The very popular Austin Film Festival (AFF) is coming up in just about two-months time, and the organizers have revealed the first slate of films this morning. The festival, scheduled this year from October 23-30, will be adding new films later-on to showcase, this is just the first nine to put on your list.
AFF has told us that the complete schedule will be announced mid-September.
CENTERPIECE FILM – Black and White |
Writer/Director: Mike Binder* |
Cast in attendance: Jillian Estell |
A widowed grandfather (Kevin Costner) is left to raise his bi-racial granddaughter and finds himself in a bitter legal battle when the paternal grandmother (Octavia Spencer) seeks custody. |
21 Years: Richard Linklater – World Premiere |
Director: Michael Dunaway,* Tara Wood* |
A spirited look at the first 21 years of writer/director Richard Linklater’s remarkable career, featuring interviews with collaborators Matthew McConaughey, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Billy Bob Thornton, Keanu Reeves, Jack Black, and more. |
7 Minutes – World Premiere |
Writer/Director: Jay Martin* |
Cast in attendance: Luke Mitchell, Leven Rambin |
Three former high-school friends are forced to commit a brazen robbery that quickly goes horribly wrong. |
Dawn Patrol – World Premiere |
Writer: Rachel Long,* Brian Pittman* |
Director: Daniel Petrie Jr* |
Cast in attendance: Scott Eastwood, Rita Wilson, Jeff Fahey, Chris Brochu, Kim Matula, Dendrie Taylor, Matt Meola |
A surfer-turned-Marine (Eastwood) held at gunpoint tells his tragic story of revenge-gone-wrong to stall his execution. |
One Eyed Girl – World Premiere |
Writer: Craig Behenna,* Nick Matthews* |
Director: Nick Matthews* |
Cast in attendance: Mark Leonard Winter, Tilda Cobham-Hervey |
A psychiatrist haunted by the death of a former patient stumbles upon a Doomsday cult and battles to save a teenage girl from its clutches. |
The Homesman – Texas Premiere |
Writer: Tommy Lee Jones, Wesley Oliver, Kieran Fitzgerald |
Director: Tommy Lee Jones |
A pious, independent-minded pioneer (Hilary Swank) employs a drifter (Jones) to help escort three women on the brink of insanity across the harsh Nebraska Territories to refuge in Iowa. |
The Imitation Game – Texas Premiere |
Writer: Graham Moore |
Director: Morten Tyldum |
Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch), the British mathematician, logician, cryptologist and computer scientist, leads the charge to crack the German Enigma Code, helping the Allies win WWII. |
The Sound and the Fury – Texas Premiere |
Writer: Matt Rager, William Faulkner (Novel) |
Director: James Franco |
A look at the lives of the Compsons, a once proud Southern family caught in a tragic spiral of loss and misfortune. |
The Texas Promise – World Premiere |
Director: Vanessa Roth* |
From Academy-Award® winning documentarian, a look at issues of equity and opportunity by following the effects of the state’s $5.4 billion cuts to education on the 5 million students in Texas public schools. |
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AFF’s Guest Programmer Series will feature Matthew Weiner presenting The Twilight Zone, Jim Sheridan & Terry George presentingIn the Name of the Father, John Patrick Shanley presenting Moonstruck, Randall Wallace presenting Braveheart, and Tom Schulmanpresenting Dead Poets Society.
AFF is supported in part by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts, City of Austin Economic Growth & Redevelopment Services Office/Cultural Arts Division believing an investment in the Arts is an investment in Austin’s future.