"Governor Rick Perry and I go way back," smiled former Texas governor Ann Richards (pictured) at the Texas Hall of Fame dinner last night at Austin Studios, looking at the head table where the Governor was seated with his wife. "I knew him when he was a Democrat!"

[Photo by Brian Brooks/indieWIRE, text by Eugene Hernandez.]

Former Governor Richards, with her characteristic charm and humor, served as M.C. Friday night as the Austin Film Society raised tens of thousands of dollars and inducted Marcia Gay Harden, Irma P. Hall, Dennis Quaid, Robert Rodriguez, and Lauren Bacall into the Texas Hall of Fame. Presenters included the Coen Brothers, George Lopez, Billy Bob Thornton, and Joe Pantoliano.

Guests, bidding more than $50,000 during a live auction early in the evening, and countless hundreds later in a silent auction, toasted the success of Richard Linklater's Austin Film Society which, along with SXSW, has become a core part of the exploding Austin film scene. The Austin Studios, based in a bunch of former airplane hangars at an old airport in town, has welcomed the productions of numerous films, including "The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl," "Friday Night Lights," "The Wendell Baker Story," "Spy Kids 3-D," and more...

SXSW attendees will tour the facilities at the annual Austin Studios open house this afternoon.