Austin Film Fest is this weekend! Here’s your primer, starting TOMORROW!

Gala

The 9th Annual Film and Food Gala is tomorrow, Wednesday, Oct 19th at the Driskill Hotel and is co-chaired by actress Alexis Bledel (LOVE her from “Gilmore Girls,” Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and Sin City) and writer/director Ryan Piers Williams. The Gala benefits the Young Filmmakers Program, and tix are only $90 ($75 for AFF Members) with a variety of delicious cuisine presented by some of Central Texas’ most notable chefs. More info and to purchase tickets: austinfilmfestival.com/new/film_food

Opening, Centerpiece and Closing Films

The new comedy Butter will be this year’s Opening Night film. Butter is an appetizing comedy set in Iowa, the heartland of America, about competition at its most cut-throat. Butter surveys the raw ambition of Laura Pickler (Jennifer Garner), the wife of Bob Pickler (Ty Burrell), Iowa’s long-reigning champion butter carver.  For 15 years, Laura has relished her high-profile role as the beautiful, loyal helpmate to her affable, artistically gifted husband.  But when Bob is pressured to retire and allow someone else a chance at glory, an indignant Laura decides to enter the competition herself. Thursday, October 20, 7p,­ Paramount Theater.

The Centerpiece film is Jeff Who Lives At Home with co-writer/director Jay Duplass in attendance. Living in his mother’s basement without a job, Jeff  (Jason Segel) can’t even bring himself to leave the house to run some simple errands.  Instead, he sits around hoping that destiny will fall straight into his lap.  After interpreting a strange coincidence as a sign that he my have finally discovered his fate, Jeff finds himself on a strange journey with his estranged brother that will take them both to some very interesting places.  Jason Segel and Ed Helms give their best performances yet in a film that will move you in ways you may not expect. Saturday, October 22, 6:30p,­ Paramount Theater.

Closing Night will feature Union Square with actress Mira Sorvino as a special guest at the screening. Union Square is a reluctant reunion of two estranged sisters. One is on the verge of marriage; the other is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Both struggle with truths they’re hiding from each other – and from themselves. Jenny (Tammy Blanchard) has rejected her tumultuous family and cut off communication, seeking a more ordered life far from her roots in the Bronx. And she’s almost ready to commit to her longtime fiancé when her sister Lucy (Mira Sorvino) – the personification of all that Jenny has been trying to flee – surprises her at a critical time. Lucy and Jenny’s combustible reunion brings both of them to unforeseen places, shattering and reconstructing the worlds they have both carefully constructed. Thursday, October 27, 8p, ­Paramount Theater.

James Franco

James Franco will be attending a special regional premiere for his new film, Sal, at the Austin Film Festival on October 23^rd. He’ll introduce the film and then participate in a Q&A after. Franco co-wrote and directed Sal, which chronicles the final hours of actor Sal Mineo. He was the teen star of Rebel Without a Cause whose career began to fade before his life was cut tragically short. The film is not a traditional biopic; rather, it takes the viewer on an intimate journey through the very last day of Mineo’s life. On February 12, 1976, Mineo was on the verge of returning to the limelight after years of heartbreaking setbacks. He was set to direct his first feature film and was only days away from opening in a critically-acclaimed play in San Francisco. However, this promising new future was erased by a lone attacker and a senseless crime. In Sal, the audience experiences a bright young man’s highs and lows, orchestrated by the glimmer of celebrity and the cruel truths of the film industry. Sunday, October 23, noon, ­Paramount Theater.

Buffy

Ok, not really, but David Boreanaz will present the award for Outstanding Television Writer to “BONES” creator Hart Hanson at the annual Awards Luncheon. He will also participate in a special presentation of an episode of “BONES” with creator Hart Hanson on October 22nd at the Austin Convention Center. A Q&A will follow.

The Inevitable Austin-Aspen Connection

Johnny Depp will be the first-ever recipient of the “Extraordinary Contribution to Film – Acting” Award. He will also be on hand for screenings of his new film The Rum Diary (based on the novel by Hunter S. Thompson, a long-time Aspen resident) and a retrospective of Edward Scissorhands with Caroline Thompson.

The Rum Diary (which opens in theaters nationwide October 28th) will show at the Paramount Theatre on Oct. 21st at 7p  and Depp will do a Q&A following the film. Joining him for the Q&A will be The Rum Diarywriter/director Bruce Robinson.

The Rum Diary tells the increasingly unhinged story of itinerant journalist Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp). Tiring of the noise and madness of New York and the crushing conventions of late Eisenhower-era America, Kemp travels to the pristine island of Puerto Rico to write for a local newspaper, The San Juan Star, run by downtrodden editor Lotterman (Richard Jenkins). Adopting the rum-soaked life of the island, Paul soon becomes obsessed with Chenault (Amber Heard), the wildly attractive Connecticut-born fiancée of Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart). Sanderson, a businessman involved in shady property development deals, is one of a growing number of American entrepreneurs who are determined to convert Puerto Rico into a capitalist paradise in service of the wealthy. When Kemp is recruited by Sanderson to write favorably about his latest unsavory scheme, the journalist is presented with a choice: to use his words for the corrupt businessmen’s financial benefit, or use them to take them down.

With fellow award-recipient and screenwriter Caroline Thompson, Depp will also introduce a special retrospective screening of Edward Scissorhands at 9:45pm at the Paramount Theatre. Thompson will do a Q&A following the film.
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I think sometimes Austin forgets its an arts town as much as a music town … the Austin Film Festival is one of the premier film festivals in the nation; take advantage of all the screenings! More info on everything + scheds (films Oct. 20-27): austinfilmfestival.com