"I Am A Sex Addict" opened today at the Dobie Theater in Austin. The film received a rave
from the Austin Chronicle and an opposite-of-rave review from the Austin Statesman, the first sentence of which was "Caveh Zahedi is a pretentious jerk."
The film was sponsored by the Austin Film Society as part of their weekly film series at the Dobie. The Austin Film Society, which was started by Richard Linklater and a few friends back in the eighties, has since grown into one of the largest and most successful film societies in the country, with a full-time staff of twelve people and the conversion of the old airport into the Austin Film Studios (where Quentin Tarentino, Robert Rodriguez, and Kimberly Pierce are all currently shooting their next projects).
The film was well attended and well received, and the Austin Film Society hosted a party afterwards at the Dog and Duck Pub. It was nice to see old friends like Bob Sabiston (who animated "Waking Life" and did the animation for "I Am A Sex Addict") and Margaret Brown (who directed Be Here To Love Me) and John and Janet Pierson (of Reel Paradise fame) and David Jewell (who acted with me in the "Holy Moment" scene from Waking Life).
On the way home from the party, I was pulled over by a Texas Highway Patrolman for speeding. The first thing he asked me was: "Are you from California?" (I have no idea how he guessed that). I said yes, and he said: "Do you know we sometimes put people from California in jail for speeding?" I said no, I didn't know that, and he then explained that California law doesn't allow the state of Texas to enforce the collection of traffic fines (?) and that since it was late at night, and the court was closed, he could, if he wanted, put me in jail in order to ensure that I would show up at court the following Monday to pay my fine.
I explained to him that I was a filmmaker, and that I had been invited to come to Texas by the Austin Film Society. Those seemed to be the magic words, and he agreed to let me off with a warning.
posted by Caveh Zahedi at
11:57 PM
