SXSW gets underway in just a few weeks with an especially stacked film lineup this year, from more high profile premieres (“Source Code,” “The Beaver,” “Paul”) to festival favorites from Sundance and TIFF (“Win Win,” “Beginners,” “Being Elmo: A Puppeteers Journey”). For more homegrown fare, the fest has its “Lone Star States” category for films made in or about Texas which is kicking off the festival with “blacktino” by first-time filmmaker Aaron Burns. The indie coming-of-age film may sound slightly familiar to some due to a viral stunt late last year for “Citizen Jane,” supposedly an action packed remake of Orson Welles classic “Citizen Kane.” A humorous trailer and poster featuring a bazooka-toting Michelle Rodriguez appeared just in time for Fantastic Fest and was quickly uncovered to be a movie-within-a-movie for “blacktino.”
That film, about a half-black, half-hispanic nerd, now has a full-trailer (which you can check out below). Though “Citizen Jane” is nowhere to be seen, the trailer has a low-key charm and features appearances from other Austin favorites Danny Trejo and Jeff Fahey. (One of its producers is Elizabeth Avellan, who is Burns’ mother and ex-wife of local filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, so it makes sense they were able to pull a few favors.) Here is the SXSW supplied synopsis:
“blacktino” is a dark teen comedy about an overweight half-black, half-hispanic nerd named Stefan Daily. He was raised by his black grandmother in a medium sized suburb of Austin, TX. Struggling to find his place in a mostly white high school, Stefan finds sanctuary among the eclectic mix of social outcasts in the school’s Theatre Department. In the tradition of the great teen comedies of the last thirty years “blacktino” will ensure that the torch of “teen angst” continues to burn bright.
“blacktino” will have it’s world premiere on opening night of SXSW at the Paramount Theatre.
