AFS presents Doc Days, our annual festival of non-fiction cinema, featuring outstanding new documentary work from around the world with filmmakers in attendance. Doc Days is an opportunity for Austin’s vibrant documentary community, including filmmakers and audiences, to come together, see new work, and meet with visiting filmmakers.

FESTIVAL PASSES

Purchase an AFS Doc Days pass for tickets to all 10 Doc Days screenings, taking place Wednesday, May 1–Sunday, May 5, and receive 15% off the full ticket purchase price.

AFS Members receive additional discounts on passes and individual tickets. The Doc Days pass includes one ticket to each premiere Doc Days film screening and the opening night reception.

THE 2024 DOC DAYS LINEUP

UNION

Wednesday, May 1, 8:00 PM

Featuring an in-person Q&A with labor organizers Chris Smalls and Angelika Maldonado and the film’s producer and director of photography, Martin Dicicco.

The Amazon Labor Union (ALU)—a group of current and former Amazon workers in New York City’s Staten Island—takes on one of the world’s largest and most powerful companies in the fight to unionize.

Doc Days festival pass holders and UNION ticket holders are invited to an opening-night reception with the filmmakers in the AFS Cinema lobby from 7-8 PM.

LOOK INTO MY EYES

Thursday, May 2, 7:30 PM

With director Lana Wilson and editor David Osit in person.

A group of New York City psychics conduct deeply intimate readings for their clients, revealing a kaleidoscope of loneliness, connection, and healing.

A NEW KIND OF WILDERNESS

Friday, May 3, 6:30 PM

On a small farm in the Norwegian forest, the Payne family seeks a wild and free existence. They practice home-schooling and strive for a closely-knit family dynamic in harmony with nature. However, when tragedy unexpectedly strikes the family, it upends their idyllic world and forces them to forge a new path into modern society. In A NEW KIND OF WILDERNESS, filmmaker Silje Evensmo Jacobsen captures an intimate and soulful portrait of love, life, and growing up. The Paynes’ journey, their triumphs and struggles, invite reflection on our own life choices, our responsibility to the planet and our children, and how we navigate life after loss.

SEEKING MAVIS BEACON

Friday, May 3, 9 PM

The most recognizable woman in technology lives in our collective imagination. Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing taught millions globally, but the software’s Haitian-born cover model vanished decades ago. Two DIY detectives search for the model while posing questions about identity and artificial intelligence.

TIME PASSAGES

Saturday, May 4, 2:30 PM

With director Kyle Henry, producer Jason Wehling, and editor Karen Skloss in person.

A filmmaker “time travels” via his family archive as his mother’s health declines from dementia, racing against the clock to resolve his fraught relationship to family and nation when COVID strikes her nursing home. Produced by Austin-based filmmaker Jason Wehling.

DEFIANT

Saturday, May 4, 5:00 PM

A riveting documentary taking place on the front lines of Ukraine’s international diplomacy efforts during wartime, directed by Oscar®-nominated producer of THE SQUARE, Karim Amer.

DEVO

Saturday, May 4, 8:30 PM

Arrive early for a DEVO-themed vinyl DJ set in the theater.

Explore Devo’s 50-year career through never-before-seen archival and interviews with co-founders Mark Mothersbaugh, Bob Mothersbaugh, and Jerry Casale. Born in response to the Kent State massacre, Devo took their concept of “de-evolution” from a cult following to near-rock star status with their groundbreaking 1980 hit “Whip It,” all while preaching an urgent social commentary.

GUIÁN

Sunday, May 5, 1 PM

With director Nicole Chi Amén in person.

After grandma Guián passes away, Nicole decides to go to China to look for the house Guián left when she emigrated to Costa Rica. This is a journey to answer the questions she was never able to ask because they never shared the same language.

 

THANK YOU VERY MUCH

Sunday, May 5, 3:30 PM

With his gonzo, boundary-shattering comedy, Andy Kaufman provoked, and often outraged audiences. For those who got the joke, that outrage was the very point; Kaufman’s genius was in making people confront their own presumptions. Now through never-before-seen archival footage and intimate recollections of friends, colleagues and family members, filmmaker Alex Braverman excavates the all-too-short life and career of the enigmatic legend whose impact is felt all the more today with the blurring of artifice and reality that defines our present age.

SUGARCANE

Sunday, May 5, 6 PM

With co-director Emily Kassie in person.

An investigation into abuse and missing children at an Indian residential school ignites a reckoning on the nearby Sugarcane Reserve.

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