AFS Announces Its September/October 2024 Program Calendar
(Kubrick’s 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, 1968)
August 9, 2024, AUSTIN, TX— The Austin Film Society announces its calendar for September and October of 2024 featuring signature programs, special screenings and events and a new, diverse lineup of films from around the globe that filmgoers can only see at the AFS Cinema. The full calendar and more information can be found at www.austinfilm.org.
The Austin Film Society will present a new series of Essential Cinema called Frederick Wiseman: Eight Systems, spanning two months between September 3–October 26. The series will feature eight newly restored features by the influential American documentarian, including Welfare and The Store. From October 11–13, AFS Cinema will also present a weekend-long series called To the Front, featuring three rebellious independent coming-of-age films from the ’90s — Foxfire, Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. and Whatever — made by female filmmakers, each of whom will attend the AFS screenings of their respective films. Paper Cuts, the Austin Film Society’s series with Alienated Majesty Books, returns for its second edition with Querelle, the avant-garde film that influenced Medusa of the Roses, a new novel by artist/filmmaker Navid Sinaki, who will attend an in-person Q&A after the screening on September 11. AFS will also present another book-inspired event with author Kier-La Janisse, who will participate in a discussion after a screening of Monte Hellman’s Cockfighter, which is the subject of her new book Cockfight: A Fable of Failure. Among AFS’s special screenings with filmmakers are Fresh Kill (September 21) with director Shu Lea Cheang as a part of Queer Cinema: Lost & Found, the new documentary Borderland: The Line Within (September 26), With Peter Bradley (September 25), Faders Up: The John Aielli Experience (October 4–6), Oklahoma Breakdown (October 23) and Grow Up, Tony Phillips (for its tenth-anniversary on October 29). The AFS Lates series continues with several newly restored films (among them the animated cult favorite Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space) alongside Last Summer-filmmaker Catherine Breillat’s debut film, A Real Young Girl. The Austin community is invited to a free screening on September 10 of the ConnectHER Film Festival’s program of short films from Palestine, Gaza’s Eyes: While the World is Watching Gaza, Gaza is Watching the World. The boutique genre-film home-video label Vinegar Syndrome will present designer Saul Bass’ single directorial endeavor, Phase IV, accompanied by a pop-up shop in the AFS Cinema lobby on October 17. As previously announced, the Austin Film Society and Focus Features will host a thirtieth-anniversary cast-reunion screening of Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused at the Paramount Theatre on September 28 followed by a special Q&A with Linklater and cast from the film, who will be announced in the coming weeks.
Calendar highlights in detail:
The Austin Film Society will screen a two-month-long series of Essential Cinema called Frederick Wiseman: Eight Systems, dedicated to showing newly restored works by the MacArthur fellowship-winning documentarian. Across the six decades of his career, Wiseman has become known for his straightforward, perceptive style of non-fiction filmmaking where he embeds himself in an institution or community and amasses huge amounts of footage before editing it down into an insightful, verité look at his subject. These subjects are often the systems that Americans interact with regularly, like hospitals and schools. Beginning September 3, the AFS series will include The Store (about the Neiman Marcus flagship location in Dallas), Law and Order (which observes the Kansas City Police), Central Park, Canal Zone (following workers at the Panama Canal), Missile, Welfare, Aspen, and Model (documenting the world of modeling agencies and photography studios).
AFS Cinema will host a weekend of independent films (and the pioneering women who made them) from the ’90s called To the Front. The series celebrates three movies about teenage rebellion made by women who largely left the film industry after completing landmark features, each of whom will join AFS audiences to discuss their work. On October 11, director Annette Haywood-Carter will attend a 35mm screening of her Joyce Carol Oates adaptation Foxfire — starring Angelina Jolie (Girl, Interrupted), model Jenny Shimizu and Hedy Burress (Boston Common) among others — about teenagers fighting against sexual harassment at their Oregan high school. The series continues on October 12 with Leslie Harris presenting her Brooklyn-set Black coming-of-age story Just Another Girl on the I.R.T., which won the Special Jury Prize at Sundance in 1993. The weekend will conclude with Susan Skoog joining audiences for a 35mm screening of Whatever starring Liza Weil (Gilmore Girls) as an artistic New Jersey teenager with hopes to attend school in Manhattan while experimenting with drugs and partying.
The Austin Film Society will host two screenings with authors who will discuss their literary work and the films that inspired them. AFS’s Paper Cuts series, a partnership with Alienated Majesty Books, will show Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s final film, Querelle, which influenced author/filmmaker Navid Sinaki’s debut novel, Medusa of the Roses. As part of Sinaki’s promotional tour of the book, he will be joining AFS audiences to discuss Querelle on Saturday, September 11. Documentary filmmaker and film critic Kier-La Janisse (author of House of Psychotic Women) will also join AFS audiences for a screening of Monte Hellman’s 1974 film Cockfighter. The film is the subject of Janisse’s new book Cockfight: A Fable of Failure, which uses the film as a case study to explore gendered symbolism, masculinity and “the many mythologies that intersect in Cockfighter.“
AFS Cinema will host numerous special screenings with filmmakers and guests in attendance. Queer Cinema: Lost & Found will show Shu Lea Cheang’s Fresh Kill in 35mm. This wild film about food contamination and computer hacking was an official selection of both Berlinale and TIFF in 1994, and the September 21 screening will feature a post-film Q&A with Cheang. After showing With Peter Bradley at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), filmmaker Alex Rappoport will join AFS audiences for a post-screening Q&A on September 25. His documentary is about the titular artist and art dealer who, notable among his many accomplishments, put on one of the first racially integrated art shows in Houston in 1971 before fading out of the art world for a time. A 2024 documentary about the US/Mexico border, Borderland: The Line Within, will screen on September 26 followed by a Q&A with its director Pamela Yates and producer Paco de Onís. Underground one-man-band musician Mike Hosty will also join AFS audiences on October 23 for a screening of a new documentary, Oklahoma Breakdown, about the huge success of his song of the same name. AFS Cinema will also host the tenth-anniversary screening of Grow Up, Tony Phillips by AFS Grant-supported filmmaker Emily Hagins, who will join audiences to discuss her reflections on the film, which she made when she was 20 years old. Over the weekend of October 4–6, AFS will screen Faders Up: The John Aielli Experience by Sam Wainwright Douglas and David Hartstein who will attend select screenings to talk about the legacy of the late KUT radio host.
The full September/October lineup continues below, and a complete list of all film screenings announced to date and special events are on the AFS website at austinfilm.org. Ticket prices range from $11 to $13.50, with discounts for AFS members. Special pricing is noted if applicable.
AUSTIN FILM SOCIETY SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER CALENDAR
ESSENTIAL CINEMA: FREDERICK WISEMAN: EIGHT SYSTEMS
Over nearly sixty years, Frederick Wiseman has created a body of work like no other. As a documentarian, he has depicted systems at work from the ground up, whether that system is a police department, a department store, or a missile silo. Wiseman’s style is deceptively simple — viewers feel like a fly on the wall watching various mini-dramas within the overarching framework of the system depicted. Of course, it is anything but simple. Wiseman shoots many, many hours of film and then constructs his narrative with extraordinary care and discretion. The results are often revelatory and are always interesting. For this series we present — in collaboration with Wiseman’s production company, Zipporah Films — new restorations of some Wiseman films that have been hard to see for years. Whether you are a seasoned Wiseman fan or not, we hope that you will join us for these special presentations.
THE STORE
Frederick Wiseman, USA, 1983, DCP, 113 min.
9/3–9/8
“Wiseman is an acknowledged master of cinema verite.” —The New York Times
“Witnessing how an establishment deftly caters to such appetites makes for an engrossing spectacle… Only Wiseman seems able to consistently capture those tiny, illuminating surprises that stay with us long after he’s through with us.” – Harry F. Waters, Newsweek
Frederick Wiseman’s documentary depicts the fascinating inner workings of the Neiman Marcus flagship department store in Dallas from the tiniest minutiae of the perfume counter to the higher workings of big business in the boardroom. Newly restored.
LAW AND ORDER
Frederick Wiseman, USA, 1969, DCP, 81 min.
9/10, 9/14
“Contains some of Wiseman’s most aggressive experiments in editing and sound design.” —The Chicago Reader
“Brutal, blunt, and harrowing.” —The New York Times
“Wiseman’s documentaries show what is left out of both fictional movies and standard documentaries.” —Pauline Kael
Master documentarian Frederick Wiseman takes the viewer on a ride-along with the Kansas City Police Department (many years before the TV show COPS). He shows us the day-to-day monotony and grind of the work as well as the casual institutional racism that is seemingly embedded into the profession. Newly restored.
CENTRAL PARK
Frederick Wiseman, USA, 1989, DCP, 180 min.
9/17, 9/21
“One of the most accessible and salutary films ever made by master documentarian Frederick Wiseman … CENTRAL PARK celebrates not the Earth but the 840 acres of it in the middle of Manhattan where New Yorkers retreat and repair and lapse into modes of behavior one might actually classify as civilized … Wiseman is one of the great filmmakers of our time.” —Tom Shales, The Washington Post
After the heaviness of Frederick Wiseman’s LAW AND ORDER, viewers can enjoy a relaxing afternoon in Central Park as all manner of New Yorkers use the expansive facilities and the Parks Department maintains the spaces for public use. Newly restored.
CANAL ZONE
Frederick Wiseman, USA, 1977, DCP, 175 min.
9/24, 9/28
“Wiseman observes narrow-mindedness, chauvinism, and blind faith in authority nearly everywhere he goes.” —The Chicago Reader
“It is precisely this kind of serendipity, this kind of risk‐taking, that marks Fred Wiseman as unique in his field.” —The New York Times
“In the sunny landscape of a distant Army enclave in Panama, Wiseman finds a nightmare vision of America itself … By the time CANAL ZONE reaches its Memorial Day climax … it becomes as bitter as Sinclair Lewis’ Main Street … an ingenious cautionary tale.” —Time Magazine
Frederick Wiseman turns his camera onto the unique workings of the Panama Canal Zone, a place where the main occupation of its residents is facilitating the use of the waterway. Newly restored.
MISSILE
Frederick Wiseman, USA, 1988, DCP, 120 min.
10/1, 10/5
“One comes away with the frightening feeling that dealing with devastation is considered a prosaic business.” —The Chicago Tribune
“[Wiseman] has given a fair and hard look into the 20th century’s most horrifying institution, one that should occasion serious reflection by hawks and doves alike.” —The Hollywood Reporter
Documentary legend Frederick Wiseman tackles nuclear proliferation in a sidelong yet deeply powerful way in this chronicle of the 4315th Training Squadron of the Strategic Air Command who train the personnel that staff America’s missile launching sites. While the abstract horror of nuclear war is studiously avoided, the workmanlike pragmatism of the mundane instruction is imbued with its own kind of dread. Newly restored.
WELFARE
Frederick Wiseman, USA, 1975, DCP, 167 min.
10/8, 10/12
“The psychology of poverty has rarely been so well depicted, along with the inadequacy of the bureaucracy itself.” —The New Yorker
“One of Frederick Wiseman’s strongest documentaries.” —The Chicago Reader
“WELFARE can feel both dark and funny, but it’s always very human.” —Vox
The welfare system, centered around a governmental welfare agency, is shown from its bureaucracy on down to the recipients of aid who have the most profound needs for assistance. As good and decent people suffer and strive, the specter of regulations and laws, always shifting and barely understood by anyone, hangs over them. Newly restored.
ASPEN
Frederick Wiseman, USA, 1991, DCP, 150 min.
10/15, 10/19
“ASPEN is both a city portrait and a State of the Union address, a bracing mix of cutting social satire and heartfelt Americana.” — The Chicago Reader
“There’s diversity on display but also tension in the contrast, a sense of wildly different values living within the same area code.” —Film Comment
“A bold study of contrasts and a bitterly funny — also sad — reflection of the concerns of the American nouveau riche.” —Film Journal International
Frederick Wiseman’s ASPEN shows us a town that is like a two-way mirror. To tourists, it is a land of quaint shops and ski slopes. To the year-rounders — who are more often than not working-class people with a rebellious, freedom-loving streak — it is something else entirely. Newly restored.
MODEL
Frederick Wiseman, USA, 1980, DCP, 129 min.
10/22, 10/26
“A microcosm of the American life we have all more or less slavishly copied that explains a lot more than usual about the world about us.” —The Guardian
“In MODEL, he shows us the business side of an agency, photography sessions, models talking, playing, and wasting time. He highlights the mad perfectionism of TV commercial-makers — rehearsals, retakes, huge crews, anxieties, tantrums, and exhaustion, all for a few seconds of film selling hosiery.” —David Denby, New York Magazine
The day-to-day lives of models — both high-fashion and advertising models — are documented here by Frederick Wiseman, who also takes us behind the scenes of model agencies, photography studios, and the often monotonous grind of “hurry up and wait” under the bright lights. Newly restored.
VINEGAR SYNDROME
We are partnering with our friends from the leading boutique/cinephile home video label Vinegar Syndrome for a pair of special screenings. There will be a special Vinegar Syndrome pop-up store in the lobby on Thursday 10/17.
PHASE IV
Saul Bass, UK/USA, 1974, DCP, 84 min.
10/17
“Good, eerie entertainment, with interludes of such haunted visual intensity that it becomes, at its best, a nightmare incarnate.” —Time
“Filled with one unforgettable image after another.” —The Dissolve
From Saul Bass, mid-century modern designer par excellence, comes his only feature-film directorial credit, an eco-horror about an assault by ants on a scientific citadel constructed by humans. Featuring a Vinegar Syndrome pop-up shop.
BIG SCREEN CLASSICS
A FISH CALLED WANDA
Charles Crichton, UK/USA, 1988, DCP, 107 min.
9/19–9/22
“Putting heart and heat into a film that could have easily slid by on silliness, Cleese proves himself a master actor.” —People Magazine
“The funniest movie I have seen in a long time.” —Roger Ebert
“WANDA defies gravity, in both senses of the word, and redefines a great comic tradition.” — Time Magazine
The merged creative energies of Monty Python and Ealing comedies produce an all-out comedy classic. Kevin Kline and Jamie Lee Curtis play an unforgettable pair of dastardly crooks who participate in a heist that goes spectacularly awry. With John Cleese as the patsy who falls prey to Curtis’ charms. One of the funniest films of the ’80s, with Kline taking home a deserved Oscar® for his performance.
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
Stanley Kubrick, USA, 1968, DCP, 149 min.
9/28–10/2
“The film is a journey through outer space, but it is also a journey through cinematic space. It conjures the future by making you sit through its vision of the future, spending time just being in it.” —The Village Voice
“Man has shrunk space, but Kubrick has expanded the cinema.” —London Evening Standard
“A SPACE ODYSSEY is some sort of great film and an unforgettable endeavor. Technically and imaginatively, what he put into it is staggering.” —The New Yorker
Stanley Kubrick’s metaphysically rich science fiction adaptation is one of the most visually compelling works of film-art ever made. An enormous step forward in movie special effects, it also showed that serious speculative fiction belonged on the same plane as art films.
THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME
Peter Clifton and Joe Massot, UK/USA, 1976, 35mm, 137 min.
10/10–10/16
The Led Zeppelin concert movie in 35mm. Loud? Yes. Indulgent? Yes. But we’ll repeat. This is the Led Zeppelin concert movie, and we’re showing it in 35mm. Directed by Joe Massott (DANCE CRAZE, WONDERWALL) and filmed during the “Houses Of The Holy” tour, with tons of great songs and some pretty pretentious fantasy scenes. Don’t miss it. In 35mm.
PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE
Brian De Palma, USA, 1974, DCP, 92 min.
10/27–10/31
“A crazy, savage film — iconoclastic and truly liberating.” —Time Magazine
“PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE is worth your attention as a milestone in the evolution of contemporary movie musicals.” —Newsweek
“Inventive and remarkably likable.” —Variety
This Faustian horror/trash-rock/revenge musical from director Brian De Palma is one of the most technically impressive and energetically gonzo films of the sick ‘70s. This is De Palma’s testament to everything he loves in popular cinema, a stylistic exercise with few peers, and a great time at the movies.
DOC NIGHTS
LOST ANGEL: THE GENIUS OF JUDEE SILL
Andy Brown and Brian Lindstrom, USA, 2023, DCP, 91 min.
9/8, 9/9
“The definitive documentary of a brilliant, innovative early ’70s singer-songwriter.” —Variety
“An affecting film around which admirers and newcomers alike can gather to bask in the unique beauty of Judee’s work and to follow the similarly distinctive trajectory of her painful and abbreviated life.” —The Wall Street Journal
“A great piece of lost classic rock history.” —Film Threat
Folk singer-songwriter Judee Sill is one of the great examples of an artist whose music was truly ahead of its time. As a young hell-raising juvenile delinquent, she got the music bug and went to LA to start her career where she was soon signed to David Geffen’s Asylum Records. While her label-mates Jackson Browne, the Eagles, and Joni Mitchell went to the top of the charts, Sill’s records sat on the shelves. Spiraling into depression, substance abuse, and codependency, she died young, but her music has lived on as her records have been discovered by new generations of fans. Free Member Monday — free admission for all AFS members on Monday, September 9.
GETTING IT BACK: THE STORY OF CYMANDE
Tim MacKenzie-Smith, UK, 2024, DCP, 93 min
10/9, 10/13
When the five-man funk band of Caribbean-born Londoners called Cymande (pronounced seh-MON-day) played their last gig in 1974, they assumed the story was over. But thousands of miles away, proto hip-hop DJs were being influenced by their sound, and over the course of the next few decades, their music was reborn. This film takes us to the source as the group reforms for a triumphant return to stages — this time in front of huge, grateful crowds.
SCALA!!!
Ali Catterall and Jane Giles, UK, 2023, DCP, 96 min.
10/12
From sexploitation to horror, from martial arts to LGBTQIA+, the legendary Scala Cinema pushed the boundaries of film programming and helped foster a community for outsiders in London’s 1980s post-punk scene. Featuring interviews with fifty Scala fans (including John Waters), film clips, previously unseen footage, and an original soundtrack by Barry Adamson (former bassist of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds), SCALA!!! is the ticket to film-geek heaven.
WE ARE FUGAZI FROM WASHINGTON, D.C. with Joe Gross
Jeff Krulik, Joe Gross, and Joseph Pattisall, USA, 2023, DCP, 96 min
10/23–10/30
WE ARE FUGAZI FROM WASHINGTON, D.C. is as unlike a “normal” rock documentary as Fugazi were unlike a normal rock band. Consisting of a carefully chosen selection of fan-lensed videos, it is the closest thing to seeing the legendary group live. We will be joined by co-curator Joe Gross to help tell the story of Fugazi.
NEWLY RESTORED
ADIEU PHILIPPINE
Jacques Rozier, France, 1962, DCP, 111 min. In French with English subtitles.
9/2, 9/4
“A mixture of sweetness and light, devoid of pretension and open to youthful energies.” —Jonathan Rosenbaum
“Rozier is something of a genius.” —François Truffaut
In this freshly rediscovered French New Wave classic, two friends find themselves involved in a love triangle with the same soldier and watch as their playful tryst turns messy against the backdrop of war. Featuring a non-professional cast in first-time acting roles and direction from little-known master Jacques Rozier.
FAR FROM HOME
Sohrab Shahid-Saless, Germany, 1975, DCP, 95 min. In Turkish and German with English subtitles.
9/7, 9/8
“One of the great unseen films of contemporary immigrant life.” —Museum of Modern Art
Turkish immigrant Husseyin (Iranian actor and director Parviz Sayyad) spends his days as a “guest worker” in ’70s West Berlin, diligently saving up in hopes to one day marry and buy a house back home while suffering the indignities of racism and failed attempts at intimacy. Released in the U.S. for the first time, a criminally underseen work from one of the most celebrated filmmakers in Iranian cinema, Sohrab Shahid-Saless (STILL LIFE).
THE THIRD MAN
Carol Reed, UK, 1949, DCP, 104 min.
9/13–9/19
“One of those miraculous films that work on every level.” —A.V. Club
“A noir classic.” —The Guardian
“It’s a film — and a city — to get lost in, and it’ll haunt you afterward.” —The Seattle Times
Carol Reed and Graham Greene’s richly detailed portrait of post-WWII Vienna is a highly satisfying film masterpiece starring Joseph Cotten as a pulp writer who investigates the death of his friend under mysterious circumstances. With Orson Welles as the man who ties it all together.
SHOESHINE
Vittorio De Sica, Italy, 1946, DCP, 92 min. In Italian with English subtitles.
10/16, 10/19
“It is filled, in every scene, with an awareness of the pitiful complexity of the causes of even simple evil.” —Time Magazine
“A harrowing exposé of ‘fascism’s bequest to the children of Italy.’” —The New York Times
“A keystone in a historic cinematic movement.” —Slant
A heartbreakingly beautiful examination of the harsh reality of post-war Italy and an underrated classic from master Vittorio De Sica. Two young boys do everything they can to purchase a horse together, but the price is more than they bargained for. Now restored to be witnessed by a new generation.
TO THE FRONT
This series is a deep dive into the evolution of women’s stories in the ever-changing landscape of independent filmmaking. Through a trio of films, we take a look on screen and behind the camera at films as defiant as the filmmakers who made them — Annette Haywood-Carter, Leslie Harris, and Susan Skoog — each joining us for post-film discussions following their respective features.
FOXFIRE
Annette Haywood-Carter, USA, 1996, 35mm, 100 min.
10/11
“These are rebels with a definite cause.” —L.A. Times
“It’s girlhood and teendom and that moment in time when you’re too old to buy into adults’ BS, but too young to do too much about it.” —Chicago Reader
Based on the controversial novel from Joyce Carol Oates, four teenage girls form a girl gang to combat sexual harassment from their teachers and fellow students. But when the group finds themselves in the crosshairs of the local jocks, they’ll find that rebellion comes at a cost. A provocative evocation of girlhood featuring breakthrough performances from Angelina Jolie, Jenny Shimizu, and Hedy Burress. In 35mm. With director Annette Haywood-Carter in attendance.
JUST ANOTHER GIRL ON THE I.R.T.
Leslie Harris, USA, 1993, DCP, 92 min.
10/12
“Harris is a bracing voice; she keeps her movie brimming with the pleasures of the unexpected.” —Rolling Stone
“Offers a welcome glimpse of one of the individuals behind the sea of faces racing by in the subway cars.”
—The Austin Chronicle
Landmark would be an understatement for the debut of writer-director (and winner of plaudits the world over) Leslie Harris. This engrossing portrait of a Brooklyn teenager surviving life in the projects and pursuing a future, a dream all her own, has endured as not just another film but also as an unforgettable Black coming-of-age story. With writer-director Leslie Harris in attendance.
WHATEVER
Susan Skoog, USA, 1998, 35mm, 112 min.
10/13
“Captures a strong sense of realism.” —Austin Chronicle
“Seeing a movie like this could do a lot of kids some good. Parents, I suspect, would find it terrifying.” —Roger Ebert
In 1981, high school senior Anna (Liza Weil, Gilmore Girls’ Paris) experiments with sex, drugs, and alcohol, potentially hurting her chances to enter art school in the fall. With a tagline like “in the era of just say no, they said yes,” how could you resist? In 35mm. With writer-director Susan Skoog in attendance.
MODERN MASTERS
CLOSE YOUR EYES
Víctor Erice, Spain, 2023, DCP, 169 min. In Spanish with English subtitles.
9/23, 9/29
“A shimmery, nourishing culmination of ideas.” —Variety
“A moving mediation on existence, memory, and cinema’s potential to preserve them both.” —Vox
“A poignant cinematic swan song.” —The Hollywood Reporter
Three decades on from the release of his previous film, Spanish auteur Víctor Erice (THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE) returns with his “poignant cinematic swan song” (The Hollywood Reporter): the story of an aging filmmaker recounting the memories of his final, unfinished film. Featuring an evocative performance from Ana Torrent.
FRIGHT CLUB
I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE
Jacques Tourneur, USA, 1943, 35mm, 69 min.
10/25, 10/27
“Tourneur has that art of generating the ‘mystic atmosphere.’” —The L.A. Times
“Transcends the conventions of the horror genre.” —The Chicago Reader
“An atmospheric triumph.” —The Austin Chronicle
From director Jacques Tourneur and producer Val Lewton (the team behind CAT PEOPLE) comes another cerebral horror film that uses literate writing and chiaroscuro cinematography to bring the scares. This time, it’s a Jane Eyre story set in the West Indies with ample atmospherics. In 35mm.
QUEER CINEMA: LOST & FOUND
FRESH KILL
Shu Lea Cheang, UK/USA, 1994, 35mm, 80 min.
9/21
“A collage of ideas that lingers between the noir and sci-fi.” —Asian Movie Pulse
“A movie about the future that feels like it actually comes from that future.” —The A.V. Club
A lesbian couple living on Staten Island find themselves ensnared in a vast conspiracy involving nuclear waste and killer cat food in this head-spinning eco-cyber-noia from multimedia artist Shu Lea Cheang. Combining stunning production design, gorgeous 35mm photography, and a soundtrack from Living Colour’s Vernon Reid to create a sense of information overload, FRESH KILL is very truly a film like no other. In 35mm. With writer-director Shu Lea Cheang in attendance.
FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET
Dario Argento, Italy/France, 1972, DCP, 105 min. In Italian with English subtitles.
10/26, 10/31
“One of Argento’s most suspenseful efforts.” —The Village Voice
“Full of slick visual conceits and glossy set-pieces.” —Monthly Film Bulletin
“Argento at his chilling best.” —The New York Times
A prog rock drummer is framed and blackmailed for a murder he did not commit. As he enlists the help of a swishy gay detective to find out who’s responsible, the real killer begins bumping off those around him one by one. The final (and least seen) film in Dario Argento’s so-called Animal Trilogy, FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET is a stylish tour de force of gruesome violence, twisty giallo plotting, and even more twisted up gender and sexuality. Screening with a video introduction by Queer Cinema: Lost & Found programmer Elizabeth Purchell.
LATES
TAMALA 2010: A PUNK CAT IN SPACE
T.O.L, Japan, 2003, DCP, 92 min. In Japanese with English subtitles.
9/13–9/18
“Hello Kitty went down a 21st century rabbit hole.” —SFGate
“I’m tempted to call this the best film of the year, but my dog would never speak to me again.” —Austin Chronicle
Hello Kitty meets Thomas Pynchon in an Astro Boy-esque galaxy. Existential, cerebral, foul-mouthed, and so very cute — the title couldn’t be a more accurate description of this new millennium kitty tale. Newly restored.
NORTH SEA IS DEAD SEA
Hark Bohm, Germany, 1976, DCP, 87 min. In German with English subtitles.
9/20, 9/21
In 1970s Hamburg, a neglected street tough finds freedom on the streets beating down fellow misfits like Dschingis, another boy his age, and in whom he discovers a friend, comrade, and unlikely partner in crime. From stealing boats to knife-wielding stick-ups and kung-fu fights, these boys do it all — and grow up in the process — in this impossibly cool coming-of-age story from Hark Bohm, brother of Marquard Bohm (DEADLOCK), making an appearance here as a deadbeat dad. Newly restored. With a special introduction from Kier-La Janisse.
A REAL YOUNG GIRL
Catherine Breillat, France, 1976, DCP, 89 min. In French with English subtitles.
9/27, 9/28
“An intelligent coming-of-age story about a girl who realizes, for better or for worse, that there’s no turning back.” —The Chicago Tribune
“Curiously dreamy.” —The New York Times
Catherine Breillat’s (LAST SUMMER, ROMANCE) debut film, daring and banned from theaters for 25 years, will leave you reeling. An adaptation of Breillat’s own novel, A REAL YOUNG GIRL is an unflinching, in-your-face exploration of female sexuality and coming of age so far ahead of its time, we’ve still not caught up.
DOGRA MAGRA
Toshio Matsumoto, Japan, 1988, DCP, 109 min. In Japanese with English subtitles.
10/4, 10/5
The fourth and final film from FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES-filmmaker Toshio Matsumoto is a surreal and unsettling adaptation of an unadaptable novel about a detective whose name translates to “person who always dreams,” yet here, only sees nightmares. Newly restored.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Juraj Herz, Czech Republic, 1978, DCP, 84 min. In Czech with English subtitles.
10/11, 10/12
A stunning, macabre re-telling of the familiar story taken to new heights, here by the creative force behind Czech classics THE CREMATOR and MORGIANA.
PAPER CUTS
QUERELLE
Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Germany, 1982, DCP, 108 min.
9/7, 9/11
“A work of bold artistic self-renewal.” —The New Yorker
“Marks a radical turning point in narrative filmmaking.” —TV Guide
“Fassbinder’s style is one of multitudes.” —Slant
Handsome sailors, quiet beach towns, and explosive sexuality. If the feeling of gay longing could be directly translated onto film, the result would be QUERELLE, the final film from Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Join us for this avant-garde queer cinema classic, featuring a conversation with author/filmmaker Navid Sinaki on Saturday, September 11, as part of AFS’s ongoing Paper Cuts series with Alienated Majesty Books.
BEST OF THE FESTS
IN THE SUMMERS
Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio, USA, 2024, DCP, 95 min. In English and Spanish with English subtitles.
10/7, 10/10
“A visual poem.” —THR
“Brimming full of its characters’ internal aches rendered elegantly across time.” —IndieWire
“One of the film’s great strengths resides in Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio’s confidence in her details to speak for themselves.” —Slant
Winner of the US Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at Sundance 2024 and the semi-autobiographical debut from queer Columbian-American writer-director Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio, the tale of a troubled summer between two girls and their father will leave you reeling from the cast’s brilliant turn as a family on the edge. Free Member Monday — free admission for all AFS members on Monday, October 7.
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
COCKFIGHTER
Monte Hellman, USA, 1974, DCP, 83 min.
9/20
Documentary filmmaker and author Kier-La Janisse returns to her old Austin stomping grounds to present the film that is the subject of her newest book, Cockfight: A Fable Of Failure. Monte Hellman’s movie — touted as the “only film producer Roger Corman ever lost money on” is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Charles Willeford and stars Warren Oates as a man who pits his rooster in the ring against all comers. The film is not for everyone, and the content is as graphic as you would fear, but Janisse will join us to unpack this peculiar chapter of American subcultural crime and grime. With Kier-La Janisse, author of Cockfight: A Fable of Failure in attendance. Cockfight: A Fable of Failure will be available for purchase at AFS Cinema.
WITH PETER BRADLEY
Alex Rappoport, USA, 2023, DCP, 86 min.
9/25
“A riveting documentary in its purest form.” —Film Threat
“An intimate portrait and a deep study of the creative process.” —Film at Lincoln Center
Filmmaker Alex Rappaport crafts an indelibly intimate portrait of the Color Field artist Peter Bradley’s life, work, and drive to create in this new documentary executive produced by longtime friend and world-renowned artist Adger Cowans. With filmmaker Alex Rappoport in attendance.
BORDERLAND: THE LINE WITHIN
Pamela Yates, USA, 2024, DCP, 110 min.
9/26
As the situation on the US/Mexico border becomes more tense by the day, there has been an emergence of a shadowy, right-wing “border industrial complex” that converts federal dollars and corporate investment into suffering among immigrant communities. This new doc blows the lid off the current state of affairs. Join us for a special screening with director Pamela Yates and producer Paco de Onís.
OKLAHOMA BREAKDOWN
Christopher Fitzpatrick, USA, 2022, DCP, 95 min.
10/23
Mike Hosty is a legend in certain rarefied musical circles. A one-man band who counts among his fans some of your favorite musicians, he has written a million-seller “Oklahoma Breakdown” but keeps his life on the straight and narrow, touring endlessly and living the life of a road warrior. Mike Hosty will join us in person for a special screening of this new doc.
GROW UP, TONY PHILLIPS — 10th Anniversary Screening
Emily Hagins, USA, 2013, DCP, 90 min.
10/29
Join us for this tenth-anniversary screening of Austin-based filmmaker Emily Hagins’ fourth feature film, made when she was 20 years old. GROW UP, TONY PHILLIPS stars Tony Vespe as a teenager who really, really loves Halloween, even as his like-aged friends are growing out of it. We’ll be joined by the now much more seasoned Emily Hagins for her reflections on this film as well as cast and crew from the film.
FADERS UP: THE JOHN AIELLI EXPERIENCE
Sam Wainwright Douglas and David Hartstein, USA, 2023, DCP, 75 min.
10/4–10/6
The late and much lamented longtime KUT DJ and personality John Aielli is profiled here in this new film that shines a light on his early life and scholarly personality. The filmmakers lovingly depict the man and his unique style of music curation and storytelling. A portrait of a wonderful person and the community that loved, and still loves, him. Filmmaker Q&As will take place at select shows over the weekend.
COMMUNITY SCREENINGS
GAZA’S EYES: WHILE THE WORLD IS WATCHING GAZA, GAZA IS WATCHING THE WORLD
Various filmmakers, Palestine, 2023, DCP, 45 min.
9/10
In 2023, the ConnectHER Film Festival received 150 films from 24 countries — six of those films were from filmmakers in Gaza. Through this screening, ConnectHER wants to share these films as a window into what Gaza looked like just months ago; what the potential and hopes of these Palestinian young people were when they made their films. Followed by a post-screening Q&A with Alana Hadid, Founder of Watermelon Pictures, and Lila Igram, ConnectHER Founder.
LIVE SCORE
NOSFERATU with Live Score by Invincible Czars
Germany, 1922, DCP, 92 min. Silent with live score.
F.W. Murnau’s silent “Symphony of Terror” gets the live score treatment from longtime Austin favorites Invincible Czars with a compelling modern soundtrack performed live in the theater. This show is the capper of a forty-nine city North American tour and a justly renowned melding of sound and cinema. Do not miss.
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MEDIA CONTACT
Will Stefanski
Will@austinfilm.org
