Interview: Spaceflight Records Talks ‘DARK STAR’ on December 17 at the AFS Cinema
On December 17, Spaceflight Records joins AFS for a special evening of sight and sound with a big screen presentation of John Carpenter’s 1974 debut feature DARK STAR. As a non-profit, the Austin-based record label provides equitable access to the many different aspects of the recording industry often way out of reach for marginalized musicians. […]
In Her Own Words: Rosine Mbakam – AFS Presents Three Documentaries by the Acclaimed Director this December
(Still from Rosine Mbakam’s Two Faces of a Bamiléké Woman. Courtesy Icarus Film) Starting December 7, AFS presents a special series of three award-winning documentaries by Cameroonian Belgian-based filmmaker Rosine Mbakam, who NPR recently described as “…the filmmaker reinventing how African women are portrayed in movies.” Her films capture intimate accounts of African women’s lives […]
INTERVIEW: DIRECTOR WENDELL B. HARRIS, JR. ON THE RE-EMERGENCE OF HIS UNHERALDED BLACK INDIE CLASSIC CHAMELEON STREET
In 1990, Wendell B. Harris, Jr. premiered CHAMELEON STREET, his first and only feature-length film, at Sundance Film Festival, and walked away with the Grand Jury Prize. What followed is one of the rawest cases of soft suppression in modern American film. CHAMELEON STREET tells the story of Michigan con man William Douglas Street who, […]
Watch This Before You See THE SOUVENIR Part II: Joanna Hogg’s CAPRICE
Certainly many of you reading this have seen Joanna Hogg’s remarkable coming of age film THE SOUVENIR: Part I (2019) and you are no doubt planning to join us at the AFS Cinema for the release of THE SOUVENIR: Part II when it opens on 11/19. If you have seen the trailer for Part II […]
Who is Amalia Ulman, director of EL PLANETA? Scammer? Genius? Provocateur?
AFS presents EL PLANETA, the debut feature film by Amalia Ulman November 3 -11 at the AFS Cinema. Part of our Best of the Fests series, visual artist Ulman mines the devastation of post financial-crisis Spain to craft this imaginative and biting contemporary mother-daughter comedy, a selection of the New Directors/New Films and Sundance Film […]
Interview: Experimental Response Cinema on Nov 8’s “Ghosts of Lost Futures”
(Still from Tramaine Townsend’s FRAMES., part of Ghosts of Lost Futures) On November 8, AFS and Austin-based Experimental Response Cinema reunite to present Ghosts of Lost Futures—a look at what happens to history when it goes into an archive and comes out the other side, fifty years later. This special program features new video works […]
AFS’S Lars Nilsen Shares His Top Picks from the 2021 Toronto International Film Fest
(Still from NEPTUNE FROST) For the second straight year the various COVID protocols dictated that the Toronto International Film Festival offered a virtual version of the international festival, albeit one that lacked access for certain of the more interesting titles. Still, there were a lot of films to be seen and we saw a few […]
The Wilder Touch: Billy Wilder’s Enduring Comedies – AFS’s October Essential Cinema Starts September 30
Starting this Thursday, AFS presents The Wilder Touch as October’s Essential Cinema series—featuring some of the most timeless comedies ever to show on screen by the incomparable and celebrated director Billy Wilder, including A FOREIGN AFFAIR (1948), LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON (1957), THE APARTMENT (1960), IRMA LA DOUCE (1963), and beloved classic SOME LIKE IT […]
Meet the 2021 AFS Grant for Feature Films Recipients
2021 AFS Grant for Features recipients: 1: Jerod Couch, Starling Thomas, Fatima Hye, Nicole Chi Amén 2: Heather Courtney, Andrés Torres, Paloma Hernández, Renée Zhan 3: Kelsey Hodge, Jazmin Diaz, Lizette Barrera, Iliana Sosa, Chelsea Hernandez, and Sharon Arteaga Last week, AFS announced the recipients of the 2021 AFS Grant for Feature Films. Ten projects […]
RAGING FIRE – “Throwback to Classic Hong King Cinema” – Opens August 20 at the AFS Cinema
For everyone who has ever enjoyed the classic era of ’80s and ’90s Hong Kong Action, the new film RAGING FIRE is going to feel like an absolute blast from the past. It’s the last film directed by Benny Chan, and it stars the classic good guy/bad guy tandem of Donnie Yen and Nicholas Tse. […]
Watch This: Queering the Biblical Text with 1933’s LOT IN SODOM
There aren’t many films from 1933 that get the YouTube “This Video May Be Inappropriate For Some Users” gate, but LOT IN SODOM is no ordinary film. Made by the wealthy dilettante – and heir to large sums of the Western Union fortune, James Sibley Watson, who became interested in avant-garde literature while at Harvard […]
Watch This: Tommy Lee Jones’ Japanese TV Commercials are Nuts
There’s an old tradition of American stars appearing in Japanese television commercials, often in wacky scenarios that play up some aspect of their public personalities or best known roles. Here are a few classic examples of those. One of our favorite actors, and we’re guessing one of yours too, is Texas’ own Tommy Lee Jones. […]
