Austin Film Festival
| Location | Austin, Texas |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1994 |
| Language | English |
| Website | www |
Austin Film Festival (AFF), founded in 1994, is an organization in Austin, Texas, that focuses on writers’ creative contributions to film. Initially, AFF was called the Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference and functioned to launch the careers of screenwriters, who historically have been underrepresented within the film industry. Since then, AFF has grown to serve all filmmakers and has added to Austin’s arts community by creating year-round programming that recognizes the art and value of storytelling through film.
AFF is probably best known for its annual October Austin Film Festival & Conference. The Conference was the first event of its kind, bringing professional and amateur screenwriters together to celebrate the role of screenplays in filmmaking and host conversations focusing on craft and on particular films and television series. In addition, the Screenplay Competition receives more entries than any other competition in the world. Several competition finalists and semi-finalists have made sales or found managers and agents at the conference.
Austin Film Festival attracts film lovers from all over the world, bringing a substantial number of people to Austin every October. This, as well as AFF’s partnerships with a variety of Austin hotels and restaurants—which offer promotional deals for out-of-towners and business for local hotspots—help to give Austin’s economy a boost. According to Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau estimates, AFF contributes in excess of $8 million to the local economy annually.
AFF also supports Austin’s youth and education system through the Young Filmmakers Program, which includes the Digital Storytelling program, a free film education program implemented in local Austin high schools, the Arts Education Outreach Program, which grants over 300 scholarships to high school students to attend the annual Festival & Conference, and their annual Summer Film Camp.
Each October, Austin Film Festival & Conference presents a program of narrative, animated and documentary features and shorts, including premieres, advance screenings and independent films. Films showcase the art and craft of strong narrative storytelling and screenings are often accompanied by question and answer sessions with cast members and filmmakers.
Past guests of the Festival include Joel and Ethan Coen, Ron Howard, Owen Wilson, Steven Zaillian, David Milch, Wes Anderson, Robert Duvall, Buck Henry, Dennis Hopper, Shane Black, Robert Altman, Caroline Thompson, David Chase, James Franco, Johnny Depp, John Landis, Garry Shandling, Bryan Singer, Oliver Stone, James L. Brooks, Harold Ramis, Mitchell Hurwitz, Lawrence Kasdan, Claire Danes, Barry Levinson, Russell Crowe, Sydney Pollack, Mike Judge, Buck Henry, John Lasseter, Robert Rodriguez, and David Simon.
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