From rejection is born success: This is the origin of Austin’s Comedy Film Festival, which started after founder Eric Alan Rousseau received rejections from over 50 film fests. Even after his movie, Lucky Doug, got into the festival circuit, Rousseau felt “comedy films were not a genre well represented in the festival circuit and were instead usually shoehorned into a film festival somewhere.” As you can imagine by the event’s title, comedy takes center screen here: Programming from Friday to Sunday focuses on not only showing submitted comedy flicks but also panels on the practical art of making funny films. Guffaws encouraged, but please: Cellphones should stay silent. That’s not the kind of clown you wanna be. – James Scott
April 23-27
