Roll Call: Best of Austin Film 2012

Written by Don Simpson // December 21, 2012 // Austin, Film // 3 Comments

In my mind, 2010 was the year that the current independent filmmaking scene in Austin broke big with the premieres of films such as Earthling, The Happy Poet, Lovers of Hate, and Mars. Those four films enjoyed an immense level of success on the international film festival circuit (Lovers of Hate scored a distribution deal with IFC Films!), functioning as the flagships for a brave new wave of Austin filmmaking.

Jump-cut to 2012. The international film festival world was saturated with outstanding Austin productions this year. Beginning with the world premieres of the Zellner Brothers’ Kid-Thing, Kat Candler’s Hellion and Kyle Henry’s Fourplay: Tampa at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival, it was obvious that 2012 would certainly be a fantastic year for the Austin film scene.

I have counted at least twelve Austin-centric feature films that enjoyed premieres at reputable film festival premieres during 2012. Other than New York City and Los Angeles, no other U.S. city boasted such a large quantity of high quality films this year. I am incredibly impressed and proud of all of these films; so rather than ranking my favorite Austin features that premiered in 2012, I think a simple alphabetical roll call of the nine that truly stand out is in order…

America’s Parking Lot

Pictures of Superheroes

Satellite of Love

Saturday Morning Massacre

Somebody Up There Likes Me

Last, but certainly not least, there are two Austin-made short films that totally blew my mind in 2012:

Hellion

The Quiet Girl’s Guide to Violence

Written by Don Simpson // December 21, 2012 // Austin, Film // 3 Comments

About the Author

Though he studied Accounting at Elizabethtown College, Don Simpson insists that the knowledge he acquired during his four years as a deejay and two years as Music Director at the college radio station (WWEC) has been more transformative to his life. Except for some ill-conceived drum lessons in 7th grade (which were promptly cancelled when on one fateful day he brought a Dead Milkmen cassette to practice -- it was a Catholic school), Don is a self-taught musician and makes absolutely no claims of possessing any musical talent. His music journalism career started in the mid-90s with a couple of handmade 'zines (The Crack and Re-Verb) and quickly progressed to contributing writer positions at Devil in the Woods, Pop Culture Press, and the Los Angeles Journal. He currently resides in Austin, Texas where he enjoys writing about music and film.

3 Comments

m January 16, 2013 at 9:15 am · Reply

Where can we see these films? Other than screenings, where can we find on our own?

Thanks!
Kyle Henry March 14, 2013 at 9:50 am · Reply

FYI – FOURPLAY will be available soon on DVD and streaming, “like” the Facebook to be updated when released here http://www.facebook.com/FOURPLAYFILM