AUSTIN, Texas — Movie lovers will have the chance to interact with Central Texas writers and big names in the film industry this week during the 31st Austin Film Festival. Thursday kicked off the first full day of the eight-day festival.
The event started 31 years ago as a writers' festival, when organizers said there wasn’t anything else like in Austin at the time.
“It's been a long journey, very exciting to grow with Austin, Texas, and grow with it becoming kind of a film center these days,” Austin Film Festival executive director Barbara Morgan said.
This year's festival will include 180 movie screenings, as well as a large conference with hundreds of panels from speakers in the film industry. That includes Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks, the co-creators of the Emmy award-winning series Shōgun.
Also in attendance will be Mike Jones, a writer and director at Pixar Animation Studios who co-wrote films including Luca and Soul.
But what Morgan is most excited about this year is that eight of the large feature films are made by Austinites.
“They're being made by talent that lives here, so it's homegrown,” Morgan said. “Which to me is the only way for us to really ever have an industry, is if these people are coming here and they're staying here and they're not just doing this and then leaving.”
Morgan is also excited about the growth of Austin's film industry, because it’s something she always felt would thrive here with all the creativity the city fosters.
“These people are in a smaller community where it's easier to not feel as competitive in that world and people share here, I just I felt that that's always been the way Austin was,” Morgan said.
This past legislative session, Texas lawmakers approved a $200 million incentive designed to help filmmakers create here in Austin. That was a large increase from the $45 million provided in the previous legislative session.
Another focal point of the festival is the Young Filmmakers Program. This initiative brings in about 400 students from across the state to learn from the writers and filmmakers in attendance.
“Having that be a way that people learn how it works, how real production works, is incredible for them,” Morgan said. “Realizing I could do this, you know, I actually could do this. It doesn't seem so far off to me, which I think is one of the big impediments that film always had.”
Morgan said she always feels especially proud when a student who once attended the conference, comes back and enters their films in the festival.
“It happens all the time now where we have people come in and apply and they say, I, actually went to your camp or I went to your scholarship program and now I'm a filmmaker,” Morgan said. “You know, that's the kind of stuff that keeps us going, too.”
The festival will be held at multiple locations throughout Austin, but the majority of the screenings can be viewed at the Galaxy Theatre and the Paramount Theatre.