Honorees for LSIFF 2011

2011 LSIFF Stephen Bruton Award:
Willie Nelson

The Lone Star International Film Festival (LSIFF) Stephen Bruton Award celebrates each year an artist whose career, although anchored in music, includes extraordinary achievement in film. The intent of the award has and always will be to honor Stephen Bruton, the man as well as Stephen Bruton the songwriter, musician, actor, mentor, producer and friend to many.

This year the LSIFF is honored to bestow this recognition upon Willie Nelson. Born April 29, 1933 in Abbott, Texas, Willie Nelson and his sister were raised by their paternal grandparents who encouraged both children to play music. By the mid 1950s he was working as a country deejay in Fort Worth while continuing to pursue a musical career, recording independently and playing nightclubs. In 1962 Nelson scored his first two Top 10 hits as a recording artist for Liberty Records. He moved back to Texas in 1972 and emboldened by the rock and folk music becoming popular in Austin, Nelson and his music began to change. A fixture on the singles charts over the next several years, Nelson’s star rose even further with the 1978 releases Waylon & Willie and Stardust. His stardom soon translated to another medium with roles in feature films including The Electric Horseman, Honeysuckle Rose, Stagecoach and many more. And the hits kept coming.

With a six-decade career and 200 plus albums he has earned every conceivable award as a musician and amassed reputable credentials as an author, actor and activist. In 2009, his new album releases included Naked Willie, Willie and the Wheel and the critically acclaimed American Classic. This past April, Willie Nelson’s Country Music, produced by GRAMMY and Oscar winning T Bone Burnett, was released on Rounder Records and recently received a GRAMMY Nomination for Best Americana Album.

Stephen Bruton

Stephen Bruton grew up surrounded by music in Fort Worth, Texas. His jazz drummer father ran a record store where he was weaned on the musical classics from blues, country, jazz and pop to classical. By his teen years, Bruton and his buddy T-Bone Burnett were laying down tracks in Burnett’s makeshift home studio in between gigging with other pals like Delbert McClinton, all the while digging on musical giants like Freddie King and Ornette Coleman – who could be heard in the local clubs. Bruton sharpened his guitar chops playing high lonesome bluegrass by day and then soaked up some soul by grinding out the blues at night on the other side of town.

In 1970 he moved to New York and eventually was offered the guitar gig in friend and rising songwriting star Kris Kristofferson’s band. That launched nearly two decades of regular roadwork with Kristofferson as well as touring with Bonnie Raitt, Christine McVie and others. By the mid 1980s, Bruton returned to his Texas roots and settled in Austin, where once he had a break from the road, he became a part of the city’s thriving music community.

Bruton also debuted as an artist in his own right with What It Is in 1993. And as he stepped out from being a sideman into the spotlight with his own songs, they began to be recorded by such notable artists as Kristofferson, Raitt, Ketchum, The Highwaymen, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Little Feat, Jimmy Buffett, Patty Loveless, Lee Roy Parnell and Martina McBride among others.

Ever since he appeared in A Star Is Born with Kristofferson in 1976, Bruton also built an impressive resume as a film and TV actor. “In acting, you use everything you use when you are playing music live,” noted Bruton. “It’s an ensemble thing. It’s real similar in terms of support and collaboration.”

Stephen Bruton passed away on May 9, 2009. His memory lives on in his music and films as well as with friends, family and – we hope – in the spirit of the LSIFF Stephen Bruton Award.

2011 LSIFF Commitment to Texas Award: Elizabeth Avellan

The Lone Star International Film Festival (LSIFF) Commitment to Texas Award is bestowed each year upon an individual that has demonstrated extraordinary dedication to supporting and fostering the film industry in Texas. This year the festival is thrilled to announce that celebrated producer Elizabeth Avellan has agreed to accept the award.

Elizabeth Avellán is the Co-Owner and Vice President of Troublemaker Studios and President of EYA Productions.  In addition to producing family and genre films that have collectively grossed over a billion dollars, she has played a primary role in developing Austin, Texas as a thriving film community.

Elizabeth began her producing career in 1991 with Robert Rodriguez as the two began their feature film project, El Mariachi.  Made for just $7,000, El Mariachi was the winner of the 1993 Audience Awards at the Sundance and Deauville Film Festivals.  Her next project was the film’s 1995 sequel Desperado written and directed by Rodriguez, starring Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek.  Projects that followed include From Dusk till Dawn (written by Quentin Tarantino, directed by Robert Rodriguez and starring Tarantino, George Clooney and Harvey Keitel) and The Faculty (directed by Rodriguez and starring Elijah Wood and Josh Hartnett).

In 2000, Avellán and Rodriguez founded Troublemaker Studios, their Austin, Texas based production company.  The first feature at Troublemaker was the 2001 hit Spy Kids, which grossed $112 million domestically.  During the past decade, Elizabeth has produced a dozen films including: Once Upon a Time in Mexico – the third film in the El Mariachi trilogy starring Banderas, Hayek and Johnny Depp; the successful Spy Kids sequels, Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams and Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over; and the ground-breaking, critically acclaimed Sin City which was co-directed by Rodriguez and Frank Miller, with an all-star ensemble cast including Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba and Benicio Del Toro.

Some of her other projects include: The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D – starring George Lopez and (then-unknown) Taylor Lautner; Grindhouse – directed by Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino; Shorts – starring James Spader, John Cryer, her son, Rebel Rodriguez, and featuring several of her children; Predators – starring Adrien Brody and directed by Nimród Antal; and Machete starring Danny Trejo.

Elizabeth recently wrapped two films: Troublemaker’s fourth installment of the Spy Kids series, Spy Kids 4: All The Time in The World, directed by Rodriguez, starring Jessica Alba, Jeremy Piven, Joel McHale with newcomers Rowan Blanchard and Mason Cook, as well as the holiday feature When Angels Sing, under her EYA Productions banner, directed by Tim McCanlies, starring Harry Connick Jr., Lone Star International Film Festival’s 2011 Stephen Bruton Award winner Willie Nelson, and Connie Britton.

Elizabeth Avellán was born in Caracas, Venezuela, where her grandfather, Gonzalo Veloz, was the pioneer of commercial television. At the age of thirteen, she moved to Houston, Texas with her family and later graduated from Rice University. She serves on several boards including: the University of Texas College of Communication Advisory Board; Capital Area Statues (which commissions unique statues for the capital city); the Texas Book Festival; and the Austin Film Society. Elizabeth has six children and resides in Austin, Texas.

The Lone Star International Film Festival is honored to present Elizabeth Avellán with the 2011 Commitment to Texas Award for her prolific career that includes some of the most celebrated indie films of the last 20 years, and her dedication to nurturing the film industry in Texas.