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November 20, 2014

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OTHER WORLDS AUSTIN sells out, then adds more seats, more films

We know it has been a few weeks since you heard from us, but it’s only been because we’ve been so busy, and have a great deal of news to report. The response to the inaugural Other Worlds Austin SciFi Film Festival has been so great that wristbands to Austin’s first festival dedicated to science fiction filmmaking actually sold out five weeks before opening night. But don’t worry if you haven’t bought your wristband yet. In response, we took on another theater, opening up additional wristbands for sale. In addition, this will allow us to add four more feature films (and a few shorts). Wristband holders still have a guaranteed seat for each of the ten screenings, but for four of the screenings, they will now have their choice between two different features. Wristbands are still only $45 and available here: http://www.otherworldsaustin.com/wristbands.

Films added to the lineup include to the US and International Premiere of CAPSULE, a Dutch drama about the selection process for a safe harbor buried deep below the Earth in the onset of harmful radiation on the surface. Written and directed by Djie Han Thung, Capsule presents a very real story that is much closer to science than science fiction, and which has yet to be shown outside of the Netherlands.

On the other side of the spectrum is the Texas Premiere of SPACE MILKSHAKE, a rowdy comedy about four barely capable astronauts stranded on a sanitation space station who are terrorized by a creature from another dimension in the form of a rubber duck. The film stars Billy Boyd (Pippin in Lord of the Rings), Robin Dunne (Sanctuary, Defiance and a number of direct-to-video sequels), Kristin Kreuk (Smallville, CW’s Beauty and the Beast) and Amanda Tapping (Stargate SG-1) as well as Star Trek’s George Takei as the voice of the rubber duck.

Also making its Texas Premiere is THE PHOENIX PROJECT, an ensemble drama about a team of four scientists who wall themselves up in a house to invent a process to raise the dead. More about the moral quandaries of research and grants and the secrets the team keeps from each other than the actual technology, the film looks at just what people are willing to sacrifice to take the next step.

Announced Program

THE WELL: TX Premiere

Opening Night Film: Thur 12/4

TIME LAPSE: TX Premiere

Centerpiece Film: Fri 12/5

THE RECONSTRUCTION OF WILLIAM ZERO: US Premiere

Closing Night Film: Sat 12/6

Apt 3D (World Premiere)

Aura (US Premiere)

Backyard Blockbusters

(World Premiere)

Bloody Knuckles (TX Premiere)

Capsule (US Premiere)

The Perfect 46 (TX Premiere)

The Phoenix Project (TX Premiere)

Space Milkshake (TX Premiere)

The Sun Devil and the Princess (World Premiere)

3 Programs of shorts,

one each day of the festival

Pre-Apocalyptic Happy Hour

Sponsored by Austin’s Pizza

Thursday, 4:30 pm, 12/4

2014: A Brunch Odyssey

Sponsored by Cox Smith

Saturday, 11:00 am, 12/6

10 Screenings: $45

Features and Shorts

Limited Quantities Available

Get your Wristband→

Festival 411

Dates: December 4-6, 2014

Venue: Galaxy Highland 10 of I-35
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 204295, Austin TX 78720

The Team

Bears Fonté

Founder and Director of Programming

Don Elfant

Director of Marketing and Development

Jordan Brown

Programmer and Dir. of Submissions

Courtney Hazlett

Programmer and Hospitality Director

Kelsey Hockmuller

Programmer and Social Media Director

Reid Lansford

Programmer and Registration Director

Dan Repp

Programmer and Events Coordinator

THE PERFECT 46 is another tense thriller about the unintended consequences of technology. In this Texas Premiere, a former rock star CEO is held at gunpoint while the details of his company play out through a series of news reports and television documentaries. The Perfect 46 promises to match you with your perfect genetic counterpart and create the perfect child, free of any handicaps or health issues.

In addition, three shorts, RECOIL, EARTHLICKERS and NOSTALGIA will be added to the program, playing in front of features. While the Shorts Programs, the Opening Night, Closing Night and Centerpiece Films will play in both theaters simultaneously, wristband holders will now have their pick, first come first serve, between two features for the other four screening slots.

Remembering Corey Mitchell

By BEARS FONTE — I had the great pleasure of covering the 2nd annual Housecore Horror Film Festival for AMFM Magazine, a festival that combined horror movies and metal music, founded by a friend of mine, Corey Mitchell. This year’s fest included a a 40th Anniversary Screening of Texas Chainsaw Massacre as well as OWA alumni film DEAD WITHIN. The day after the festival, I received a text message from our programmer Dan Repp, who had also been at the festival: it had just been announced on the Houscore Facebook page that Mitchell had passed away, having suffered a massive heart attack while loading out the festival.

I hadn’t known Corey for long, but he changed my life. He walked up to me at Sundance in 2013, outside the Austin Film Society sponsored party, and introduced himself. He told me about the new festival he was starting, he recognized me as the Director of Programming for Austin Film Festival at the time, and he wanted us to put something together. I realized very quickly I had been reading his articles on Metal Sucks for years. I remember him saying ‘it seems like really you should be working for me’ as I was trying to push for more horror and darker material in general at AFF. I thought his whole idea for the Housecore Horror festival was amazing, bringing together artist from different fields that are natural if unspoken collaborators. Unfortunately, I was never able to get HHFF and AFF together in our first year, despite countless ideas from Mitchell – I couldn’t get anybody else at my festival on board with the idea of helping a new fest on THE SAME WEEKEND. To myself I thought ‘good for him.’ Out loud I told everyone how frustrating it was that Mitchell and Anselmo had orchestrated the first ever Goblin reunion and gotten them to live score Suspira and I was missing it.

When I left AFF this year, Mitchell was one of the first people I contacted. I think I was hoping he would offer me a job. He said something better. He said ‘well, what do you want to do?’ Everything I’ve done this year, founding Other Worlds Austin, only happened because of Corey Mitchell. His determination and guts to just start a new festival and believe that if he built it, people would come, has been a constant source of inspiration for me.

I was deeply saddened by his passing, a feeling shared by many of us on the OWA staff, and certainly anyone who knew him. At our festival this year, a festival that would not have happened without the encouragement of Corey Mitchell, we’ve decided to honor him and the inspiration he provided me by dedicating our screening of BLOODY KNUCKLES to his memory, a film we’re sure he would have loved.

In addition, Other Worlds Austin pledges that 5% of all wristband sales and merchandise purchases for the remainder of this year’s festival will be donated to the Corey Mitchell Family Fundraiser, set up to help ensure the support of his two daughters. More information about the fundraiser can be founder here.

A longer version of this story can be found on AMFM Magazine.

Call for Volunteers

The festival is almost upon us, and we could use you help. If you’d like to earn your wristband by working half the fest (and enjoying the other half), we are looking for projectionists and line monitors.

Each volunteer should expect to work either both Thursday/Friday night or all day Saturday. If you can work/volunteer for half the festival (5 screenings) you will receive an OWA wristband!

We currently need:

At least 2 (at max 4) people who are interested in being projectionists. You do not need previous technical training, you just have to be available Wednesday morning, December 3rd to train with Cinematiq.
At least 2 (at max 4) people who can help with keeping the lines running smoothly, checking wristbands, clicking clickers etc.

If this position sounds like something you are willing to help with, email Courtney Hazlett at hospitality@otherworldsaustin.com ASAP.

If you’d like to be involved in the future but are not available the weekend of the festival, sign up on volunteer interest list to help out sometime next year. You can find it at the bottom of this page.

The Pre-Apocalyptic Happy Hour

We’ve already announced 2014: A Brunch Odyssey sponsored by Cox Smith on Saturday morning 11:00 am at the Goodnight. Now, we’ve added another party, The Pre-Apocalyptic Happy Hour sponsored by Austin’s Pizza at The Tigress, December 4th at 4:30 pm (a few hours before the post-apocalyptic film THE WELL, our Opening Night Film).

Join the OWA Team and filmmakers for themed cocktails, free pizza from Austin’s Pizza, SciFi tunes on the stereo, and SciFi flicks on the television. Stop by and pick up your wristband early before heading over to the first screening a few miles away at the Galaxy at 7:42. The Tigress is an intimate but swanky neighborhood bar with a cozy atmosphere, classic cocktails and local beers on tap, located at 100 W North Loop. The North Loop district is a hip, vintage-inspired area full of bars, record shops, book stores, and a great deal of eclecticism.

The Pre-Apocalyptic Happy Hour is included free with your wristband and goes from 4:30 to 7:00 pm on Thursday, December 4th, our opening night. Bears Fonte is putting together a special playlist based on his Most SciFi bands ever blog and Dan Repp is cutting together a hodgepodge of the best SciFi scenes of the last 40 years. Don Elfant is developing some sort of specialty cocktail that he refuses to reveal. And the rest of the OWA team promises to be there and recommend their favorite films for the upcoming weekend. Come hang out with us and the far more interesting filmmakers and steel yourself for a weekend of science fiction.

About Austin’s Pizza:

Established in 1999, Austin's Pizza has 12 Austin area locations: Westlake, South Austin, UT area, Downtown, Central Austin, North Austin, Cedar Park, Pflugerville, and Round Rock. Fresh-made sauces, no preservatives and 29 different toppings and cheeses are just some of the reasons Austin's Pizza is known and loved by Austinites. The company also works with countless organizations in town to help them with their fundraising efforts. Other Worlds Austin is proud to have such an important pillar of our community as a sponsor.

Also on OtherWorldsAustin.com

Inaugural OTHER WORLDS AUSTIN SciFi Film Festival

---------------December 4-6, 2014-----------------

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I’m Dreaming of a Spooky Christmas: A Look into a Few Science Fiction Films Combining Elements of Halloween and Christmas

We Are (Most Likely) Living in a SciFi Simulation

Bradbury’s The Veldt Is Happening Now And It Scares Me

Blog by COURTNEY HAZLETT — "Halloween and Christmas are two of my top holidays. What draws me is the sense of whimsy that each create – Halloween with its dark, odd spookiness and Christmas with its snowy, perfect delight. They are polar opposites on paper but ..."

Blog by DON ELFANT — "Once Pandora is out of the box it’s nearly impossible to put her back. Even just one simulation could spawn multiple new simulations as the fake humans develop the necessary technology."

Blog by KELSEY HOCKMULLER — "What’s almost scarier to me is how even though the idea of virtual reality is almost universally portrayed as negative in the media, we’re still trying to make it happen."

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