Watch This: Video From the Moving and Funny L.M. Kit Carson Tribute Panel at AFS

On March 11 we were honored to host a special screening of DAVID HOLZMAN’S DIARY in memorial tribute to L.M. Kit Carson who died on October 20 of last year. Carson, who acted (brilliantly) in Jim McBride’s seminal underground classic as the titular character, also wrote, produced and directed many films of his own and was a mentor and scene-maker whose great influence is impossible to calculate.

Impressive as it is, his IMDB listing can never account for the number of people he brought along, whose personal or professional courses he corrected, who received a helping hand or encouraging word at the right time, or who were inspired by Kit’s herculean endeavors to “do it themselves.”

The panel assembled on stage at the Marchesa Theater by AFS on March 11 went a long way towards helping all of us understand just what a powerful force Carson had been to those who knew him.

Assembled for the occasion were:

Cynthia Hargrave, Kit’s wife and producing partner; writer/director/producer Guillermo Del Toro, actor/director Jonny Mars, SXSW director and Austin Chronicle editor Louis Black, writer Natalie Dickinson, producer Joe Dishner, writer Jim Hart, and a very special surprise guest, Kit’s son Hunter Carson.

The event was exceptionally moving and funny, which everyone agreed was an appropriate tone for a night in tribute to a man who did it all, had a lot of fun doing it and loved and was loved by many in return.