Austin Film Festival Day #2

We began the day with Shorts 2 at the Hideout.  Only seats 90 but miraculously we got in (by the hairs on our ..)  Some were extremely well made.  Our favorite was GIN & DRY (UK) about seniors living in a facility which has had a shortage of alcohol for its residents who are generally treated like fools with no rights.  These residents are funny, charming and very much alive.  The central character is a professional actor who will touch you to the core.  Abe and I were fortunate enough to meet the director and producer to thank them for their skill and sensitivity.  They then gave us a DVD of the film which we will cherish.  We were unable to get into the next series of shorts and ran over to the Ritz where we saw WE CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN, a restored hippie dippie acid like restoration of Nicholas Ray's film made in the 70's with his Harpur students. (Ray is the director of REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE). His 4th wife has put this film together and his biographer Patrick Mc Gilligan was with us for a Q&A.  While the film drove us up the wall in its disconnected lava lamp like footage of stoned, high drama young men and women (all with Bronx and Queens accents) the Q&A that followed was the best I have ever been to.  The biographer gave us an empathetic view of the positive effect teaching at Harpur brought to Mr. Ray's life after a period of steep decline.  The comments from the audience (think film students from the 60's and 70's) were intelligent, informative and lacked any self promotion.  So once again by keeping  an open mind you might not like a film but you sure might like the discussion that follows.

We waited and waited and did not get into THE RUM DIARY.  I did catch a glimpse of  Johnny Depp and oh yes......he is adorable!!!!!!!  So instead we ate pizza.  More tomorrow.