Every year a select group of students from Akins are given the opportunity to screen some of the biggest films of the year, months before their theatrical release.
This October the Austin Film Festival returns for its 31st annual festival in downtown Austin. Since its inception in 1993, the festival has shown countless films and held several memorable panels. In past festivals, AFF has premiered award-winning films such as Spencer, The French Dispatch, The Whale, Saltburn, American Fiction, and The Bikeriders. The festival is one of the largest events targeted towards film and television writers and has been advancing the careers of many up and coming filmmakers for years.
This is the first festival since the SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes in 2023. Due to the strikes, many filmmakers and actors weren’t able to attend last year’s festival and promote their films, but now that the strikes are over, AFF should have a lot more to offer than they did in last year’s festival.
After making their debuts at the Austin Film Festival and other similar festivals like Toronto and Sundance, film critics often write about the screened films, generating buzz and excitement in the press and on social media.
I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to attend last year’s festival and it was one of the greatest
experiences of my life. I filled out an application and was given a free pass via the Young Filmmakers Scholarship Program. I took two days off of school and went downtown with Akins audio/video teacher Kyle Monk and a handful of other students. We spent the day going to different panels and in the evening, we went to the screenings of Saltburn, American Fiction, and The Bikeriders.
This year AFF is set to show The Piano Lesson, starring Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington, A Real Pain, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin, The Room Next Door, starring Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore, and John Turturro, The Brutalist, and many more.
AFF also has an exciting lineup of panels coming this year such as On The Last of Us: A Conversation with Craig
Mazin, On The Simpsons: A Conversation with Matt Selman, On Shogun: A Conversation with Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo, Get The Greenlight: Financing Your Film. And that’s just the first two waves. There are still many more films and events that are yet to be announced.
The Austin Film Festival gives many people valuable insight and opportunities into a multitude of creative careers and pathways. Whether you’re a writer, director, editor, or producer, AFF has something to offer you. “AFF gives my students the opportunity to learn from the storytellers that create the media we love so much. From attending panels, interviews, and film screenings, AFF is the premier conference for storytellers from around the world – and our Eagle Filmmakers are there! Most of all, attending Austin Film Festival shows that creative careers are viable, valuable, and something to celebrate,” Monk said.
Personally, I couldn’t be more excited for the upcoming festival. They have a great selection of screenings and panels to choose from. “For me, it was a really great experience. It was my first time ever going, and I feel like I was opened to a lot more things about film, and I got to learn a lot more about it, and we got to do like writing conferences. It was overall really cool and fun,” sophomore Celeste Castilleja said. “Honestly, my favorite memory from every AFF is the same: getting to experience my students experiencing the festival and all it has to offer,” Monk said.
