NEW CHALLENGES, NEW OPPORTUNITIES

– A Message from our CEO, Rebecca Campbell –

2020 was a year of many milestones for AFS—the 35th anniversary of the organization and the 20th anniversaries of both Austin Studios and the Texas Film Awards. This time last year we were making plans to celebrate each of these important moments in AFS’s story. Then the pandemic hit and drastically altered our daily lives, followed by a reckoning with and fight against systemic racism and historic injustices in this country. Like so many others, once we gathered our footing, we recognized that a return to the “before times” would not lead us to the future we dream of for our community, and embraced a path of renewal and change.

We put anti-racist work front and center and underwent an equity audit in the fall to evaluate all AFS programs and policies. The findings will inform our long-term institutional planning and provide a road map for AFS now and for years to come with diversity, equity, and inclusion leading our way.

Our program staff looked for ways to turn new challenges into new opportunities. When the AFS Cinema and Austin Public temporarily closed in March, we launched our Virtual Cinema and moved all classes and events online, upholding our mission of making diverse and independent film accessible. We rallied our most important efforts to support filmmakers and give out more funding to artists this year. After a pause, film productions are safely starting back up at Austin Studios, infusing new jobs and revenue into Austin’s local economy.

AFS was started 35 years ago with two essential goals in mind—support independent filmmakers and show great films. This has been our north star ever since, and it has guided us through this uniquely challenging year. Thanks for sticking with AFS in 2020 and we look forward to the time when we can come together again in support of this vibrant film community and keep Austin a center for great film culture for years to come.

REBECCA CAMPBELL

CEO, AUSTIN FILM SOCIETY

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion at AFS

Racial equity is a priority for AFS. We join the City of Austin in recognizing that race is the key indicator of quality-of-life outcomes in our city. This winter, AFS completed an equity audit to assess all programs, practices, and policies regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion. We clarified that we want equity and inclusion to inform all AFS decision-making. We want AFS to be a part of a community transformation that makes Austin safer, healthier, and more equitable for its people. We are now creating a strategic plan that is informed by the recommendations and questions for exploration in the equity audit report, and the plan will be complete and shared publicly in late 2021.

(Pictured above: the production of 2020 AFS Grant recipient TASMANIAN DEVIL, directed by Solomon Onita, Jr.)

When the pandemic struck, AFS knew independent filmmakers would be among the hardest hit, and we responded quickly by concentrating our efforts on our most important support for filmmakers, the AFS Grant. AFS reallocated resources to two new funding opportunities for filmmakers and moved training and classes online.

AFS Grant Expands to Create New Fund

In 2020, AFS handed out more than $146,000 in cash funds to directly support 26 short and feature-length projects by 28 directors. Generous donors helped create the AFS Grant for Development to provide further funding resources for filmmakers—empowering a diverse set of Texas storytellers and supporting regional makers’ career momentum.

AFS/Stand with Austin Fund

AFS provided additional funding to filmmakers through the AFS/Stand With Austin Fund, a special fund established by the Austin Community Foundation and AFS’s annual travel grants, to provide some relief and support to filmmakers with feature-length films that were to premiere at the 2020 SXSW Film Festival.

The 2020 AFS Grant Recipients

AFS Grants create opportunities for artists with backgrounds that are traditionally underrepresented in the film industry and who are working outside of large industry centers. The 2020 applicants represented one of the most geographically diverse groups in AFS funding history, with directors residing in Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Arlington, Eagle Pass, Taylor, Missouri City, and Marfa, Texas.

AFS intends for the grant program to actively work against the structural racism and sexism in the screen industries. Female-identifying filmmakers made up 50% of the 2020 AFS Grant recipients and 71% of the 2020 recipients identify with a community of color.

The Texas Film Awards

In March, the Texas Film Awards marked its 20th anniversary and attendees came together to celebrate our amazing and resilient film community. Emceed by indie icon Parker Posey, the evening’s awardees included Erykah Badu, Shelley Duvall, and Kaitlyn Dever. Robert Altman’s 1970 Houston-based film BREWSTER McCLOUD was also recognized with the Star of Texas Award. 

This annual event honors Texans in film and fundraises for our filmmaker support programs such as the AFS Grant—a vital resource for independent filmmakers to keep the Austin and Texas film scene vibrant and thriving. In 2020, we raised $380,000 to support filmmakers during the ongoing pandemic. 

Classes and Training Move Online at Austin Public

Since temporarily closing to the public, our community media center has offered classes and training online with a number of new people signing up for the first time for courses such as Cinematography Techniques, Media Policy, and Intro to Adobe Premiere Editing, among others. During the shutdown, we have welcomed participants online, not just from Austin, but Houston, Dallas, St. Louis, Mexico, and Poland.

“I’m so excited to have just recently discovered AFS to start my journey and training. The Cinematography Techniques class with Angel was awesome and a great primer for me!”

– Elisabet Davis, Houston-based film student

Austin Public Producers Tell Their Stories from Home

“Austin music TV has been such a beautiful way for us to reach out to the community and meet so many amazing creative, driven souls. There is always more to learn and I’m hungry for more.”

—Jeska Forsyth (pictured above with husband Guy Forsyth), Austin musician

Career Leaps for Filmmakers

Although many opportunities have been on hold—if not lost—this year, AFS continues to provide filmmakers with avenues for career leaps.

Two AFS-supported films, BULL and MISS JUNETEENTH, opened nationally this year.

The film released nationally in June (opening June 19th in Austin Film Society’s virtual cinema) to overwhelming critical acclaim. National Board of Review awarded Channing Godfrey Peoples the Best Directorial Debut and selected the film as one of the top ten independent films of 2020. It was also nominated for four Independent Spirit Awards and two Gotham Awards, including Breakthrough Director, and took home the Best Actress win for Nicole Beharie’s outstanding lead performance. Peoples has subsequently landed a first-look deal with UCP (Universal) where she is developing MISS JUNETEENTH into a series for television.

Virtual Cinema at AFS

The Lone Star Slate

In May AFS launched the Lone Star Slate, a new virtual screening library of Texas films by AFS-supported filmmakers. The series kicked off with a diverse slate of eleven titles from Texas artists, including the world premiere of Ben and Bo Powell’s documentary NOTHIN’ NO BETTER. 

“Texas’ tradition as an indie cinema hub is second to none, but it’s easy for smaller films to be forgotten over time. Now AFS Cinema is bringing some of the best underseen movies to its virtual cinema with the Lone Star Slate.”

– Austin Chronicle

Staying Connected Through AFS

The pandemic may be one of the greatest economic challenges our community has ever faced. The short and long-term film/media productions based at Austin Studios bring both jobs and revenue, which is playing a significant role in the recovery of our local economy.

Austin Studios at 20

In 2000, AFS started Austin Studios by turning empty airplane hangars at the former Robert Mueller Municipal Airport into production spaces and sound stages for local filmmakers. In the years since, the 20-acre production complex has become an integral part of the Texas film ecosystem—a hub for film creatives and home to large and small production companies and other independent film-related businesses.

The AFS Cinema Will Return

“Film people are film people. There’s no place they’d rather be than in a theatre.”

– Richard Linklater on the future and resiliency of arthouse cinema in The New Yorker this summer

Since first turning on our projectors, the AFS Cinema has become a cornerstone of Austin’s vibrant film community. A culmination of 35 years, it is a vital cultural resource and a hub for filmmakers, a unique place where we experience and celebrate great film and the work of our regional storytellers together. Reopening the AFS Cinema is not a matter of “if,” but “when,” and when Austin is ready to return to the movies, we will be ready.

In 2021, we will restore the AFS Cinema as Austin’s essential, central home for film, while reopening safely and securely for all of our guests and staff. We have deepened our commitment to help dismantle structural racism and sexism in the film and media industries, and through our programming, we aim to bring back the AFS Cinema as a truly inclusive home for all of Austin’s film-loving community. We can’t wait until we are able light up our screens once more and welcome everyone through our doors for the next chapter.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Fiscal Year 2020

THANKS TO OUR 2020 DONORS

The Austin Film Society is funded and supported in part by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts and in part by the City of Austin Economic Development Department/Cultural Arts Division believing an investment in the Arts is an investment in Austin’s future.

The Austin Film Society is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and is made possible with funding from Humanities Texas and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as part of the federal CARES Act.

The Austin Film Society is generously funded by Mid-America Arts Alliance, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the state arts agencies of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Donors listed contributed at the $500 level and above in Fiscal Year 2020. Please contact us at donate@austinfilm.org to make a contribution.