Austin Film Festival Unveils First Films In Lineup; Will Premiere Season Finale Of HBO’s ‘The Deuce’

The 2017 Austin Film Festival will premiere the season finale of HBO’s new drama The Deuce as well as the romantic comedy Amanda and Jack Go Glamping starring David Arquette and Amy Acker, written and directed by Austin filmmaker Brandon Dickerson. Other films this year will be Permanent with Rainn Wilson and Patricia Arquette, Please Stand By with Dakota Fanning and Toni Collete, and 24 Hours to Live with Ethan Hawke and Liam Cunningham. The festival takes place this year Oct. 26 through Nov. 2.

The festival will give world premieres to a number of other films (see list below) and the North American premier to Brad Silberling’s An Ordinary Man starring Ben Kingsley. Already confirmed to attend the fest this year are David Arquette for Glamping, Sasheer Zamata (Saturday Night Live) and Brent Morin (Undateable) for the world premiere of the comedy The Outdoorsman. Screenwriter awardee Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea) is being honored and so will also attend as will The Deuce creators David Simon and George Pelecanos.

In addition, AFF will present a remastered retrospective of 1985 Austin-produced cult horror film Confessions of a Serial Killer starring local filmmaker Robert Burns. The film is based on the crimes of serial killer Henry Lee Lucas and was the first independent film acquired for distribution by Roger Corman.

The complete list of programming, including over 100 more films as well as hundreds of panels, will be announced in late September.

Here is how it’s shaping up so far:

24 Hours to Live
Writers: Zach Dean, Jim McClain, Ron Mita
Director: Brian Smrz
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Liam Cunningham, Rutger Hauer
Logline: A career assassin who turns rogue after his latest mission goes awry.

Amanda & Jack Go Glamping
World Premiere
Writer/Director: Brandon Dickerson
Starring: David Arquette, Amy Acker, Adan Canto, June Squibb
Logline: With his mid-life marriage on rocky ground, dejected one-hit-author Jack Spencer goes glamping (glamorous camping) with his wife, Amanda, in search of a spark. When the isolated retreat suddenly becomes anything but private with the arrival of double booking honeymoon hipsters and a super-hunk land owner, Jack must learn to get over himself as he dives deep off the grid into a comedic exploration of love, failure, relevance, and miniature donkeys.

Confessions of a Serial Killer –Remastered 1985 Retrospective
Writer/Director: Mark Blair
Starring: Robert Burns, Dennis Hill, Berkley Garrett
Logline: The thinly veiled account of the chilling life and crimes of notorious Henry Lee Lucas, whose reign of terror came to an end on July 11th, 1983.

The Deuce-Season Finale
World Premiere
Creators: David Simon, George Pelecanos
Starring: James Franco, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Zoe Kazan
Logline: the story of the legalization and subsequent rise of the porn industry in New York’s Times Square from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s, exploring the rough-and-tumble world at the pioneering moments of what would become the billion-dollar American sex industry. George Pelecanos, David Simon, James Franco and Nina K. Noble executive produce.

Flock of Four
World Premiere
Writer/Director: Gregory Caruso
Starring: Braeden Lemasters, Shane Harper, Coco Jones, Reg E. Cathey
Logline: In 1959, four best friends search for a legendary jazz musician and discover an unforgettable night of culture and music in South Central, Los Angeles.

Mr. Fish: Cartooning from the Deep End
World Premiere
Director: Pablo Bryant
Logline: Mr. Fish, one of the most dangerous American cartoonists working today, is faced with selling his art or selling his soul.

An Ordinary Man
North American Premiere
Writer/Director: Brad Silberling
Starring: Ben Kingsley, Hera Hilmar, Peter Serafinowicz
Logline: The life of a fugitive war criminal takes a turn for the unexpected in An Ordinary Man. After years of hiding in plain sight following the brutal Balkan wars, a man known only as the General, ferried nightly from couch to couch by faithful loyalists, at last is placed in an apartment of his own. When Tanja, the young housemaid of the prior tenant unwittingly stumbles through his door, it’s clear to both that her simply departing will not be an option. What follows is a cat and mouse game of intentions and identities, in which the General’s need for human contact drives him to take increasingly greater risks, pressing to unearth Tanja’s secrets…and setting them both on a collision course with the past.

The Outdoorsman
World Premiere
Writer: Ryan Gilmour
Director: David Haskell
Starring: Brent Morin, Sasheer Zamata, Spencer Grammer
Logline: As he prepares to cut ties with society and spend a year in the mountains, an aspiring wilderness writer meets a goal oriented, corporate woman who has quit her job to ‘find herself.’ He falls in love, but ultimately must ask himself what he wants: the ‘normal’ life he’s avoided his whole life, or living his outdoor fantasy, alone.

Permanent
Writer/Director: Colette Burson
Starring: Kira McClean, Rainn Wilson, Patricia Arquette
Logline: Set in 1983 in small town Virginia, Permanent centers around a 13-year-old and her family. The story of a hairstyle gone incredibly wrong and a young girl’s plight to fit in while encountering bullies at a new school.

Please Stand By
Writer: Michael Golamco
Director: Ben Lewin
Starring: Dakota Fanning and Toni Collette.
Logline: an upcoming dramedy from Magnolia Pictures about an autistic girl who runs away from her caregiver to enter a writing competition.

Touched
North American Premiere
Writer/Director: Karl R. Hearne
Starring: Hugh Thompson, Lola Flanery
Logline: A ghostly, psychological drama about a young woman who disappears from her building and her solitary landlord who tries to track her down.

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