Documentary Feature and Albert Birney & Jon Moses’ The Beast Pageant won for Best Experimental Feature.

Auff also gave out lots of awards to short films, including Gregory Erdstein’s Facing Rupert (Best Narrative Short), Todd Cobry’s Good Morning,...

The Arizona Underground Film Festival keeps picking and screening the best in world extreme cinema and their fourth annual edition, which will run Sep. 16-24 in Tucson is no exception, compiling outrageous cult epics from countries such as Japan, Switzerland and Cuba; as well as some local nastiness produced in the fest’s own backyard.

The fest opens with Jack Perez’s Some Guy Who Kills People, a comedy thriller executive produced by John Landis and starring Kevin Corrigan as a loser who gets sadistic revenge on those he feels have wronged him.

While the opening night film is a big name affair, Auff is also celebrating local freaky film fare with films such as the film noir Sweet Love and Deadly, directed by Paul Clinco; and the horror comedy Dick Night, directed by Andy Viner.

From elsewhere around the U.S., there’s the fest’s annual celebration of extreme cinema,...