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Go Girl!
Fri., Nov. 24, 1995
Entertaining fears of a multimedia man's world? The soon-to-be Austin-based
company Girl Games will certainly assuage them. Designing both entertainment
and educational software for a female market, ages 7-17, the interactive CD-ROM
company states as their mission "a hope to transform the way women and girls
embrace the technology of today and tomorrow." President Laura Groppe founded
the company in 1994, after an impressive stint in Hollywood where she won a
1992 Academy Award as co-producer of the best short film Session Man,
four MTV awards for REM's Everybody Hurts, and a best cinematography
award from Sundance for the feature film Suture. Girl Game's creative
team consists primarily of women; Austinite art director Lane Jackson will be a
lot closer to the office when the crew relocates in a few weeks. Projects in
development include Being U, a quarterly CD-ROM "digi-zine" featuring
sections on body, relationships, the future, and mentors. The group is also
working on a mystery series written by women writers -- both products are due
out in the spring. For a preview of what is to come (on CD-ROM and to our fair
city) visit Girl Games on the Web at http://www.sccsi.com/girlgames. Along with
company information and software demos, you'll find an online newsletter edited
by two high school girls.
The Chicano/Latino Film Forum, a group dedicated to creation and distribution
of film and video works for, by, and about Latinos, is presenting
¡Generaciones!, works by Latino artists examining issues of youth
restlessness. Two films are scheduled to be screened on Monday, November 27,
7pm, at the Texas Union Theatre: Hidden Parts, writen by Austin Film
Festival script finalist Carlos Castillo, portrays the conflict between a cocky
young Chicano garage attendant and a bank executive he has upset; and Phreak
Show, a graduate thesis film written, produced, and directed by Ed Ornelas
for UT's RTF Department, is a thriller about a band of computer hackers who
outwit the local phone company. Both filmmakers are scheduled to attend the
screenings. A suggested donation of $2 will be requested at the door... Because
of the Monday night event, the Austin AIVF is postponing their regular monthly
meeting. After a whirlwhind weekend of screenings and an excited visit from
national director Ruby Lerner, the group is up for a rest. Apparently Ms.
Lerner was quite impressed with the wealth and variety of films coming out of
the Central Texas area -- both the in*situ and UT screenings made Austin the
highlight of her three-city visit (Dallas and Houston were other stops). Our
film community showed Ms. Lerner such a good time, she plans to return for the
SXSW Film Fest in the spring. The local chapter of AIVF will meet again on
December 18, since the last Monday of next month falls on Christmas Day.
