Austin Film Festival & Screenwriters Conference (AFF), the premier film festival recognizing the writers’ contributions to film, television, and new media, announced today the full schedule of films and panels for the 24th annual event, this October 26-November 2. AFF’s feature film slate includes over 25 World, North American and US Premieres, a robust retrospective series, and highly anticipated marquee titles, including Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, WWII drama The Darkest Hour featuring Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill, The Upside starring Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart, and Armie Hammer romance Call Me By Your Name.
AFF has also announced Chappaquiddick as its Closing Night Film. A drama recounting Ted Kennedy’s infamous 1969 car accident resulting in the death of his campaign worker, Chappaquiddick will close out the Festival with writers Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan in attendance. Chappaquiddick will join already announced Opening Night Film Lady Bird with writer/director Greta Gerwig in attendance and Centerpiece Film The Current War with director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon in attendance.
A staple of the Festival, AFF’s retrospective series this year will feature Philip D’Antoni’s 1973 drama The Seven-Ups presented by David Simon and George Pelecanos (The Deuce, The Wire), Jack Fisk’s 1981 film Raggedy Man—a tribute to Sam Shepard—presented by writer William D. Wittliff inpartnership with the Wittliff Collections, and seminal 1987 action film Predator presented by Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, The Nice Guys) who is currently working on the film’s reboot. Additionally, already announced Extraordinary Contribution to Film awardee Walter Hill will present his cult classic The Warriors.
In addition to the slate of 150+ films, AFF will present premieres and retrospectives of television programming, including the season 2 premiere of Hulu’s darkly comedic psychic drama Shut Eye with executive producers Mark Johnson, Melissa Bernstein, John Shiban and Amy Berg in attendance, the premiere of YouTube Red’s new comedy series Do You Want to See a Dead Body? with creator Rob Huebel in attendance, and the premiere of the Season Finale of HBO’s drama The Deuce with creators David Simon and George Pelecanos in attendance.
Also confirmed to attend is Dan Rather, who will help present the World Premiere of the documentary Fail State, chronicling the rise of predatory for-profit colleges. Writer/producer Gale Anne Hurd (The Terminator, The Walking Dead) will also be in attendance for AFF’s screening of documentary Mankiller about barrier-breaking female Cherokee leader Wilma Mankiller.
Other World Premieres include Wild Honey (Francis Stokes’ comedy about a phone sex operator searching for love), Coming to My Senses (a documentary following a man’s journey to regain his mobility after an accident), and Transformer (chronicling the transition of world-renowned body builder Matt Kroczaelski into Janae after being outed as transgender). Making its US Premiere at AFF is comedy Don’t Talk to Irene,which also won AFF’s Comedy Screenplay Award in 2013. Written and directed by Pat Mills, Irene premiered this month at Toronto International Film Festival to a receptive audience.
Austin Film Festival also revealed today their full Screenwriters Conference schedule, which will take place the first four days of the Festival, October 26-29. The Conference features a roster of prominent screenwriters in film and television, including Kenneth Lonergan, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Noah Hawley, Courtney A. Kemp, Lindsay Doran, Misha Green, Michael Arndt, Mark Frost, Michael Green, Sarah Gubbins, Christopher Vogler, Scott Frank, Megan Amram, John August, Eric Heisserer, and many more
The full Film and Conference schedule can be found at www.austinfilmfestival.com.
Austin Film Festival’s 2017 slate:
Marquee Features:
- Lady Bird – Opening Night Film
Writer/Director: Greta Gerwig - The Current War – Centerpiece Film
Writer: Michael Mitnick
Director: Alfonso Gomez - Chappaquiddick – Closing Night Film
Writers: Taylor Allen, Andrew Logan
Director: John Curran - 24 Hours to Live
Writers: Zach Dean, Jim McClain, Ron Mita
Director: Brian Smrz - 42 Grams
Director: Jack C. Newell - An Ordinary Man
Writer/Director: Brad Silberling - The Boy Downstairs
Writer/Director: Sophie Brooks - Blame
Writers: Laurie Shephard, Quinn Shephard
Director: Quinn Shephard - Call Me By Your Name *REGIONAL PREMIERE
Writers: James Ivory, Andre Aciman
Director: Luca Guadagnino - Darkest Hour *REGIONAL PREMIERE
Writer: Anthony McCarten
Director: Joe Wright - Endings: The Good, the Bad, and the Insanely Great – The Movie
Special Presentation by Michael Arndt - Into the Night; Portraits of Life and Death
Director: Helen Whitney - Please Stand By
Writer: Michael Golamco
Director: Ben Lewin - Permanent
Writer/Director: Colette Burson - Mansfield 66/67
Directors: P. David Ebersole, Todd Hughes - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri **REGIONAL PREMIERE
Writer/Director: Martin McDonagh - The Upside *REGIONAL PREMIERE
Writers: Jon Hartmere
Director: Neil Burger
Marquee-TV Programming
- HBO’s The Deuce-Season Finale
Writers: George Pelecanos, David Simon, Chris Yakaitis
Director: Michelle MacLaren - YouTube Red’s Do You Want to See a Dead Body?
Creator: Rob Huebel - Hulu’s Shut Eye
Season 2 Premiere Episode: “We’re Not in Kansas Anymore” (Season Premiere)
Executive Producer/Showrunner: John Shiban
Executive Producers: Mark Johnson, Melissa Bernstein
Writer: Amy Berg - New Form Original Premieres
Small Talk
Creator: Becca Gleason
Love Me Do
Creator: Gaby Dunn
Press Start
Creators: Evan Beamer and Dave Childs
Retrospective Programming
- Confessions of a Serial Killer (1985)-Presented by Mark Blair
Writer/Director: Mark Blair - Predator (1987)-Presented by Shane Black
Writers: Jim Thomas, John Thomas
Director: John McTiernan - Raggedy Man (1981)-Presented by William D. Wittliff
Writer: William D. Wittliff
Director: Jack Fisk - The Seven-Ups (1973)-Presented by George Pelecanos and David Simon
Writers: Albert Ruben, Alexander Jacobs, Sonny Grosso
Director: Philip D’Antoni - The Warriors (1979)-Presented by Walter Hill
Writers: Walter Hill, David Shaber, Sol Yurick (novel)
Director: Walter Hill
Narrative Features:
- Amanda and Jack Go Glamping
Writer/Director: Brandon Dickerson - An American in Texas
Writers: Anthony Pedone, Stephen Floyd
Director: Anthony Pedone - Beauty Mark
Writer/Director: Harris Doran
Cast: Laura Bell Bundy, Jeff Kober, Madison Iseman - Bleed. Scream. Beat!
Writers: Aldo Miyashiro, Ãrika Villalobos, Abril Cárdenas
Director: Aldo Miyashiro - Boost
Writer/Director: Darren Curtis - Dabka
Writer/Director: Bryan Buckley - Flock of Four
Writer: Gregory Caruso, Michael Nader
Director: Gregory Caruso - Here We Are
Writer/Director: David Bellarosa - High & Outside: a baseball noir
Writer: Dan O’Dair
Director: Evald Johnson - Hollow in the Land
Writer/Director: Scooter Corkle - In Blue
Writers: Jan-Willem den Bok & Jaap van Heusden
Director: Jaap van Heusden - Kafou
Writers: Jasmuel Andri, Bruno Mourral, Gilbert Mirambeau
Director: Bruno Mourral - Logndagen
Writer/Director: Yaghoob Keshavarz Sarkar - Meerkat Moonship
Writer/Director: Hanneke Schutte - Quality Problems
Writer/Director: Brooke Purdy - Quest
Writers: Santiago Rizzo & Darren Anderson
Director: Santiago Rizzo - Southern Tale
Writer/Director: Tel Royal - Space & Time
Writer/Director: Shawn Gerrard - Sun Dogs
Writer: Jennifer Morrison
Director: Anthony Tambakis - Tenn
Writer: Stacey Miller
Director: James Franco - House of Tomorrow
Writer/Director: Peter Livolsi - Time Trap
Writer: Mark Dennis
Directors: Mark Dennis, Ben Foster
Comedy Vanguard Features
- Chasing the Blues
Writer: Scott Smith, Kevin Guilfoile
Director: Scott Smith - Don’t Talk To Irene *US PREMIERE
Writer/Director: Pat Mills - Dr. Brinks & Dr. Brinks
Writer: Josh Crockett, Jonathan Pappas
Director: Josh Crockett - The Great Unwashed
Writer: Louis Fonseca, Nick Horseman
Director: Louis Fonseca - The Outdoorsman
Writer: Ryan Gilmour
Director: David Haskell - Shop of Little Pleasures
Writer: Julia Frick, Alice Frick
Director: Julia Frick - Wild Honey
Writer/Director: Francis Stokes
Dark Matters Features
- Bodies
Writer: Joseph Baker
Director: Tom Large - Bullitt County
Writer/Director: David McCracken - Freddy/Eddy
Writer/Director: Tini Tüllmann - Ruin Me
Writer: Trysta A. Bissett, Preston DeFrancis
Director: Preston DeFrancis - The Landing
Writers/Directors: David Dodson and Mark Dodson - Touched
Writer/Director: Karl R. Hearne
Documentary Feature
- Augie
Director: James Keach - Beauty and Ruin
Writer/Director: Marc de Guerre - Coming to My Senses
Director: Dominic Gill - Fail State *WORLD PREMIERE
Writers: Alexander Shebanow, Regina Sobel, Nicholas Adams
Director: Alexander Shebanow - Mankiller *REGIONAL PREMIERE
Writer: Valerie Red-horse Mohl, Gale Anne Hurd
Director: Valerie Red-horse Mohl - Mr. Fish: Cartooning From the Deep End
Director: Pablo Bryant - Shot in the Dark
Director: Dustin Nakao Haider - Transformer
Writer/Director: Michael Del Monte - Triumph: The Untold Story of Perry Wallace
Writers: Rich Gentile, Eli Spielman, Bruce Johnson - What Haunts Us
Writer: Mark Monroe
Director: Paige Goldberg Tolmach
Family Series
- Earth: One Amazing Day
Writers: Frank Cottrell Boyce, Richard Dale, Geling Yan
Directors: Richard Dale, Lixin Fan, Peter Webber - Into the Who Knows!
Writers: Micah Barber, Tony Faia
Director: Micah Barber