The Austin Film Society (AFS) is a non-profit film society based in Austin, Texas. Founded in 1985 to exhibit independent, experimental, foreign and various other non-mainstream art films, the film society has grown from just film exhibition to fostering independent filmmaking in Texas and has served as a cornerstone in building the film industry in Austin. The film society also owns and maintains Austin Studios, hosts the annual Texas Film Awards gala, and oversees the Austin Film Society grant program. The film society was founded by film director Richard Linklater, who currently serves on the board as artistic director. Other notable members on the board and advisory board include Tim McCanlies, Robert Rodriguez, Charles Burnett, Guillermo del Toro, Jonathan Demme, Mike Judge, John Sayles, Steven Soderbergh, Paul Stekler and Quentin Tarantino.
History
AFS was created in 1985 by film director Richard Linklater, cinematographer Lee Daniel, Austin Chronicle editor and South by Southwest (SXSW) founder Louis Black, University of Texas at Austin film professor Charles Ramirez-Berg and film programmer and professor Chale Nafus. Their original goal was to bring hard-to-find, sometimes obscure films for screening in Austin. Early screenings held in a makeshift projection room upstairs from a local coffee shop drew a moderate cult following. AFS eventually grew in scale and began developing various programs to boost film production and education.
In 2000, with a unique partnership with the City of Austin, AFS created Austin Studios on a section of land from the former Robert Mueller Municipal Airport. Former airplane hangars were converted into five studio production stages while several terminals were turned into production offices. Austin Film Society is currently located on the Austin Studios property, overseeing the daily operations of the studios, in addition to actively bringing in new film productions from small independent films to large studio pictures.
Leadership
Rebecca Campbell - Chief Executive Officer
Austin Culp - Director of Marketing
Erica Deiparine-Sugars - Director of Programs
Laura Fleischauer - Director of Strategic Initiatives
Jesse Greendyk - Chief Development Officer
Holly Herrick - Head of Film & Creative Media
Martin Jones - Studio Director
Aaron Malzahn - Cinema Business & Technical Manager
Sarah Ann Mockbee - Chief Operating Officer
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Programming
Since its inception in 1985, the Austin Film Society has screened more than 2000 films. The 'Essential Cinema' series offers weekly screenings and range in monthly themes from director retrospectives, to regional or genre specific series. 'Doc Nights' is a monthly series which hosts groundbreaking documentaries usually with the filmmakers in attendance.
AFS also has hosted the Quentin Tarantino Film Festival, where Tarantino spent over a week in Austin screening some of his favorite films from his private collection and sharing his unique encyclopedic knowledge of obscure films. The Tarantino Film Festival first began in 1996 as a 10-day event at the Dobie Theatre (at which Tarantino showcased his favorite "sleazy genre films").
AFS has also hosted numerous regional and world premieres of films including: Sin City, Bad News Bears, School of Rock, The Adventures of Shark Boy & Lava Girl, Jackie Brown, and various other films usually directed by Austinite filmmakers like Richard Linklater and Robert Rodriguez.
The film society also hosts smaller screenings of independent films and rough cuts to private audiences at the AFS screening room. New artists services programs like the Docs-In-Progress series allow filmmakers to screen rough cuts to AFS members as a test audience. In 2005, the cast of The Real World Austin screened a rough cut of their SXSW documentary The Real SXSW.
In the spring of 2013, the Austin Film Society partnered with The Marchesa Hall & Theatre to create "AFS at the Marchesa," Austin's new home for classic, independent and art house film programming. The first Austin Film Society screening at AFS at the Marchesa was the 20th anniversary screening of Dazed and Confused. Other screenings and series made possible by the partnership include Richard Linklater's "Jewels in the Wasteland" series, the Old School Kung Fu Weekend, Matewan with John Sayles in attendance, Eggshells with Tobe Hooper in attendance, a Godard vs. Truffaut series, and more.
In May 2016, Austin Film Society took over the lease of the space formerly called The Marchesa Hall & Theatre. The space was then renamed to the AFS Cinema.