Roll Call: Best of Austin Film 2012
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…
Last, but certainly not least, there are two Austin-made short films that totally blew my mind in 2012: