Editor’s Note: For the past several years, the Austin Film Festival has been busy digitizing their recordings of the festival panels, which they’ve maintained since the first year in 1994. That’s over 25 years’ worth of conversations from the best in the business, including Shane Black, writer for Lethal Weapon and writer-director for the Predator …
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By Wittliff student worker, Jessica Henriquez. Jane Sumner, an award-winning film journalist for The Dallas Morning News, has interviewed directors, producers, writers, book authors, and the former Governor of Texas, Ann Richards. Through the years, she’s kept her roughly-recorded microcassettes and has now donated them along with her archive of article drafts, awards, and interview …
Continue reading "Processing Jane Sumner’s audio archives opened up a fascinating world to me."
“Joe Lansdale is a great writer who can kill you not only with words, but with his hands.” So begins this feisty documentary, All Hail the Popcorn King, which celebrates the virtuoso writer from Nacogdoches Texas — a man whose vision is so original he even developed his own brand of martial arts. Although I’m …
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The Wittliff joined Willie Nelson and hundreds of his fans for a screening of a newly restored copy of the 1986 film “Red Headed Stranger” at his Luck ranch outside of Austin. The ranch buildings were constructed for the film, and many of the old-west style buldings are still standing today. The Wittliff helped add …
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The Rogers & Hammerhead Show aired from 1996-1997 on the Austin Music Network on cable access TV. Freddy Powers and Bill McDavid created the show to shine a spotlight on songwriters who developed country music in Texas—and whose songs made various country musicians famous. Powers is a legend in his own right, penning hits …
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Are you ready to celebrate Austin Film Festival’s silver anniversary? We at The Wittliff are looking forward to yet another festival full of fun, interesting, and inspiring film screenings and discussion panels. In fact, the Wittliff, in collaboration with AFF staff, is putting select panel recordings from past festivals online. Hear Ed Solomon, who also …
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(by Katie Salzmann) We never know who might request to use material from our archives, and earlier this summer the folks at the television show “OBJECTified” reached out to us for images of Willie Nelson to complement their hour-long interview with him. We provided 33 photos of Willie throughout his career, and we are curious …
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(originally published Fall 2005) Editor’s note: This article has been slightly updated to reflect that Sam Shepard passed away in 2017. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Academy Award®-nominated actor Sam Shepard was not normally thought of as a “Southwesterner,” yet an extraordinary collection of his archives is held in the Wittliff Collections. “Sam is of the …
Continue reading "Vintage Keystone: Sam Shepard archives illuminate the arc of creation"