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.

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.