Boots Riley, Animation Experts And Student Films: MSC Aggie Cinema’s Howdywood Film Festival Begins Friday
Among the highlights in the three-day event are a free screening and Q&A with director Boots Riley on Friday; in-person and virtual appearances by former Visualization students Brad Graeber and Clara Chan on Saturday; and a screening of student films on Sunday.
The inaugural Howdywood Film Festival debuts this weekend, presented by MSC Aggie Cinema. Among the highlights in the three-day event are a free screening and Q&A with director Boots Riley on Friday; appearances by former Visualization students on Saturday; and a screening of student films on Sunday. A panel discussion about graduate studies in film will feature faculty from the College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
The event is in partnership with the College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts and the Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts. Go to tx.ag/Howdywood for complete details and schedules.
Opening Night With Boots Riley, Friday at 7 p.m. at Rudder Theatre
The festival begins with a free screening of the forthcoming “I Love Boosters,” featuring a Q&A with writer/director Boots Riley. It is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The event is presented in partnership with the College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts and the Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts.
“I Love Boosters,” which premiered last week at SXSW, is about professional shoplifters who target a fashion maven. It stars Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, LaKeith Stanfield, Poppy Liu, Eiza González, Will Poulter, Don Cheadle and Demi Moore. The film will be in theaters later this year.
Riley is a director, activist, screenwriter, producer, poet and rapper. His film projects include “Sorry to Bother You” (2018) and “I’m a Virgo,” a seven-episode series on Amazon Prime Video (2023). He is the founding member and lead vocalist of The Coup and Street Sweeper Social Club, also featuring Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine.
Brad Graeber, Saturday at noon at Rudder Forum
Graeber earned an English degree at Texas A&M before joining the Visualization program in 1998. He is CEO of Powerhouse Animation, an Austin-based creative agency that works in television, film, games and advertising. The company began in 2001 and has grown to include a branch office in Los Angeles. Among Powerhouse’s projects are Netflix shows “Castlevania,” “Masters of the Universe: Revelation,” “Blood of Zeus,” “Skull Island” and the original production “Seis Manos.”
Graeber will discuss pitching animation projects to distributors, and he’ll share the story of a long-term project he first began in his Aggieland days: an animated version of “Hamlet.”
Clara Chan Virtual Appearance, Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Rudder Forum
Chan graduated from the Visualization program in 2000 with a Master of Science degree. She is a computer graphics supervisor for Sony Pictures Imageworks who has worked on projects including “The Amazing Spider-Man,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “Hotel Transylvania” and “The Polar Express.” In February, Chan and her Sony teammates won the Visual Effects Society award for Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature for their work on the Netflix hit “KPop Demon Hunters.” The film also earned Best Animated Feature honors at the Academy Awards on March 15.
Chan will discuss her career and her experiences in leading visual effects teams. She will also show her animated short “Have I Swallowed Your Dreams.”
Student Films, Sunday at 10 a.m. at Rudder Forum
The screening of 15 short films includes works by current and former students from the College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts.
- “The Experiment” by Rachel Hitt, Visualization major, Virtual Production minor
- “The Bremen Animal Troupe” by Aiden Riley, Visualization major, Virtual Production minor
- “415 in Progress” by Tyler Webster, Performance and Visual Studies
- “Cans” by Austin Baltes, former student, Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Film and Media Studies
- “Vigilante” by Nicholas Martinez, former student, Visualization
PVFA Panel Discussion, Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at Rudder Forum
A panel about the undergraduate and graduate programs in the College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts will feature faculty members Matthew Campbell, Rusty Hatchell and Stephanie Oliver.
More Information and Tickets
The Friday screening and Q&A with Boots Riley is free and open to the public. Tickets for Saturday and Sunday’s events are $25 per day. Go to tx.ag/Howdywood for complete details and schedules.
