IN SEARCH OF… The Best in Crypto-Reality Television
On Monday November 7, AFS will present the latest in its series of free History Of Television evenings, examining the unexplained phenomena documentary show IN SEARCH OF… cohosted by writer and wrestling impresario (!!!) Maximillian Meehan. These events are more than just public screenings of television episodes, they are also informative presentations about the ideological […]
1976 Flashback: Werner Herzog & Errol Morris Plot to Dig Up Ed Gein’s Mother’s Grave
Werner Herzog’s essential 1977 film STROSZEK screens at the AFS Cinema twice this week, on Tuesday October 25 and Friday October 28, as part of the Hello, Goodbye series, commemorating the imminent closure and renovation of the theater space. Tickets are available now. Warning: some disturbing content and language below. By now, we all know […]
Starting 10/25: The HELLO,GOODBYE series: Herzog, Altman, May, Mambéty, Ashby…
As most of you know by now, the AFS Cinema will be closing for an extensive remodel and expansion soon. But before we begin ratcheting down the number of our events in preparation for construction, we wanted to have a great week full of brilliant films about endings and beginnings. It’s the HELLO, GOODBYE series, […]
Watch This: A Bizarre Bela Lugosi Interview from 1932
This 1932 short-subject interview with horror movie legend Bela Lugosi (born on this date in 1882) is staged and rehearsed as you might expect and has some really jarring shifts in tone. One minute he is saying, “I am studying now American slang. I know how to say “OK”, “cat’s, uh, whiskers” and “baloney”, and […]
Just Announced: AFS November & December Programming
Brando directs! This November and December, as the AFS Cinema remodel begins, we will offer a large number of events both onsite at the AFS Cinema (pardon our dust please!) and at a number of other local venues. We will continue to offer events around town until the Cinema reopens early in 2017. More news […]
Just Announced: Joss Whedon in Conversation – This Saturday
Joss Whedon (AVENGERS, Buffy The Vampire Slayer) has recently turned his filmmaking attention to the 2016 election with “Save The Day,” writing and directing videos starring some of Hollywood’s biggest talents (Scarlett Johannson and Robert Downey Jr. among them) that aim to register voters and Get Out The Vote. During this special election season event, […]
Festival Alert: Austin Asian American Film Festival Schedule Announced
KAILI BLUES In Austin we are lucky to have a big-time, massive film fest (SXSW Film), and some less gigantic but still world-class festivals (Austin Film Festival, Fantastic Fest). And we are also fortunate to have a number of smaller (though not necessarily small), targeted festivals that expose us to international films we might never […]
Pushed By Her Fundamentalist Family into an Arranged Marriage, She Fights Back With this Music Video
The new documentary SONITA, about Sonita Alizadeh, screens at the AFS Cinema on Wednesday, October 12. As the teenage daughter in an Afghan refugee family in Iran, Sonita Alizadeh is in a difficult position. A free spirit, who aspires to a career in music, she is also a member of a highly religious tradition that […]
Born on this Day: Louis Lumière, Inventor of the Cinema & the First “Cat Video”
From left, Auguste and Louis Lumière Louis Lumière, born on this date in 1864, was, along with his brother Auguste, responsible for the invention of the cinema. This may be a controversial statement, since, as Americans, we all know that Thomas Edison invented the kinetoscope which allowed viewers to experience the illusion of motion through […]
Watch This: Dennis Hopper Talks about Old Hollywood
It’s not fair, but we probably all think of Dennis Hopper as being an out-of-control wild man offscreen as well as on, but, while he certainly sowed his wild oats as well as anyone, he was also a careful craftsman as both actor and director. One of the most interesting aspects of his career is […]
The Songs that Went Around the World: the Backstory of PRESENTING PRINCESS SHAW
For the past four years, a young woman in New Orleans, Samantha Montgomery, has uploaded songs to YouTube using her iPhone. The songs are unaccompanied, raw, emotional, and beautiful dispatches from this very talented young woman who works in a nursing home by day and pursues a seemingly hopeless musical career by night. One of […]
New AFS Cinema Design Plan Announced
There’s an exciting piece in the Austin Chronicle today about the ongoing redesign of the AFS Cinema. As many of you know, the AFS Cinema will close for several months on October 31 for renovation and improvement. When the theater reopens there will be a second full-time screen, a better bar and concession area, and […]
