Posts by Brian Gannon

This blog, written and curated by Visit Austin staff, shares the things that visitors love and locals can't get enough of.

RSS

Author: Brian Gannon

Brian is Director of the Austin Film Commission (part of Visit Austin). The Austin Film Commission works to bring film, television and commercial productions to Austin while advocating for production on a local level. Brian was born in Ireland and grew up in Boston and Milwaukee before relocating to Austin. Brian has explored his passion for film, working on numerous Austin-shot film productions and working as a location scout for the Texas Film Commission. Before coming to the Visit Austin, Brian spent three years as a design and video coordinator with PBE as they built two exhibit halls for the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas.

View Full Post Fall & Winter Film Festivals in Austin

Published: 8/22/2017

The fall film festival season is here and if you like movies, Austin is the place to be for the season! Check out the list below and for more information on lineups, panels, how to attend and how to volunteer, follow the links to each festival's website. Fantastic Fest 2016. Matlin on Movies with Tim Burton. Credit David Hill. AUSTIN GAY AND LESBIAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL September 7-10, 2017 aGLIFF (Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film festival) is the oldest and largest gay and lesbian film festival in the Southwest and the largest gay and lesbian cultural event in Austin.... read more

Tags: Film Festivals Fall Multicultural Live Music Comedy

Posted in: Film Arts & Culture

View Full Post The Insider's Guide to SXSW Film 2017

Published: 2/8/2017

It’s that amazing time of year again, SXSW is almost upon us, March 10–19, 2017. The program for the 2017 festival and conference is stellar. Every year I tell myself, “this is the best SXSW lineup” and every year the SXSW programming team one-ups the previous year’s curation. The nine-day festival will include 128 films, including 51 films from first-time filmmakers and 85 world premieres. Films were selected from 2,432 feature-length film submissions, with a total of 7,651 films submitted this year. SXSW Film Awards 2016 at the Paramount. Photo by Mike Windle,... read more

Tags: Film Events SXSW

Posted in: Film Events

View Full Post ATX Television Festival

Published: 5/25/2016

ATX Television Festival kicks off Season 5 this year, June 9-12. To celebrate the milestone, the festival has some very special programming, including: killer reunions ("Rescue Me," "The Shield," "West Wing," "Ugly Betty"), conversations with industry luminaries (like Norman Lear, Kurt Sutter, Katey Segal, David Simon, Tom Fontana and more), panels covering all aspects of TV (from Never Picked Up Pilots to a script reading of "The O.C.," plus a look at the evolution of digital entertainment with Rooster Teeth) and, of... read more

Tags: Festivals Film

Posted in: Film

View Full Post Austin on Film: SXSW Edition

Published: 2/22/2016

Every year SXSW brings the best of independent film to Austin. Running from March 10-19, SXSW Film Festival and Conference premieres some of the biggest movies of the season along with great new works from the brightest talents in the world of film. On top of that, SXSW is also one of the best festivals to see work from our local Austin film scene. From Eagle Pennell, the regional maverick who inspired Sundance and showed you could make small, personal films in central Texas, to Richard Linklater who carried that torch, turning Austin into a mecca for indie film and rising talents like Clay... read more

Tags: Events Film Festivals SXSW

Posted in: Film

View Full Post 2015 Austin Film Festival

Published: 10/19/2015

The Austin Film Festival , October 29 - November 5, is unlike any other film festival as it is the first of its kind to celebrate the writer. In it's 22nd year, the Austin Film Festival showcases the very best that the city has to offer of downtown venues and fun parties, all while presenting an outstanding program of narrative, animation and documentary features and shorts, including many premieres. The film screenings are complemented by lively and informative Q&A sessions with cast members and filmmakers. Built around one of the most prestigious screenwriting contests in the... read more

Tags: Film Events

Posted in: Film

View Full Post Fantastic Fest

Published: 9/11/2015

Fantastic Fest is the Alamo Drafthouse's annual genre film festival featuring the horror, science fiction, fantasy, action, Asian, and cult films from around the world. The fest, September 24-October 1, also features many themed parties, outings, food/film "feasts," the Fantastic Arcade and other events that are signature hallmarks curated by Tim League. Feature highlights from 2015: ANOMALISA Charlie Kaufman's newest story, a revolutionary and emotional stop-motion animation, follows an unhappy customer service guru looking for an escape from the monotony of his life.... read more

Tags: Film Festivals Events

Posted in: Film

View Full Post SXSW Film Conference and Festival 2015

Published: 3/6/2015

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival has some great stuff lined up for the cine-files. 2015 brings 145 features, 60 short shorts and more than 100 world premieres, 13 U.S. premieres and 5 new TV series. The impressive film lineup at SXSW includes: Being Evel , Get Hard , Trainwreck , Entertainment , 7 Chinese Brothers , Manglehorn, The Look of Silence , Sir Doug and the Genuine Texas Cosmic Groove , A Poem Is A Naked Person , Love & Mercy , All Things Must Pass , Montage of Heck , Raiders! , Ex machine , Dont You Wish That We Were Dead and Lost River . Many have asked... read more

Tags: Film SXSW

Posted in: Film

View Full Post 2015 Sundance Film Festival

Published: 1/26/2015

Austin film has been a staple of the annual Sundance Film Festival for quite some time, Robert Redford even cites the late Austin filmmaker Eagle Pennell as the inspiration for the festival. Things really got kicking in 1984 when the Austin-filmed Blood Simple launched the careers of Joel & Ethan Coen. A screening of Slacker at Sundance in 1991 introduced the world to Richard Linklater and the next year El Mariachi marked the debut of Robert Rodriguez at the festival. Results with Cobie Smulders and Guy Pearce. This is just scratching the surface though. Through the years, truly original... read more

Tags: Film

Posted in: Film

View Full Post Awards Season: The Boyhood Tally

Published: 1/12/2015

Austin history has already been made in 2015 with Boyhood taking home three Golden Globe Awards: Best Motion Picture Drama, Best Director Richard Linklater and Best Supporting Actress Patricia Arquette . 12 years in the making, Richard Linklaters Boyhood is a personal epic and nothing short of memorizing. The cast and crew assembled for two weeks of filming every year from 2002 to 2013. In doing so we are allowed to see Mason Evans (Ellar Coltrane) really age as we follow his enriching story of youth in modern Texas. For age six through to the first days a college, we see from Masons eye, the... read more

Tags: Film

Posted in: Film

View Full Post Austin Film Year in Review

Published: 1/8/2015

To say 2014 was a phenomenal year for Austin film is an understatement. The Austin Film Commission launched our NEW Production Directory , Austin Studios renovation/expansion started, the City of Austin initiated a new Film Incentive Program and a small movie called Boyhood won the hearts of viewers the world over. On top of that we had our first billion-dollar movie. Seriously, the locally filmed Transformers 4: Age of Extinction made a whopping billion dollars at the summer box office! On set for Transformers 4 Things started out big in January with seven Austin-related films playing at... read more

Tags: Film

Posted in: Film

Author: Brian Gannon

Search

Categories

Authors

Tag Cloud

Archives