Oscar winner Danny Boyle, Darren Aronofsky and Doug Liman are all bringing their latest projects to next month's Austin Film Festival, but the spotlight may find its way to another, very different director — Uwe Boll.
The infamous German filmmaker is the subject of Dan Lee West's documentary "Raging Boll," which was filmed over a three-year period both on set and off.
I'm especially curious to see what West's camera has captured, as I was one of four film critics to fight Boll in a publicity stunt of a boxing match back in September 2006. That's me to the left, ducking for cover from the filmmaker's furious fists.
Boll's quest for justice against his harshest critics (I was writing as MiraJeff for Ain't It Cool News at the time) was previously chronicled in Michael Addis' well-received documentary "Heckler," so, spoiler alert: I get my ass kicked … but at least I lasted until round 2!
I have no idea if the film will feature actual footage of the fight (the title implies it will, but if so, I didn't sign a release), but even if it doesn't, I have no doubt that "Raging Boll" will serve as a fascinating window into Dr. Boll's unique psychology, which West is surely familiar with, having worked on Boll's "Bloodrayne" and "Alone in the Dark."
In addition to "127 Hours," "Black Swan" and "Fair Game," the festival will also screen Derek Cianfrance's "Blue Valentine," John Stalberg's stoner comedy "High School," Tony Goldwyn's legal drama "Conviction," Barry Blaustein's dark comedy "Peep World," Kelly Reichardt's period drama "Meek's Cutoff" and Phil Rosenthal's "Exporting Raymond," which takes a look at his experiences during the making of the Russian-language version of "Everybody Loves Raymond."
The 17th edition of the Austin Film Festival runs from Oct. 21-28, and features 23 U.S. and world premieres, in addition to several local projects from the city's talented film community.
The opening, centerpiece and closing night films have not yet been announced, but the rest of the line-up can be found here.
