Blog silence this week was unintended but I’m sure you can imagine that in the midst of moving to a new city and starting a new job, it was tough to keep up with my digital life. I managed Twitter and Facebook updates a few times since I could send from my cell phone; I can technically make blog posts from my phone as well but the keyboard on my Treo isn’t conducive to typing in anything of substantial length, as I learned during my hour-and-a-half commute to Brooklyn (which I’m not missing).

I haven’t even scratched the surface of Austin yet, but amazingly, it feels like home very quickly. My move was motivated by a great apartment, which I’ve happily landed west of Austin on Lake Austin, and I’ve started my job as Communications Manager at the Austin Film Society. On Thursday, I had the pleasure of attending my first AFS event, which just happened to be a work-in-progress screening of a new documentary by Richard Linklater, one of the film luminaries here in town.

AFS’s Docs-In-Progress was started by doc filmmakers Marcy Garriott (Inside the Circle) and Karen Bernstein (Troop 1500) and modeled on NYC’s DocuClub. Since I helped out with DocuClub for about a year, seeing the Austin version was a great way to transition from one locale to another. It was run a bit differently, as Marcy, the moderator for the evening, had everyone fill out questionnaires and then gather for a discussion in the round. Rather than doing both in the theater as was the case in NY, AFS is lucky to have a screening room and another big conference area, so the luxury of space gave more time for discussion. The discussion, I thought, went great with insightful feedback and willingness of the filmmakers to examine their work in light of the comments. I look forward to seeing the next cut of the film, as was always the pleasure with DocuClub screenings.

Coming up this month in Austin are the Austin Film Festival and the NAMAC conference. I will be attending both as time permits and if anyone is in town for either, let me know.

Sun, ocean, beach, salty breeze, cocktails and films! Granted, I spent all of my summers as a kid in Rhode Island but tell me that doesn’t sound awesome?

As some might know I’m coordinating panel discussions at this years’ Newport International Film Festival. We are in a frenzy planning the party and it is looking fantastic. NYC folks probably know David Nugent (pictured left with Jessica Wolfson of IFC), formerly with DocuClub, who is now in his rookie year as director of programming with Newport, but after seeing the line-up I can attest to his skills not to mention all of the great work the staff up in Newport are doing to get the place ready for us! So, come on up to Newport from June 6 - 11. We’ll watch movies all day and frolick all night!