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Austin Film Festival to honor Sam Shepard
This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Austin Film Festival and Conference. Man, we’re old. The preeminent festival for screenwriters has made a national name for itself by not only screening a great selection of films, but by honoring the writers who so often go unappreciated.
This year the festival will honor legendary writer (and actor) Sam Shepard with its Distinguished Screenwriter Award on October 18 at the Austin Club. The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Shepard began his writing career off-off-Broadway in New York in the early 1960s before beginning his screenwriting career in 1968 with “Me and My Brother.” Shepard would go on to win Pullitzers for his plays “Buried Child” and “Fool For Love,” which he adapted for the screen for director Robert Altman.
In addition to his prolific writing career, Shepard has left his mark on American film as an actor, as well, with an equally remarkable resume, starring in films such as “Days of Heaven” and “The Right Stuff.”
“Sam Shepard has changed the landscape of American film and stage with his work as a playwright, screenwriter and actor,” said Barbara Morgan, AFF co-founder and executive director. “His work represents the spirit of the Distinguished Screenwriter Award and we are thrilled to honor him.”
For more information or to purchase badges for the Austin Film Festival, go to their official Web site here.
While the films for this year’s fest will not be released until September, what follows is a partial list of A list of confirmed conference panelists:
- John August (writer/director “The Nines,” writer “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Corpse Bride,” “Go,” “Big Fish,” “Titan A.E.,” “Charlie’s Angels” and “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle”)
- David Boxerbaum, APA Agency
- Curtis Burch, Latitude Productions
- Channing Dungey, ABC Studios
- Matthew Gross, ABC Studios
- Juliana Farrell, Groundswell Productions
- Andrew Form, Platinum Dunes
- Mickey Freiberg, ACME Talent & Literary Agency
- Brad Fuller, Platinum Dunes
- John Lee Hancock (writer “The Blindside,” “A Perfect World,” “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” “The Alamo,” director “The Alamo,” “The Rookie”)
- Patrick Hegarty- 2007 AFF Latitude Award Winner, videogame writer on “Ghostbusters,” “Eragon” and “Rataouille”
- Buck Henry (writer “To Die For,” “Protocol,” “What’s Up, Doc?,” “The Owl and the Pussycat,” “Catch-22,” “The Graduate”)
- Jake Kasdan (“Walk Hard,” “The TV Set,” “Orange County,” “Zero Effect”)
- Michael McDonald, ABC Studios
- Rachel Miller, Tom Sawyer Productions
- Jeff Nathanson (story credit - “Indiana Jones 4,” “New York, I Love You,” “Rush Hour (2& 3),” “The Terminal,” “Catch Me if You Can,” “Speed 2,” and writer/director of “The Last Shot”)
- Susan O’Connor, Videogame writer (“Gears of War” and “Bioshock”)
- Dan Petrie Jr. (“Beverly Hills Cop,” “The Big Easy,” “Shoot to Kill,” “Turner & Hooch,” “Toy Soldiers”)
- Chuck Sklar (“Everybody Hates Chris,” “The Chris Rock Show”)
- Bob Soderstrom, Screenwriter, 2002 AFF Screenplay Competition Winner
- Yaphet Smith, Screenwriter
- Eric Red (“100 Feet,” “The Hitcher,” “Near Dark”)
- Terry Rossio (“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” “Dead Man’s chest,” “The Curse of the Black Pearl,” “Déjà vu,” “Shrek,” “The Mask of Zorro,” “Aladdin”)
- Robert Townsend (“Phantom Punch,” “Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy,” “Black Listed,” “The Meteor Man,” “The Five Heartbeats,” “Hollywood Shuffle”)
- Mark Vahradian, Di Bonaventura Pictures
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