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Austin Fest Confirmed Movies & Panelists

CONFIRMED MOVIES

These are confirmed movies so far for the 2002 Austin Film Festival

* ROGER DODGER

Cast: Campbell Scott (Roger Swanson), Jesse Eisenberg (Nick), Isabella Rossellini (Joyce), Jennifer Beals (Sophie), Elizabeth Berkley (Andrea), Ben Shenkman (Donovan), Mina Badie (Donna), Colin Fickes (Angus), Gabriel Millman (Felix), Chris Stack (Chris)

Director: Dylan Kidd (feature film debut)

Screenwriter: Dylan Kidd (feature film debut)

Premise: A teen boy from the Midwest, Nick (Eisenberg), spends a Friday night out on the town in New York City with his womanizing advertising executive uncle, Roger (Scott), hoping to lose his virginity, in an experience that might just teach both men something about women (or not) (Rossellini plays Roger's boss, with whom he's been having an entirely sexual affair; Beals and Berkley play women Nick and Roger meet at a bar.)

* AMANDLA DOCUMENTARY

Directed by: Lee Hirsch

Premise: Through a chronological history of the liberation struggle in South Africa, the documentary cites examples of the way music was used in the fight for freedom. Songs united those being oppressed and gave those fighting a way to express their plight. The music consoled the incarcerated and created an effective underground form of communication inside the prisons.

* DAS EXPERIMENT

Awards: Best Actor (Bleibtreu) (2002 Seattle International Film Festival); Best Director (2001 Montreal World Film Festival); Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography (2001 Bavarian Film Awards); Best Actor (Bleibtreu), Best Supporting Actor (Von Dohnanyi), Best Production Design, Audience Award for German Film of the Year (2001 German Film Awards); Best Screenplay (2002 Fantasporto); People's Choice Award (2002 Istanbul International Film Festival)

Language: German with English subtitles.

Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel

Screenwriter: Don Bohlinger (cowriter of The Killing Time), Christoph Darnstadt (feature debut), Mario Giordano (feature debut)

Premise: This film shows what happens in an artificial prison that's been built as part of a psychological experiment, in which 20 male participants are asked to take roles as either prisoners or guards (for which they will each be paid 4,000 DM for 14 days work, but nothing if they can't make the 14 days), with the psychologists then watching the results as this scenario unfolds. Our focus is on a former journalist, Tarek (Bleibtreu), who was intrigued enough by the idea of the experiment, thinking there might be a big story in it for him, to volunteer to become one of the prisoners... but the volatile and hostile environment of the Experiment might be more than he bargained for.

* WEIGHT OF WATER

Cast: Catherine McCormack, Sean Penn, Elizabeth Hurley, Sarah Polley, Vinessa Shaw, Anders W. Berthelsen, Katrin Cartlidge, Ciaran Hinds, Jan Tore Kristoffersen, Rita Kvist, Josh Lucas, Ulrich Thomsen

Director: Kathryn Bigelow (Strange Days, Point Break, Near Dark, Blue Steel; her next is K-19: The Widowmaker)

Screenwriter: Alice Arlen (Alamo Bay; cowriter of Silkwood, Cookie), Christopher Kyle (debut; next up are K-19: The Widowmaker and Alexander)

Premise: A photojournalist (McCormack) and her husband (Penn) sail to a New Hampshire island over the course of a weekend, accompanied by her brother-in-law (Lucas), and his girlfriend (Hurley). The purpose of the trip is to investigate the murders of two Scandinavian immigrants there in 1873. The story alternates between the present and the past (Polley plays the only survivor of the incident, whose memoirs form the basis of the story).

* TEKNOLUST

Starring: Tilda Swinton, Jeremy Davies, Josh Kornbluth, Thomas Jay Ryan, James Urbaniak

Directed by: Lynn Hershman Leeson

Produced by: Lynn Hershman Leeson, Youssef Vahabzadeh, John Bradford King, Oscar Gubernati

Written by: Lynn Hershman Leeson

Premise: A scientist (Tilda Swinton) creates a formula in her computer that combines DNA and software to make the perfect being: part-robot, part-human. She produces three female test subjects. The only flaw is that they need a chemical found in sperm to survive, so one of them is programmed to seduce human men and share the sperm with the other two. Trouble starts when the seductress robot falls in love with one of her subjects (Jeremy Davies).

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CONFIRMED PANELISTS -

Austin Heart of Film Screenwriter's Conference Confirmed panelists as of September 4, 2002 (schedule permitting-of course)

* J.J. Abrams (directed/co-creator of TV's Felicity, creator of TV's Alias/ Screenwriter of Regarding Henry, Forever Young, Armageddon) Scott Alexander (Man on the Moon, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Ed Wood) Jessica Bendinger (The Truth About Charlie '02, Bring it On, Sex and the City)

* Sam Bernstein (Bobbie's Girl, Silent Lies) Shane Black (A.W.O.L, The Last Boy Scout, Lethal Weapon)

* Michael Brandt & Derek Haas (Fast and Furious II '03)

* Bill Broyles (Unfaithful, Castaway, Apollo 13)

* Lem Dobbs (The Score, The Limey, Dark City, Kafka)

* Larry Doyle (Looney Tunes: The Movie '03, Duplex '02, wrote for TV's Daria and The Simpsons)

* Robert Festinger (In the Bedroom)

* Robert Gordon (MIB 2, Galaxy Quest, Addicted to Love)

* John Lee Hancock (writer/director: The Rookie/screenwriter: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, A Perfect World)

* Brian Helgeland (Blood Work '02, The Sin Eater '02 (also directed), LA Confidential, Conspiracy Theory)

* Philip Levens (TV writer for Smallville and Wolflake)

* Karent Lutz & Kirsten Smith (Ella Enchanted '03, Legally Blonde, 10 Things I Hate About You)

* David McKenna (S.W.A.T. '03, Blow, American History X)

* Polly Platt (prod. Bottle Rocket, Broadcast News/screenwriter: A Map of the World)

* Anne Rapp (Dr. T and The Women, Cookie's Fortune)

* Ed Solomon (Levity '03 (also directed), Men in Black, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure)

* Paul Weitz (Meet the Fockers '03, American Pie (directed) About a Boy (writer/director)

* Chris Weitz (Meet the Fockers '03, About a Boy (writer/director).

* Gina Wendkos (The Princess Diaries, Coyote Ugly)

* Bill Wittliff (The Perfect Storm, Legends of the Fall, Black Stallion)

* DARREN STAR (creator/writer: Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, Sex and the City) is our 2002 Outstanding Television Writer Award recipient!

Other Panelists Include: --

* Greg Beal (Nicholl Fellowship Program Coordinator)
* Lisa Ford & Pete Barnstrom (The Screenplayers)
* Matt Gross (Kopelson Entertainment)
* Joe McSpadden (Independent Producer)
* Joanne Lammers (Script Consultant/Story Analyst)

Updated: 09/06/2002

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