Presents a Screening of

SLACKER 2011

This Friday, February 17th

7:00 PM

MFAH Law Building (map)

Filmmakers in attendance for Q&A!

SWAMP supported Richard Linklater’s original 1991 movie SLACKER through funding provided by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Regional Filmmakers Fund that SWAMP administered. The movie went on to inspire a generation of American filmmakers by exploring the subculture of Austin, Texas, in a loose narrative with a tapestry of quirky characters. Celebrating the twentieth anniversary of that iconic movie, twenty-four of Austin’s top filmmakers banded together to update Slacker with their own perspectives.

SLACKER 2011 is a stream-of-consciousness chronicle of a day in Austin, presenting the city-dwellers, dragworms, proto-hipsters, and locations that give the city its modern identity. The film showcases a transformed town next to things that never change. Slacker 2011 is an homage to twenty years of independent filmmaking, presenting the city’s changing face and showcasing some of its most exciting talent.

For more info and to purchase tickets, click HERE

Presented by Texas Independent Film Network (TIFN), co-sponsored by SWAMP

Monday, January 30th

Sundance Cinemas (map)

Time 7:30

Buy TIX

From a snowy small town in Northern Michigan to the mountains of Afghanistan and back, Where Soldiers Come From follows the four-year journey of childhood friends, forever changed by a faraway war.

A documentary about growing up, Where Soldiers Come From is an intimate look at the young men who fight our wars and the families and town they come from. Returning to her hometown, Director Heather Courtney gains extraordinary access following these young men as they grow and change from teenagers stuck in their town, to 23-year-old veterans facing the struggles of returning home.

Filmmaker to attend Q&A after screening.

Watch trailer:

Where Soldiers Come From – New HD Trailer from Heather Courtney on Vimeo.

For more info, click here.

Congratulations to SWAMP’s Executive Director Mary Lampe who received a Special Achievement Award in Cinema for her work from the Houston Film Critics Society.  Also awarded for the first time was the Texas Independent Film Award which went to PUNCTURE.  Congratulations to all the nominees and award winners for the Best Films in 2011!

Southwest Alternate Media Project (SWAMP)

For 13 years, Mary Lampe has served as Executive Director of Southwest Alternate Media Project (SWAMP), a 35-year-old nonprofit media arts organization that supports the creation and appreciation of independent film. Throughout her tenure, she has developed innumerable educational programs and film programs for youth and adults. In addition, she has served on festival juries and panels as well as on grant committees for city, state and national funders.

She is most proud of  her efforts to provide direct support to talented filmmakers, resulting in the production of 27 short films through the Walt Disney ABC Television Talent Development Grant program and the eight month Emerging Filmmakers Fellowship Program, a bi-cultural collaboration with the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City.

Also, Mary has assisted experienced filmmakers in raising over $1.6 million through SWAMP’s Sponsored Projects program, which provides a nonprofit umbrella for non-commercial documentary films. Through her efforts, she has helped both emerging and experienced filmmakers combined to raise over $2.5 million for their film projects.

Mary Lampe was elected an at-large member of the founding board of the Texas Motion Picture Alliance (TXMPA), a statewide nonprofit organization which serves as a legislative advocate for professionals working in the film, video, interactive, and digital media production industries. She also served as the chair of the founding committee of the Houston Cinema Arts Society (HCAS), sponsors of the new Cinema Arts Festival Houston, and continues to serve on the HCAS board.

Mary is the Co-Executive Producer of THE TERRITORY, SWAMP’s international short film showcase series, broadcast on Texas PBS stations for 34 seasons. She was recently asked to curate a program of American short films for the 2012 Tour de Film in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Celebrates 35th Anniversary in 2012

In 1977, through the vision of the internationally acclaimed filmmaker and educator James Blue, with founding director Ed Hugetz and initial financial support of Houston philanthropists John and Dominique de Menil, SWAMP became the first Texas independent nonprofit organization for the “citizen filmmaker.” Over the course of its history, SWAMPrecognized and supported the work of such noted filmmakers as Richard Linklater, Robert Rodriguez and Jane Campion, and helped Texas filmmakers receive over $2 million for their non-commercial films in the last 13 years alone.

Today SWAMP offers aspiring filmmakers of all ages professional development workshops, after-school programs, summer film classes, special screenings, fiscal sponsorship, THE TERRITORY (our Texas PBS broadcast series), grant opportunities, collaborative events, and much more in our mission to promote the creation and appreciation of film, video and new media as art forms of our multicultural community.

SWAMP’s educational programs and screenings, directly benefit an average of some 2800 filmmakers and film-lovers annually. Although we depend on partial funding from The Houston Endowment, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, The Brown Foundation, Texas Commission on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Houston Film Commission, SWAMP needs YOU!

As we enter our 35^th year of service to Texas filmmakers and film fans, your generous contribution will help SWAMP to fulfill our mission and shape the course of our future for the next 35 years.

Please make your tax deductible contribution now by clicking the donation button:

Thank you for your thoughtful consideration of this request, and remember that no amount is too small.

We wish you a healthy and happy 2012!

In February, the TIFN will showcase the remake of SLACKER, Richard Linklater’s 90′s classic independent film that has continued to inspire filmmakers in Austin and beyond. SLACKER 2011 is a stream-of-consciousness chronicle of a day in Austin, presenting the city-dwellers, dragworms, proto-hipsters and locations that give the city its modern identity. The film showcases a transformed town next to things that never change.  An homage to twenty years of independent filmmaking, presenting the Austin’s changing face and
showcasing 24 of its most exciting talent.

For the month of March, the TIFN will offer an exciting double feature on two topics with deep roots in Texas culture: beer and BBQ.  Narrated by Governor Ann Richards and directed by Chris Elley, BBQ: A TEXAS LOVE STORY showcases the history and love of BBQ in Texas, as well as the individuals behind the brisket. The second feature comes from director Mike Woolf’s SOMETHING’S BREWIN’ IN SHINER. This documentary takes audiences to Shiner, TX in the summer of 2003, as an infamous small town prepares for the launch of Shiner’s newest brew.

In April, the TIFN will show AN ORDINARY FAMILY. Written and directed by Mike Akel, the film humorously follows two brothers on a weeklong family vacation that quickly goes awkwardly wrong.

Director Heather Courtney’s documentary film, WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM, which follows several U.S. soldiers on their personal journeys as they fight the war in Afghanistan.  Date TBA

This Thursday, December 1st @ 8PM

The Fairview (map)

See eligibility rules