Interview:
Andy Volk,
senior film programmer,
Emily Lock,
conference director,
Austin Film Festival and Writers Conference
The Austin Film Festival runs Oct. 24-31 at various venues. The Writers Conference runs Oct. 24-27. The festival opens Oct. 24 with the Malcolm Washington-directed adaptation of playwright August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, starring Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, and Danielle Deadwyler. The festival closes Oct. 31 with Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language film, The Room Next Door, a two-hander pairing Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton. The domestic terrorism thriller The Order, starring Jude Law and Tye Sheridan, screens Oct. 27 as the festival’s Centerpiece Film. Marquee titles include several awards season, including director Andrea Arnold’s character study Bird, director Steve McQueen’s World War II drama Blitz, the Adrien Brody-Felicity Jones post-World War II drama The Brutalist, the Pam Anderson showbiz drama The Last Showgirl, the Angelina Jolie-director Pablo Larraín’s Maria Callas biopic Maria, the Jim Crow-era reformatory school drama Nickel Boys, Amy Adams’ surreal character study Nightbitch, the Jesse Eisenberg-directed two-hander A Real Pain, the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics drama September 5, and the Jennifer Lopez fact-based sports drama Unstoppable. Black Dog, Born for You, I’m Still Here, The Knife, The Kingdom, Lake George, Ravens, Santosh, episodes of the Disney+ series Writing a Pixar Limited Series: Dream Productions, and The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror double feature round out the Marquee titles. Films with Austin ties include American Spirit, Deaf Santa Claus, The Ego Death of Queen Cecilia, Party People, SUBTOPIA: The Story of Hueco Canyon, and Texas Cult House. Films with Texas ties include La Gloria, The Prison Show, and The Stones are Speaking. Retrospective screenings include Being There, Go, Dirty Harry, presented by filmmaker Shane Black; and Throne of Blood, presented by Shogun series creators Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo. The Writers Conference, which runs Oct. 24-27, will feature individual and group conversations with this year’s Austin Film Festival honorees: the Polly Platt Award for Producing recipient Kathleen Kennedy, the Bill Wittliff Award for Screenwriting recipient Robin Swicord, the Outstanding Television Writer Award recipient Ronald D. Moore, Writer’s Writer Award recipient Justin Marks, and New Voice Award recipient Rachel Kondo. The conference will feature conversations with, among others, Knives Out franchise creator Rian Johnson, English Teacher’s Brian Jordan Alvarez, Inside Out 2 screenwriter Meg LeFauve, The Piano Lesson screenwriter Virgil Williams, Challengers and Queer screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes, and The Simpsons showrunner Matt Selman. The conference also include conversations and panels devoted to American Psycho, Everybody Hates Chris, Kangaroo Jack, The Expanse, Fallout, Red, White, and Royal Blue; They Cloned Tyrone, True Detective: Night Country, and Twisters. Moana and Ralph Breaks the Internet screenwriter Pamela Ribon will deliver the conference’s opening remarks; in keeping with tradition, Shane Black will deliver the annual closing remarks. Aired: Oct. 9, 2024. Web sites: http://www.austinfilmfestival.com/ https://www.facebook.com/AustinFilmFestival |
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