March 11, 2020 ~ Screening Showcase

Teasers, Trailers, and Sizzle Reels
Screening Showcase

Screening Series

Network Austin Mixer’s first ever screening showcase debuts on Wednesday, March 11th at Opal Divine’s Austin Grill, as always free to attend and open to the public!

Central Texas is bursting with talent, skills, creators, and creative content, so this is our chance to watch what’s been or being produced in our local entertainment media industry. We’ll be screening 11 teasers, trailers, or sizzle reels of shorts & features and a television series.

And if all goes as planned, then for our pre-show we’ll be presenting a nationally & internationally award winning beautifully poignant movie.

NAMixer Screening Series Program:

Smile by Jay Pennington

Javelina Run by Lisa Belcher

Ordinary by Chantelle James

Payback by Stephen Huffman

Betrayal by Jerry George Garcia

Remy’s Demons by Colin Bressler

Writer’s Block by Ray Spivey & Jeff Kerr

On American Soil by Michael L. Garcia Jr.

The Quantum Terror by Christopher Cooksey

Public Displays of Insanity by Paulina R. Manseau

Ridin’ Ropin’ & Jumpin’ Over Cars by Elaine Fields Smith

Pre-show: Guest of Honor by Lisa Belcher

The Network Austin Mixer strives to raise the caliber and increase opportunities of our local entertainment media community. In that spirit, come see what’s playing, support these filmmakers, and treat yourselves to an evening of viewing pleasure. Make the evening even more fun & productive by arriving early and/or staying late for all the networking where projects and jobs are born and furthered to fruition.

So bring your popcorn – or don’t since Opal Divine’s got great snacks and other food & drinks – and a bunch of friends to settle in and feast your eyes & ears and challenge your mind with our local community’s creative content on screen on March 11th @ Opal Divine’s Austin Grill!

Last Month

Our February NAMixer featured a stellar panel of casting directors – those who audition actors and are able to move them forward to the filmmakers. These guest speakers are kept quite busy with our bustling local industry, so in sincere gratitude we thank Brenda Ambrize of Ambrize Production Services, Vicky Boone of Vicky Boone Casting, Michael Druck of Michael Druck Casting, and our very own Donise L. Hardy, CSA of A Casting Place!

See photos here, and more mixer photos here.

Come on the 11th and bring a friend to network and enjoy the show. While there enjoy Opal Divine’s Happy Hour which lasts until 7, then $3 “Three for Texas” beers the rest of the evening. And don’t cook or go anywhere else for a meal or snacks because Opal’s offers a tasty and largely locally-sourced menu of goodies.

Pass along our website and check it for details about each month’s program!
Find this month’s mixer on Facebook and invite your friends.
Get on our mailing list and keep up with us on social media:
Like our page & join our group on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Mixing & Networking @ 6:00PM, Announcements @ 6:30, Program @ 7:00, Followed by More Mixing & Mingling and Networking

July 11, 2018 ~ Andrew Garrison

Filmmaker & Professor
Andrew Garrison

Andrew Garrison

We are proud to present this month’s guest speaker, award-winning filmmaker & professor Andrew Garrison, on Wednesday, July 11th at Opal Divine’s Austin Grill. Texan & Austinite Andrew is a writer, producer, and director who has also scored numerous credits in sound, cinematography, editing, even acting, and more over his career spanning 5 decades.

Andrew has received fellowships from the American Film Institute (AFI), the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and the Rockefeller and Guggenheim foundations. A couple of his films, Third Ward TX & The Wilgus Stories, aired on PBS, and several others have been selected for screenings at theaters & festivals around the world, including SXSW, Sundance, Locarno International Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, New York Film Festival, and the Berlinale. His films have won multiple awards & nominations for the highly acclaimed feature film Trash Dance and short film Night Ride.

In 1975 Andrew co-founded the Dayton Community Media Workshop that produced community-based documentaries for local and national audiences. Later he was invited to join renowned film collective Appalshop in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky, where for a dozen years he collaborated to produce documentaries for others, as well as his own projects. Now the Audio Area Head of the Department of Radio-Television-Film (RTF) at the University of Texas in Austin (UT), Andrew founded yet another film organization, East Austin Stories, in which UT students work with residents & businesses in East Austin on documentary projects.

Watch these clips & trailers, and find more of Andrew’s works on Vimeo:

Trash Dance, a collaborative documentary project between Austin choreographer, Allison Orr, and employees of Austin Resource Recovery (formerly Solid Waste Services) to make an extraordinary and transforming public dance display on film

Third Ward TX, about a group of artists in inner-city Houston who have successfully revitalized their neighborhood with art as the engine of change

The Wilgus Stories, a narrative triptych of a humorous and poignant perspective on the significant moments of daily life as shown through the eyes of Wilgus Collier set in the 50s & 60s

Because I’m Here, rough-cut clip from a work-in-progress 35 years in the making sponsored in part by the City of Austin’s Cultural Arts Division and the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities about a man named Earl Gilmore, an African-American, gay, devout Christian, gospel choir director, blues musician, coal miner, centerfielder for the Clinchco Giants, carnival hoochie-coochie dancer, Ford Fellow, and life-long resident of Clinchco, Virginia, population 500. Shown here, Earl’s friend, Eldora, avoids answering the question, “How would you describe Earl?”

And put our next mixer featuring the multi-talented successful Andrew Garrison on your calendar for Wednesday the 11th at Opal’s!

Get there early to take advantage of Opal Divine’s Happy Hour which lasts until 7, then $3 “Three for Texas” beers the rest of the evening. And don’t cook or go anywhere else for a meal or snacks because Opal’s offers a tasty and largely locally-sourced menu of goodies.

 

Last Month

We’re so grateful for you, audience members, who came out to bravely step up to our stage and pitch yourselves. New connections abounded upon hearing from one another and what each does, has done, and is up to now, providing a greater opportunity for exchanging contacts & information; networking in a nutshell. There’s a wealth of talent & skills right here in Central Texas, as you sure showed us all!
And thanks so much to our special guest Jennifer Hutchins of Austin Entertainment Business and the Austin Chapter of the Producers Guild of America (PGA), who has diligently dug in to make our local industry ever more vital and recognized worldwide.
See photos here, and more mixer photos here.

 

Pass along our website and check it for details about each month’s speaker(s)!
Find this month’s mixer on Facebook and invite your friends.
Get on our mailing list and keep up with us on social media:
Like our page & join our group on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Mixing & Networking @ 6:00PM, Announcements @ 6:30, Speakers @ 6:45
Followed by More Mixing & Mingling and Networking