It’s always nice to remember which stars Texas can lay claim to. This spring, the Texas Film Awards will honor another list of state filmmakers, including actor Jonathan Majors.
This year’s 21st Annual Austin Film Society Awards will take place on March 3 in Luck, Texas at Willie Nelson’s Spicewood Ranch, which has expanded its event programs in recent years. It’s a little earlier than usual: the traditional Texas Film Awards kicked off the annual SXSW Film & TV Festival, which runs March 10-18 this year.
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This year the Majors will receive the Rising Star award. Previous recipients include Caitlin Dever, Tye Sheridan and Jesse Plemons.
According to a press release, the Majors grew up in Cedar Hill, a town southwest of Dallas. He is one of the hottest rising stars in Hollywood. Majors will play the time-traveling villain Kang in Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantum Mania, which releases February 17, and he will star alongside Michael B. Jordan in the Rocky franchise spin-off Creed III. March, 3rd. He has also been seen in the HBO series Lovecraft Country and films such as The Devotion, Five Bloods, and The Last Black Man in San Francisco (this writer’s favorite film in 2019).
The awards ceremony will also recognize Austin’s Janet and John Pearson, longtime champions of independent cinema, who will be inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame. Together, the couple make up what the Austin Film Society calls the “first couple” of American independent cinema, thanks to their work as exhibitors, financiers, and creators of the Split Screen show. Janet Pearson headed South by Southwest’s film department from 2008 until last year, when she took on the role of director emeritus. John Pearson was a faculty member in the Department of Radio, Television, and Film at the University of Texas and wrote the book Spike, Mike, Slackers and Dykes, about the Pearsons’ work with directors such as Spike Lee, Michael Moore, Kevin Smith, and Richard Linklater of Austin. .
The Austin Film Society also honors co-chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Pictures Group of Michael De Luca, a Fort Worth resident, for his decades as a Hollywood producer and executive. It has been nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Picture, for The Social Network, Moneyball and Captain Phillips, as well as three Emmy Awards.
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Edie Patterson, who starred in HBO’s The Righteous Gems, will host the Texas Film Awards. She grew up in Texas City, attended Texas State University and honed her comedy skills at the Hideout Theater in Austin.
According to the organizers, the Texas Film Awards recognize “those who have made a significant contribution to the development of the Texas film industry and creative media.” Proceeds from the awards ceremony will benefit the Austin Film Society. Tickets ($750) and tables ($12,000-$25,000) for this major fundraising event are now on sale online.
