France’s Pompidou Centre to Honor Richard Linklater This November

(Photo courtesy of the Pompidou Centre, photo by PH Migeat)

September 30, 2019

France’s Pompidou Centre To Honor Richard Linklater
With Career Retrospective and Exhibition This November

Richard Linklater: Filming Time as Material Celebrates Linklater and Austin Film Community

Austin Film Society Spotlighted with Dedicated Gallery

September 30, 2019 (Austin, TX) — The Austin Film Society is proud to announce that the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France will present a career retrospective and exhibition on Richard Linklater, director, filmmaker, and AFS Founder. Richard Linklater: Filming Time as Material will be on view from November 25, 2019 – January 6, 2020 in the Pompidou’s Cinema and adjoining galleries. With this exhibition, he will join the esteemed ranks of some of history’s greatest filmmakers, including Chantal Akerman, Brian De Palma, Jean-Luc Godard, Martin Scorsese, Abbas Kiarostami, Werner Herzog, and others previously honored by Pompidou retrospectives.

For the first time, Linklater’s entire filmography will be presented alongside an expansive exhibition of original photographs, posters, documents, and videos, including a special short film commissioned for the retrospective, all dealing with time—a central theme of his work. The exhibition will also introduce French audiences to the Austin film community and explore Linklater’s history and critical role in fostering and championing it. The Austin Film Society is a non-profit founded by Linklater in 1985 to screen great films and make independent filmmaking accessible in Texas. A dedicated gallery within the exhibition spotlights AFS and its part in elevating Austin into the global hub of film culture.

“This is obviously a great honor and, even more of a challenge. I can’t wait to see all of the movies and material collected and on display all together, to see whether it’s coherent and meaningful,” Linklater says of his upcoming retrospective. “To be able to share my work on this scale is both profound and humbling.”

AFS CEO Rebecca Campbell states of the Austin Film Society’s participation in the retrospective, “This is an incredible honor, to celebrate alongside Richard, and be a part of this major milestone recognizing his life’s work and Austin’s place within it.”

Richard Linklater: Filming Time as Material has been organized by the Centre Pompidou Cultural Development Department Cinemas with the Paris Autumn Festival 2019. The lead underwriter of the exhibition is Suzanne Deal Booth, with additional support from Jane Schweppe and Chris and Francesca Beale.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
For the first time, Richard Linklater’s entire filmography of 26 films will be presented alongside several gallery spaces featuring previously unseen photography, artworks, documents and videos. During the opening week, Linklater will be in attendance to introduce his films and lead a special Masterclass moderated by Olivier Père, former head of the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes and the Locarno Film Festival, now CEO of ARTE France Cinema. The Cinema Pompidou will also present a “carte blanche” selection of two films curated by Linklater, as well as a new short film by Linklater commissioned especially for this occasion, Où en êtes-vous, Richard Linklater?

Filming Time as Material will include a gallery dedicated to the Austin Film Society, which recounts the story of an entire film community from its humble beginnings, through posters, photos, videos and documents, to its current era. Today, the Austin Film Society operates the AFS Cinema, an arthouse cinema with curated year-round programming, Austin Studios, a large-scale production facility, a community media center with educational offerings for youth and the community, and resources for emerging filmmakers, including the AFS Grant, which has given over $1.9 million to independent filmmakers in the state of Texas since 1996.

RICHARD LINKLATER BIO
Before SLACKER, an experimental narrative revolving around 24 hours in the lives of 100 characters, garnered acclaim in 1991, Richard Linklater had made many shorts and completed a Super 8 feature, IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO LEARN TO PLOW BY READING BOOKS (1988).

Linklater’s additional credits include the ‘70s cult hit DAZED AND CONFUSED (1993); BEFORE SUNRISE (1995), for which Linklater won the Berlin Film Festival Silver Bear Award for Best Director; SUBURBIA (1997); THE NEWTON BOYS (1998), a western/gangster film set in the 1920s; the animated feature WAKING LIFE (2001); the real-time drama TAPE (2001); the hit comedy SCHOOL OF ROCK (2003); $5:15 AN HOUR (TV), BEFORE SUNSET (2004) which earned him an Academy Award nomination; BAD NEWS BEARS (2005); A SCANNER DARKLY (2006); FAST FOOD NATION (2006); INNING BY INNING: A PORTRAIT OF A COACH (2008); ME AND ORSON WELLES (2009); BERNIE (2012); UP TO SPEED (2012, HULU); BEFORE MIDNIGHT (2013); BOYHOOD (2014); EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!! (2016); LAST FLAG FLYING (2017); and WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE? (2019).

Linklater also serves as the Artistic Director for the Austin Film Society, which he founded in 1985 to showcase films from around the world that were not typically shown in Austin. Now one of the nation’s top film organizations, AFS shows hundreds of films a year, has educational programs, and has provided critical grant funding each year to Texas filmmakers since 1996.

ABOUT THE POMPIDOU CENTRE
Paris’ Pompidou Centre is a world leader in the field of modern and contemporary art. A 20th-century architectural marvel designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, the museum features a permanent collection including major works by Matisse, Picasso, Warhol, Niki de Saint Phalle, and many others. Throughout the year, film is celebrated daily at the Centre Pompidou, in the cinemas, in the Museum and in the exhibitions, with simple screenings through to retrospectives, exhibition-installations and even Festivals. Visitors can also enjoy a robust program of art films that have been conserved in the Centre Pompidou collection, as well as regular screenings of its video collection.

ABOUT AUSTIN FILM SOCIETY
Founded in 1985 by filmmaker Richard Linklater, AFS creates life-changing opportunities for filmmakers, catalyzes Austin and Texas as a creative hub, and brings the community together around great film. AFS supports filmmakers towards career leaps, encouraging exceptional artistic projects with grants and support services. AFS operates Austin Studios, a 20-acre production facility, to attract and grow the creative media ecosystem. Austin Public, a space for our city’s diverse mediamakers to train and collaborate, provides many points of access to filmmaking and film careers. The AFS Cinema is an ambitiously programmed repertory and first run arthouse with broad community engagement. By hosting premieres, special events, local and international industry events, and the Texas Film Awards, AFS shines the national spotlight on Texas filmmakers while connecting Austin and Texas to the wider film community. AFS is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

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