The inaugural Other Worlds Austin scifi film festival starts this Thursday, December 4 at the Galaxy Highland Theater. The 3 day event features 11 full length films and a variety of shorts. Not terribly surprising to anyone who regularly follows my writings, I’m covering the festival.
Over the next three days, I will preview the 11 features.
The Well
Tom Hammock | USA | 95 min
Writers: Jacob Forman, Tom Hammock
Producers: Seth Caplan, Billy Federighi, Dante Federighi, Jacob Forman, Chris Harding
Cast: Haley Lu Richardson, Booboo Stewart, Max Charles, Nicole Fox, Michael Welch, and Jon Gries
It’s been a decade since the last rainfall, and society at large has dried up and blown away. When a greedy water baron lays claim to what little of the precious resource remains underground, seventeen-year-old Kendal must decide whether to run and hide or bravely fight for the few cherished people and things she has left. A full-throttle action film, The Well features an ass-kicking female heroine in Haley Lu Richardson, and Napoleon Dynamite’s Jon Gries as her nemesis.
(Thursday, 7:45)
Time Lapse
Bradley King | USA | 103 min
Writers: BP Cooper, Bradley King
Producers: BP Cooper, Rick Montgomery
Cast: Danielle Panabaker, Matt O’Leary, George Finn, Amin Joseph, Jason Spisak
In a sleepy apartment building, three roommates discover their scientist neighbor dead. In his apartment, a giant experimental camera aimed at their apartment takes pictures 24 hours into the future. Exploiting the machine, they enjoy being one step ahead in life, until the machine starts spitting out disturbing images. A Hitchcockian thriller, Time Lapse is part indie love triangle comedy, part SciFi mystery and is sure to make your head hurt.
(Friday, 7:55, 8:20 filmmakers q&a to follow each screening)
Bloody Knuckles
Matt O’Mahoney | Canada | 83 min
Writer: Matt O’Mahoney
Producers: Daniel Domachowski, Todd Giroux, Michael O’Mahoney, Christena Zatylny
Cast: Adam Boys, Kasey Ryne Mazak, Ken Tsui, Gabrielle Giraud, and Dwayne Bryshun
Travis is an underground comic book artist with a penchant for the obscene. When one of his comics insults a Chinatown crime boss, the gangster punishes Travis by removing his drawing hand. A daunted Travis retreats into a life of alcoholic misery. That is, until his hand returns from the grave… Single-handedly dragging him into harm’s way, Travis’s appendage points him in the direction of revenge, with an avenging S&M homosexual superhero by his side.
(Friday, 10:30)