Tuesday, October 22, 2013

PTA Headed To Austin Film Festival To Moderate Jonathan Demme Q&A, "Greaser's Palace" Screening

According to many on the ground, including the local presses, Paul Thomas Anderson will be attending the Austin Film Festival this coming weekend to moderate a Q&A with long-time filmmaking idol and friend Jonathan Demme. That talk will be this coming Saturday at 3:45pm in the Stephen F. Austin Ballroom.

On Sunday, PTA will be co-hosting a screening of Robert Downey Sr.'s 1972 film "Greaser's Palace" with Demme. That'll start at 5:30pm at the State Theatre, with another Q&A between the two directors following.

If you live in or around Austin, TX, and haven't made up your mind to get passes yet, it's probably worth looking into here. Aside from these talks, some phenomenal titles are screening this year.

And here's an outlandishly amusing clip from Greaser's Palace


Stay tuned to Twitter and Facebook for the latest news and updates.
"The Master" is now available on Blu-ray and DVD

18 comments:

  1. Will there be a transcription or recording?

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  2. I hope someone make a video of this and put it on youtube. I really want to see Paul and Jonathan together, two greatest artist. I wish I could be there at Austin but sadly I am working. I hope that I will see them on youtube.

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  3. Shame on the AFF for only letting people know at the last minute that Paul would be there with Demme for the Q&A. People need a little time to plan trips, plan finances etc. This info should have been released to the public six months ago. Jeez. I was at AFF last year. I bought my tickets the previous December hoping that Paul might screen The Master there in October to prepare for a November or December release. As fate would have it, the movie hit theaters a month before AFF. But I bought my ticket just in case. Hey AFF, next time give a heads up so the fans can plan!

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  4. PTA really loves Bob Downey, doesn't he? I'll admit I never really got him haha

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    1. I agree. I wanna love Bob Downey because I love what he did and how he was doing indie film 30 years before it existed. And I love lot of things in putney swope and how crazy it is, but if i'm being 100% honest with myself... i don't really get it either. I could never sit through his movies strait all the way through

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  5. If PTA is such an admirer of Demme why doesn't he make a movie with a woman as the main character? Demme has directed wonderful movies with female characters (Rachel Getting Married, Silence of the Lambs, Married to the Mob, even in Something Wild Lulu is on equal footing with Charlie Driggs). But PTA seems to want to stay fixated on white males only as the center of his universe. He's capable of writing those good female roles as he's shown with Amber Waves, Rollergirl, Clementine, etc but he chooses to center the whole movie on a white male every time. It's disappointing for someone so talented as a writer and director to have such a narrow vision in this sense.

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    1. "He's capable of writing those good female roles as he's shown with Amber Waves, Rollergirl, Clementine, etc "

      I think you just solved your own problem there stud

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    2. I think he said somewhere he considers claudia to be the main character of magnolia

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    3. I always thought that he said John C. Reilly's character was the person he deep down identified with and centered movie around.

      However, I do think this is a legitimate question though and should be debated rather than dismissed.

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    4. I agree with the person above^^ you started your post saying PTA doesn't write strong female characters, and then ended it by listing a bunch of strong female characters written by PTA... so...

      And not having a female as the main character.. I think its ridiculous to single out Anderson for this, other than Tarantino with Kill Bill what other male writer directer has put a woman in the lead role?

      I mean it is really terrible that females aren't written the leads anywhere near as much as male's are, but Paul Thomas Anderson isn't the reason for that

      Plus, he has written more than his fair share of great female characters and gotten career best performances out of every actress he works with (Gwyneth Paltrow, Heather Graham, Amy Adams, Julianne Moore...). I respect your question and it is too bad there's not as many girl led movies.

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    5. First of all, thanks for not being completely dismissive.

      I think you are misreading a little bit. I never said he doesn't write strong female characters, I said that a female character is never the protagonist/main character that the entire movie follows. Amber and Rollergirl are great characters. (In fact Boogie Nights is his most diverse movie which in my opinion adds so much to it's greatness). But who he's chosen to focus all his movies on is slightly questionable in the long run. I'm not blaming him at all for a societal double standard but if there's one director that could deviate from it, it would be PTA.

      I also think that a filmmaker's ability to extend their humanity to people who are different from them (whether gender or race) elevates them to a higher level. PTA is one of the most interesting filmmakers of our generation but I think he needs to step out of his comfort zone in a more political sense.

      I don't think that it is only Tarantino today. Look at Alfonso Cuaron and Gravity (even a Little Princess). Look at Mike Leigh and Happy-Go-Lucky and many other of his movies. Jonathan Demme speaks for himself (Rachel Getting Married was very recent). Not biggest Baumbach fan but Frances Ha. Robert Altman directed some of the richest female performances ever in Come Back To The Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (also The Company, Kansas City and others). Tim Robbins with Dead Man Walking. Scorsese with Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Ophuls with multiple movies. Satyajit Ray has many movies. Almodovar. Hawks. Woody Allen. Even a guy like Benoit Jacquot. Some early Brad Anderson. Carl Franklin with One True Thing. There are many others. All those male artists gained something by extending that humanity.

      Someone who puts an entire movie telling the story of a woman (or someone of another race) is essentially saying this person deserves their own movie. They are important. It shows a deeper sense of equality, humanity, and wisdom. This is an important point and shouldn't be dismissed. I think that PTA could risk becoming a parody of himself if he doesn't watch out to be honest. If the next two movies after Inherent Vice are both solely focused on white men, would be a little silly.

      I love PTA. I'm holding out on him. I understand that it's probably easier to center the movies on the characters he has but he can get to that next level he just needs to question certain assumptions in himself. He's a big director, he's got financial backing these days. I think he can step up his game on the humanist scale. Join the greats y'know.

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  6. A white male fixated on a universe centered by a white male. go figure.

    Is this like people saying that "girls" is only about white girls?


    Also. Magnolia. duh.

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  7. Also. the Master in "the Master" is Peggy Dodd. Watch the sink scene again and tell me she wasn't. Or when she tells Freedy to put something in his future.

    Lancaster has the Charimsm and BS artistry, but Peggy is the master who steers the ship. It's Peg who kicks Freddy off the ship.

    so this point about lack of females is completely bogus.

    case closed.

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    1. Me thinks PTA is your Master. You can't even question him. You're grasping at straws and not addressing the point. Peggy is not the central character by any means and is actually one of PTA's most one-noted characters. There's a faux-subtly to the way her writes her as the domineering woman, the real puppet-master. Her role is the weakest thing about the movie and you leave the theatre with everything tied up that she's the real cruel force behind the Cause. You just demonstrated it right there. Lancaster Dodd is just 'whipped' by a woman, that's where the evil within the Cause derives from. Thin stuff.

      You're "case closed" is just more evidence bud. But keep shooting.

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    2. Yeah, the point was not that he has a lack of females. It was the fact he never uses females as a lead character. Although you can make a strong case for Claudia.

      If I had to nail down who the "protagonist" was in Magnolia(which i'm not even certain you're supposed to do), it would be the relationship of Jim as Claudia. Not one or the other, but the unit they form. Kinda like Master and Freddie.

      Also, Peggy Dodd was delibrately one noted. She's the ubermench, or the character furthest along to becoming one.

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  8. I have to admit that i agree. Adams role was a letdown for me but I couldnt admit it because i love pta. It is very obvious when you think back on the movie as a whole.

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