Goblins in fantastical worlds, wacky sibling rivalries and even a van-life-themed murder story aired at Austin Film Festival, one of the city’s premiere film events, this past week.
Works from UT alumni played among over 180 films in the festival’s feature-length and short film categories. UT radio-television-film alumnus Bryan Poyser, a film professor at Texas State University, said he kick-started his filmmaking journey at UT.
“I was like, ‘Okay, I can’t afford to go to New York or L.A., which is where the film industry is based, but it seems like something is happening in this town in Texas,’” Poyser said. “So I moved … to Austin when I was 17, and I went to the RTF program.”
Poyser said his full-length feature, “Leads,” grew from the “creative frustration” of struggling to make a film the usual, grant-funded way. As a film professor, however, he had unbridled access to his resources.
“I was like, ‘Okay, how dare I say that I can’t make a movie when I literally have all of the tools I need?’” Poyser said. “If I set a story on a college campus and I shoot it during my winter break, I can use the campus for free, and we can use my house.”
“Goblin,” RTF alumnus Santi Berkley’s UT undergraduate thesis about a girl and her father figure, covers many of his filmmaking interests, he said.
“I like stories about humans, especially humans in relationships that are a little bit unconventional,” Berkley said. “I like exploring humans through a very loving lens, especially flawed characters.”
Navigating several challenges, Berkley said what he learned in UT’s RTF helped create “Goblin.”
“It was also an extremely stressful set with a lot of setbacks and issues in certain areas, but we still kept it more organized than not,” Berkeley said. “So I think it was also just kind of like a big test of everything I’d learned at UT.”
Two of RTF alumnus Chad Werner’s short films were shown at the festival. He directed “Vandals,” initially a TV pilot, and co-wrote and acted in “Tech Free Retreat,” a story born of the Austin comedy group he’s part of.
“With ‘Tech Free Retreat,’ I learned so much about working with other writers because so many of my projects are (self-created),” Werner said. “It was really fun to be part of a collective, everyone bringing fresh new ideas. And (‘Tech Free Retreat’ was) similar to ‘Vandals,’ not holding anything too precious and just adapting with each new thing as you go.”
Werner’s films screened in the same short film category, along with others from friends he had worked with previously.
“It was really exciting just to be on the stage with people I know and care about,” Werner said. “And also get to share a screening with them and so many other talented filmmakers as well.”
While submitting “Leads” to various film festivals, Poysner said he especially wanted a screening at the Austin Film Festival.
“It could not have gone better, as far as that homecoming, hometown premier that I was hoping for,” Poyser said.
