A Sunny, Funny Fest

If you were to take any lessons from the films that are previewed in this issue –and the hundred-plus more we didn't get the chance to talk about –you might think to yourself that the Austin Film Festival had found its funny bone. And you'd be right. Hitting every shade of funny from sunshine-silly to black, blacker, blackest comedy, exhibits A through C: award recipients such as The Office's Greg Daniels and film director Danny Boyle (who found sick, hilarious stuff in a junkie's toilet bowl dip in Trainspotting), the festival's indie-oriented Comedy Vanguard sidebar, and sneak looks at Hollywood films such as possible sleeper hit Bart Got a Room and Oliver Stone's long-awaited biopic W., which by definition is surely as much a comedy as a tragedy.

For more information about the Austin Film Festival –including a full lineup, a schedule of conference panels, and badge prices –see www.austinfilmfestival.com. And be sure to check in at the Chronicle's Picture in Picture blog (austinchronicle.com/pip), where we'll be covering all the festival happenings.