Austin Film Festival (AFF), founded in 1994, is an organization in Austin, Texas, that focuses on writers' creative contributions to film. Initially, AFF was called the Austin Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference and functioned to launch the careers of screenwriters, who historically have been underrepresented within the film industry.
AFF is known for its annual October Austin Film Festival & Conference. The Conference was the first event of its kind, bringing professional and amateur screenwriters together to celebrate the role of screenplays in filmmaking and host conversations focusing on craft and on particular films and television series. In addition, the Screenplay Competition receives more entries than any other competition in the world. Several competition finalists and semi-finalists have made sales or found managers and agents at the conference.
The festival went virtual in 2020.
Film Festival
Overview
Each October, Austin Film Festival & Conference presents a program of narrative, animated and documentary features and shorts, including premieres, advance screenings and independent films. Films showcase the art and craft of strong narrative storytelling and screenings are often accompanied by question and answer sessions with cast members and filmmakers.
Past guests of the Festival include Joel and Ethan Coen, Ron Howard, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Steven Zaillian, David Milch, Wes Anderson, Robert Duvall, Buck Henry, Dennis Hopper, Shane Black, Robert Altman, Caroline Thompson, David Chase, James Franco, Johnny Depp, John Landis, Garry Shandling, Bryan Singer, Oliver Stone, James L. Brooks, Harold Ramis, Mitchell Hurwitz, Lawrence Kasdan, Claire Danes, Barry Levinson, Russell Crowe, Sydney Pollack, Mike Judge, Buck Henry, John Lasseter, Robert Rodriguez, Jeff Daniels, and David Simon.
Past films
Recent major films screened at recent festivals include Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), Silver Linings Playbook (2012), The Artist (2011), The Descendants (2011), Jeff Who Lives at Home (2011), 127 Hours (2010), Black Swan (2010), Up in the Air (2009), Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire (2009), and the US Premiere of Jeff Nichol's first film Shotgun Stories in 2007.
In 2009, AFF screened Ron Howard's Apollo 13 – winner of two Oscars in 1996 – as part of a special presentation In 2006, playwright/screenwriter Horton Foote and actor Robert Duvall were present at AFF for a special screening of their 1983 film Tender Mercies. In 2005, Austin Film Festival hosted a screening of Shane Black's directorial debut Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which had been given a staged reading at the 2003 Festival. In 1998, The Coen Brothers premiered the director's cut of Blood Simple at the Festival. Dennis Hopper was on hand at the 1997 Festival for a screening of 1969's Oscar-nominated classic Easy Rider. In 1996, AFF held an anniversary screening of 1987's indie classic Hollywood Shuffle attended by writer/director Robert Townsend;
2011
Among 2011's screenings were Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist, Jay and Mark Duplass' Jeff Who Lives at Home, and Alexander Payne's The Descendants. Restive, a thriller written and directed by newcomer Jeremiah Jones won the Esurance Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature, while there was a tie in Best Documentary Feature category between Adam Cornelius' Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters and Dennis Rice's Stories from an Undeclared War. The award for Extraordinary Contribution to Film-Actor award was given to Johnny Depp.