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Austin Film Festival unveils first films and award winners
Details Category: Entertainment News Posted on Wednesday 25th August 2021 09:26 AM Written by Hildy Johnson
The Austin Film Festival (AFF) today announced the first ten films and award winners for its 28-year festival program. The premier film festival, honoring authors and filmmakers’ contributions to film, television and new media, will take place from October 21-28, 2021.
In addition to the first ten films of its upcoming slate, AFF is presenting the Outstanding Television Writer Award to Emmy-winning author and producer Michael Schur and the Polly Platt Award for Producing to productive film and television producer Stephanie Allain.
AFF is pleased to present the first ten films of this year’s extraordinary line-up in anticipation of the October Festival. With seven world premieres and outstanding films by talented filmmakers for the first time, this year’s line-up celebrates diverse storytellers. Highlights include A24’s haunting debut THE HUMANS, a creepy Icelandic horror first seen by writer / director and filmmaker Elvar Gunnarsson, and the cautionary drama EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED TO ER EVER OVER EVER TELL MY DAUGHTER ABOUT MEN by an impressive fifteen women directors.
The first ten films of the AFF lineup 2021 can be found below:
EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED TO TELL MY DAUGHTER ABOUT MEN (directed by an ensemble of 15 women, written by Lorien Hayes) – World premiere
GHOSTS OF THE OZARKS (Directors: Jordan Wayne Long and Matt Glass, written by Tara Perry, Jordan Wayne Long, Sean Anthony Davis) – World premiere
IT HATCHED (Director / Screenplay Elvar Gunnarsson) – World premiere
MEMORIA (Directed / Written by Apichatpong Weerasethakul) – Texas Premiere
PETITE MAMAN (Director / Writer: Celine Sciamma) – Texas Premiere
RAGGED HEART (Director: Evan McNary, written by Evan McNary and Debrah McNary) – World premiere
SWAMP LION (director / script Torben Bech) – world premiere
THE BIG BEND (Direction / Written by Brett Wagner) – World premiere
THE HUMANS (Director / Writer: Stephen Karam) – Texas Premiere
I FLY WITH THIS BREATH (Direction: Sam French and Clementine Malpas) – World premiere
This year’s line-up features groundbreaking talent and key narratives that challenge traditional storytelling. Explore the forest through the eyes of a child in NEON’s acclaimed French drama PETITE MAMAN by Celine Sciamma (AFF 2019 selection PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE), which explores the connection between mother and daughter after their grandmother dies. Filmmakers Evan McNary and Debrah McNary explore loss and love for the first time in RAGGED HEART.
The incredibly topical and important documentary WITH THIS BREATH I FLY follows two women in Afghanistan as they bravely fight for their freedom against a patriarchal Afghan society that has imprisoned them for “moral crimes”.
Although AFF is committed to promoting new talent, it is delighted to welcome AFF alumni and Texan filmmakers with their latest films. THE BIG BEND stars Jason Butler Harner (“Ozark”), Virginia Kull (“Big Little Lies”), Erica Ash (SURVIVOR’S REMORSE) and David Sullivan (ARGO) in a drama from West Texas in which two families meet again meeting that is not going as planned. In view of the mountains of debt from his son’s cancer treatment, director Torben Bech shows in SWAMP LION, one of Michael Ray Escamilla’s last films (FRONTERA, THE LAND), how far a father will go to save his son.
Go back in time with GHOSTS OF THE OZARKS starring Tim Blake Nelson (THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS), David Arquette (NEVER BEEN KISSED) and Phil Morris (ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE) back in time after Civil Wark, where a black one A doctor is called to a remote town in the Ozarks, only to find that utopian paradise is not all it appears to be. Audiences can also immerse themselves in Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s meditative and complex MEMORIA, in which Tilda Swinton is a woman trying to discover the cause of a sound that only she can hear.
In the drama EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED TO TELL MY DAUGHTER ABOUT MEN, a mother recounts her past relationships in the hope that her daughter won’t make the same mistakes. Written by Lorien Hayes, the film was directed by an ensemble of fifteen women – including Talia Balsam, Saffron Burrows and Fuschia Sumner – all who bring their unique views and experiences to the film.
AFF is excited to not only be teasing the 2021 film series, but is also excited to announce Michael Schur as the winner of the Outstanding Television Writer Award and Stephanie Allain as the winner of the Polly Platt Award for Producing. Schur and Allain join the previously announced Bill Wittliff Award for Screenwriting recipient, Scott Frank.
Schur began on Saturday Night Live and is known for creating the critically acclaimed NBC comedy The Good Place and co-creating Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn 99. Allain is one of the most prolific African American producers today. Known to start the careers of many first-time directors, including John Singleton, Craig Brewer, Justin Simien and Gerard McMurray, her award-winning films have shaped the cultural landscape. A longtime advocate of inclusion, she is the only black woman to have produced the Oscars for which she was Emmy-nominated. Previous recipients of the Outstanding Television Writer Award include Benioff & Weiss, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Marta Kauffman and Norman Lear. The previous recipient of the Polly Platt Award for Producing was Sarah Green.
The full program listing, with hundreds of films and panels, will be announced in September. Tickets and passes are currently available at www.austinfilmfestival.com.
Press accreditation is now open until October 8, 2021. Press can apply at https://austinfilmfestival.com/contact/press-inquiries/.
The health and safety of Austin Film Festival guests is a top priority and all in-person events will be in accordance with local and state COVID guidelines. Details on specific protocols will be distributed closer to the event.
ABOUT AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL
The Austin Film Festival (AFF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts, crafts, and business of writers and filmmakers and recognizing their contributions to film, television, and new media. AFF is committed to the work of emerging and established writers and filmmakers by providing unique cultural events and services, promoting public awareness and participation, and promoting dynamic and long-term partnerships with the community. AFF is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Department of the Austin City Department of Economic Development and the Texas Commission on the Arts. Badges and passes are available online at www.austinfilmfestival.com.
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