AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL’S 2020 SLATE:
NEWS
“The Badger” to be screened at Sofia MENAR Film Festival
Iranian feature ‘The Badger’, written and directed by Kazem Mollaie, will be screened in the main section of the “13th edition of Sofia MENAR Film Festival” in Bulgaria.
‘The Badger’ is the story of a woman, Soodeh Sharifzadegan, performed by renowned female Iranian comedian, Vishka Asayesh, who is going through a challenging time in her private life on the verge of her second marriage.
The cast and crew of the film include Hasan Majuni, Mehraveh Sharifinia, Behnoush Bakhtiari, Reza Behboudi, Mehdi Hosseini-Nia, Siavash Cheraghipour, Mahmoud Nazar-Alian, Hamidreza Mohammadi, Mohammad-Amin Asadi, Yadollah Shademani, Neda Dehshiri and Gohar Kheirandish.
In January, ‘The Badger’ was also screened at the “17th annual Bahamas International Film Festival” (January 4-10) and is expected to take part in India’s “13th Jaipur International Film Festival” (January 15-19) as well as “19th Dhaka International Film Festival” in Bangladesh (January 16-24).
Organized by Pozor company, Sofia MENAR Film Festival aims to make Bulgarian audience familiar with the culture and traditions of the Muslim world by screening the best films produced in the Middle East and North Africa, including features, documentaries and short movies.
Among the directors whose films have been screened at the festival are: Abbas Kiarostami (Iran), Majid Majidi (Iran), Ümit Ünal (Turkey), Asghar Farhadi (Iran) and Reza Mir-Karimi (Iran).
The Sofia MENAR Film Festival has been held annually in January since 2009. The 13th edition of this event will be held January 14-31, 2021.
Sources: ISNA, Iran’s Daily, ifilmtv, TehranTimes
“THE BADGER” to vie at Jaipur Int’l Film Festival
The “13th. Jaipur International Film Festival” (JIFF) will host “THE BADGER” written and directed by Kazem Mollaie and produced by Sina Saeidian from Iran.
After “Kupal”, “The Badger ” is the second feature film by Kazem Mollaie. The story is about a woman called Soodeh Sharifzadegan, played by Vishka Asayesh, who is involved with a difficult challenge in her private life , while she is close to her second marriage.
The Jaipur International Film Festival (JIFF) is held annually in Jaipur, India, since 2009. The festival is conducted by the Jaipur International Film Festival Trust.
The main crew of “The Badger” include:
Scriptwriter and Director: Kazem Mollaie, Producer: Sina Saeidian, Director of Photography: Majid Gorjian, First Assistant Director and Program Coordinator: Alaleh Hashemi, Editor: Babak Ghaem, Make-Up Artist: Mahmoud Dehghani, Sound Recordist: Mohammad Kian Ersi, Sound Designer and Mixer: Hosein Abolsedgh, Music Composer: Mehdi Panahi, Set Designer: Monir Razizadeh, Costume Designer: Neda Nasr, Production Manager: Hamed Azadi, Title Designer & Visual Effects: Amir Mehran, Special Effects: Iman Karamian, First Camera Assistant: Daruish Rajaei, Script Supervisor: Mahshid Sadeghi, Still Photographer: Yousef Abdolrezaei, Fatemeh Taghavi, Procurement Manager: Amir Jafari Nejad
The 13th Jaipur International Film Festival will be held 15 to 19 January 2021 in Jaipur, India.
Indonesian festival to screen seven films from Iran
The 15th Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival has picked seven movies by Iranian filmmakers to be screened in the various categories of the event, which will open today in Jogja on the Indonesian island of Java.
The lineup includes “Najibeh” by Mostafa Gandomkar, “Numbness” by Hossein Mahkam, “Gabriel” by Yusef Kargar, “The Badger” by Kazem Mollaie, “The Warden” by Nima Javidi, “Just 6.5” by Saeid Rustai and “A Hairy Tale” by Homayun Ghanizadeh.
“Najibeg” will go on screen in the Asian Perspectives of the five-day festival. Najibeh is a religious and poor elderly woman who wants to commit a crime because she needs to go to prison for a while. To accomplish her goal, she needs an accomplice, so she tries to get help from her friend.
The section also features “Numbness”, which is about Jalal, a philosophy student dropout who is influenced by the community to free himself from any constraints. He realizes that his sister Mary, who has bipolar disease, is married to a bourgeois man named Shahrokh who is addicted to betting on football.
“Gabriel” is the sole Iranian film selected for Light of Asia, a non-competitive section for short films. Gabriel is a middle-aged man who lives with his son. His wife has been missing for some time. All the people are suspicious of her. One day news comes to him and he has to choose one: expediency or conscience?!
“The Badger” will be screened in the NETPAC section. The film tells the story of Soodeh Sharifzadegann, whose 11-year-old son, “Matiar”, is kidnapped right before her second marriage. After considerable effort, Soodeh is forced to ask for the ransom money from her ex-husband, Peyman. After Matiar’s release, Soodeh, being curious, comes to the sudden realization that it was all her son’s plan to provide the grounds for his father’s return.
The story of “The Warden” is set in 1966, when a prison in southern Iran is being evacuated because of its proximity to the city’s new airport. Major Jahed, the warden, transfers the prisoners to the new prison and then soon receives a report that one prisoner, sentenced to death, is missing!
“Just 6.5” a drama about drug abuse and addiction will also be screened in NETPAC.
This section will also screen “A Hairy Tale” about Danesh who is in love with both cinema and Homa, a well-known actress. Kazem Khan is in love with both the movie, “Casablanca” and his barber shop’s certificate. Shapoor is in love with both canned tuna and politics. The city is full of beggars while an earthquake may happen soon. Every now and then, a body of a dead woman, with a shaved head, is found near the sea. As Inspector Kiani says: It’s a messy situation.
Source: TEHRAN TIMES
Austin Film Festival 2020 Review: THE BADGER
By Mark Saldana
Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars)
From Iran comes a stressful and gripping drama that can has great writing, even greater direction and superb performances by the talented actors in the cast. Writer/director Kazem Mollaie uses a tension-filled abduction story to a make a commentary on the world today. This is actually the only foreign-language movie that I was able to watch from this year’s lineup, but I am definitely grateful that I selected it. It is one of the top films that I watched from AFF 2020.
In Tehran, Iran, forty-something, single mother Soodeh (Vishka Asayesh) already has her hands full working full-time and raising her only son Matiar when a highly stressful and trying situation arises. Matiar gets abducted by mysterious assailants who demand a hefty ransom for his life. Already strapped for money and continuously struggling to make ends meet, Vishka must seek help from mulitiple friends, family and estranged people in her life to guarantee her son’s return. As her life seems to be falling apart, her beloved home also slowly crumbles, as it has a serious termite infestation.
I cannot say that The Badger is the most stressful film I have ever seen, but it is certainly quite tense. Through Soodeh, fillmmaker Kazem Mollaie honors and celebrates the strength, passion, and determination that women must have in order to protect what is dearest to them. Though she must struggle, soul search, swallow her pride and humble herself to seek help, it is that strength and will that helps her endure. Mollaie’s approach to the direction is tastefully simplistic and elemental. He, cinematographer Majid Gorjian, and editor Babak Ghaem work wonders in capturing multiple facets of various settings while maintainin the buzz of activity and the tension of the scenarios.
In keeping with the mostly steady pace of the film, the cast members give tremendous performances and never miss a step. The absolute breakout star of the film is Vishka Asayesh whose tremendous portrayal of Soodeh is the real heart and soul of the film. It is a turn that displays a wide range of emotions that such a situation (in real life) would certainly elicit. Soodeh never comes across as overly likable, but is never truly hateful. It is a character realization that plays genuinely and is multi-dimensional.
Going into this movie, I was expecting another run-of-the-mill, by the numbers kidnapping story. The Badger is so much more than that. Though it has some familiarities, it never overplays or oversells the drama. Everything falls into place so naturally and realistically. And the movie definitely has one of those unforgettable endings that stays with you long after the film has concluded.
Source: True View Reviews
PERSIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2020 JUST ANNOUNCED
Highlighting the richness of contemporary films by Persian-speaking filmmakers around the globe since 2011, the Festival will be opening its 9th edition in December. PERSIAN FILM FESTIVAL
From masterly feature dramas to bright comedies, captivating documentaries, and a fabulous selection of short films, the Persian Film Festival returns from 3-6 December 2020 to showcase the very best in Persian cinema in partnership with Palace Cinemas.
“This year we continue featuring films that have been recently globally acclaimed while selecting films from different period and genres, in order to offer access to a distinctive, uniquely curated version of Persian cinema”, said Festival Director Amin Palangi. “We are very thrilled to be able to present the ninth edition of the Persian Film in this particular year where stories must continue to be shared”.
Program highlights include Mahnaz Mohammadi’s highly expected debut feature Son-Mother, a stark reflection of women’s place in Iranian society which screened at Toronto International Film Festival and the Zurich Film Festival. Son-Mother will open the festival on 3rd December.
The Chess of the Wind, a masterpiece of Iranian Cinema, will screen for the Closing Night on 6th December. Directed by Mohammad Reza Aslani in 1976 and recently restored in 4K in 2020 by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna from the original 35mm, Aslani’s work was praised internationally and the film screened at Cannes Film Festival 2020, BFI London Film Festival 2020 and New York Film Festival 2020.
This year’s program also features two groundbreaking documentaries, and a short films session curated by Iranian filmmaker Farnoosh Samadi, whose debut feature 180 Degree Rule premiered at Toronto International Film Festival in September.
More information and full program available below. All tickets will be on sale by Friday 20 November, and can be purchased on http://www.persianfilmfestival.com/
FEATURE FILMS
Son-Mother (2019): In her brilliant fiction-feature debut, Mahnaz Mohammadi depicts the relationship of a mother and a son, when a widow receives a marriage proposal that could mean financial security but could also fracture her family. The screenplay is by Mohammad Rasoulof.
Book now: https://www.persianfilmfestival.com/films/son-mother/
The Chess of the Wind (1976): Mohammad Reza Aslani’s debut feature is set during the rule of the Qajar dynasty and chronicles the fallout of a noble family. Screened publicly just once and long thought lost after the 1979 Revolution, The Chess of the Wind is an unheralded landmark of Iranian cinema and ranks among the great recent (re)discoveries of world cinema. It screened this year at Cannes Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival and New York Film Festival.
Book now: https://www.persianfilmfestival.com/films/the-chess-of-the-wind/
Pari (2020): Pari (Melika Foroutan) and husband Farrokh (Shahbaz Noshir) arrive in Athens to visit their student son Babak, who happens not to be found. Pari is forced out from the shadow of her spouse to take the lead in the search for her child. Pari portrays a woman who discovers unsuspected depths and courage in this feature debut by Iranian-Greek director Siamak Etemadi which screened at Berlinale 2020.
The Badger (2020): a family portrait and psychological drama unfolds when Soodeh finds herself forced to ask for ransom money from her ex-husband Peyman in order to save her 11-year-old kidnapped son Matiar. The Badger by Kazem Mollaie screened at Shanghai International Film Festival 2020.
The Slaughterhouse (2020): Recently deported from France, Amir is unemployed and stay at his father’s house. He soon gets involved in a horrifying crime which gets him involved with the tumultuous foreign currencies black market. The Slaughterhouse by Abba Amini screened at Busan International Film Festival, IFF Mannheim-Heidelberg and Hong Kong Asian Film Festival this year.
A Hairy Tale (2019): in a hilarious comedy and winner of Fajr Film Festival, Inspector Kiani investigates the mysterious murders that have been taking place in the city. As Inspector Kiani says: It’s a messy situation. In addition to winning Fajr, A Hairy Tale by Homayoun Ghanizadeh also received the Jury Special Award at Warsaw International Film Festival.
DOCUMENTARIES
Sunless Shadows (2019) is the new award-winning feature documentary by renowned director Mehrdad Oskouei, who recently won no less than six awards including Best Director at IDFA (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam) and winner at Zagreb International Documentary Film Festival. We follow a group of teenage girls serving time in an Iranian juvenile detention center and explore their thoughts and doubts as they go through the sentence.
None of Your Business (2019) follows the touching and recently revealed story of Ebrahim Monsefi, known as Ebram, a popular southern guitar player, singer and poet whose work has been rediscovered and published little by little after his death. The film screened at DOK Leipzig and won the Special Jury Award at International Documentary Festival South Korea.
SHORT FILMS SESSION
Like a Good Kid (2019) by Arian Vazirdaftari, The Visit (2019) by Azadeh Moussavi, Red Panda (2019) by Ali Paknia, Hedieh (2018) by Sahar Sotoodeh Haghighi, Dilemma (2018) by Omid Shams, Each Other (2019) by Sarah Tabibzadeh, Funfair (2019) by Kaveh Mazaheri, and Exam (2019) by Sonia K Hada.
DETAILS Date: Thursday 3 December – Sunday 6 December, 2020
Location: Palace Norton Street, 99 Norton Street, Leichardt, Sydney
Opening Night Gala: $29.50
Closing Night Gala: $29.50
General Admission: $22.50 (Concessions $19.50; Palace MC Members $18.50) 5 Film Pass: $90.00 ($18.00 per ticket)
3 Film Pass: $60.00 ($20.00 per ticket)
Website: http://www.persianfilmfestival.com
“The Badger” competing in Hamilton Film Festival
“The Badger” by Kazem Mollaie is competing in the 15th Hamilton Film Festival underway in the Canadian city.
The movie is about Soodeh Sharifzadegan, a 40-year-old woman who faces a strange incident right before her second marriage.
Soodeh and her son Matiar live in an old apartment. One day, she hires a pest control company to solve the termite problems in the apartment. While the pest control company is working, Matiar is recording the procedures, as this is his hobby. The next day, Matiar gets kidnapped after school, and the kidnapper asks Soodeh to pay 10 Bitcoins for her son. Tremendous pressure is put on Soodeh, but the truth hidden beneath will surprise everyone.
The film has been acclaimed at numerous international events. It was selected as best fiction feature at the 6th BangkokThai International Film Festival in Thailand last week.
It also won the grand prize for the best foreign feature at the 29th Berkeley Video and Film Festival last October, and the award for best narrative feature at the 27th Austin Film Festival in the U.S.
Hosted in a city with a booming art scene, the Hamilton festival continues to be one of Canada’s most important film events for Canadian and international films. It will run until November 15.
Source: TEHRAN TIMES
3 AWARDS FOR IRANIAN FEATURE FILM “THE BADGER”
Iranian feature film “The Badger”, written and directed by Kazem Mollaie and produced by Sina Saeidian, won Best Foreign Feature Film and Audience Award at the “29th. edition of Berkeley Film Festival” in the US. This movie was achieved the Best Fiction Feature Award in the “6th. BangkokThai International Film Festival” in Thailand too.
After “Kupal”, “The Badger ” is the second feature film by Kazem Mollaie. The story is about a woman called Soodeh Sharifzadegan, played by Vishka Asayesh, who is involved with a difficult challenge in her private life , while she is close to her second marriage.
The Badger was screened on the “23rd. Shanghai International Film Festival” in China as its world premiere in July 2020, and was nominated as the Best Film in the “Asian New Talent Award Section” in this prestigious film festival. This movie won the Best Narrative Feature Film Award at the “27th. edition of Austin Film Festival” (The Writers Festival) in the US as its North American Premiere last week.
Vishka Asayesh, Hasan Majuni, Mehraveh Sharifinia, Behnoosh Bakhtiari, Reza Behbudi, Mehdi Hosseini Nia, Siavash Cheraghi Pour, Mahmoud Nazaralian, Hamid Reza Mohammadi, Mohammad Amin Asadi, Yadollah Shademani, Neda Dehshiri and Gohar Kheirandish are among the cast members of the film.
The main crew of “The Badger” include: Scriptwriter and Director: Kazem Mollaie, Producer: Sina Saeidian, Director of Photography: Majid Gorjian, First Assistant Director and Program Coordinator: Alaleh Hashemi, Editor: Babak Ghaem, Make-Up Artist: Mahmoud Dehghani, Sound Recordist: Mohammad Kian Ersi, Sound Designer and Mixer: Hosein Abolsedgh, Music Composer: Mehdi Panahi, Set Designer: Monir Razizadeh, Costume Designer: Neda Nasr, Production Manager: Hamed Azadi, Title Designer & Visual Effects: Amir Mehran, Special Effects: Iman Karamian, First Camera Assistant: Daruish Rajaei, Script Supervisor: Mahshid Sadeghi, Still Photographer: Yousef Abdolrezaei, Fatemeh Taghavi, Procurement Manager: Amir Jafari Nejad, Press Relations: Fatemeh Rostami.
Smart and incisive thriller shows a different Iran
“Termites behave like a family. They stick together, so you have to get rid of them all to eradicate them.” So advises the pest control technician, laying some metaphorical groundwork as he assesses the infestation of a home in Iranian writer/director Kazem Mollaie’s new film, The Badger.
Said home belongs to Soodeh Sharifzadegan (Vishka Asayesh), and her day is already full up. Besides owning her own cookie business, she’s preparing to embark on her second marriage, her son Matiar needs to be picked by her ex-husband Peyman (Hasan Mujani), and it is the eve of the Islamic holy day Eid al-Adha, so Tehran is bustling. As the day progresses, Soodeh deftly keeps all the balls in the air until she gets a call from her sister: Matiar has gone missing, leaving a cafe after lunch and never returning to school. She then receives a thumbdrive via courier which contains a video of Matiar bound and gagged in the storeroom of a commercial kitchen, the muffled voiceover demanding 10 Bitcoins by this evening for his return. (Quick cryptocurrency calculator here: that’s about 143 thousand U.S. dollars, or around six billion Iranian rials). This kind of kidnapping for cryptocurrency has become quite common in recent years, and Soodeh fears that the abductors know that her estranged father is a wealthy businessman, and more alarmingly, she begins to suspect that this might be an inside job.
The badger of the title refers to the exterminator’s suggestion that he bring in one of his trained mammals to root out the termites (badgers love insects, after all). But it also refers to Soodah, as she scrambles to amass the funds, confront specters from her past, and determine the motive behind the crime. Mollaie’s film is brilliantly paced, and he layers his story with foreboding images. A helmeted man on a motorcycle who seems to be following Soodeh, the increasing cracks on the wall of her house, the camera constantly circling Soodeh as her own cracks begin to show.
Asayesh, mostly known for her comedic roles, is stunning as Soodeh, a fiercely independent woman who conveys cool countenance under extreme pressure. If the third-act reveal, when Soodeh realizes what has happened as the badger sniffs around her home, seems a bit overdetermined, it does not take too much away from what is a smart and incisive thriller and a fascinating look at modern Iran.
BY JOSH KUPECKI
Source: THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE
Iranian feature film “The Badger” wins at Austin Film Festival
Iranian feature film “The Badger” won Best Narrative Feature Film at the 27th. edition of Austin Film Festival in US.
Directed by Kazem Mollaie and produced by Sina Saeidian, The Badger won the Best Narrative film award at this edition of the American Academy Award Qualifying film event.
The feature film is about a woman called Soodeh Sharifzadegan who is involved with a difficult challenge in her private life, while she is close to her second marriage.
Vishka Asayesh, Hasan Majuni, Mehraveh Sharifinia, Behnoosh Bakhtiari, Reza Behbudi, Mehdi Hosseini Nia, Siavash Cheraghi Pour, Mahmoud Nazaralian, Hamid Reza Mohammadi, Mohammad Amin Asadi, Yadollah Shademani, Neda Dehshiri and Gohar Kheirandish are among the cast members of the film.
The film has also taken part at the 23rd. Shanghai International Film Festival in China.
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 Austin Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference and functioned to launch the careers of screenwriters, who historically have been underrepresented within the film industry.
The Austin film festival was held on October 22-29, in Texas, US.
Link: Mehr News
The Badger goes to “27th. Austin Film Festival 2020”
‘The Badger’, a feature film directed by Kazem Mollaie, will be screened in the “27th. Austin Film Festival” in October 2020.
Austin Film Festival & Writers 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 27th annual Festival, this October 22-29, to be held exclusively online. AFF’s feature film slate includes the returning marquee selections highlighting upcoming film releases from reputable distributors. Gravitas Ventures joins the Festival with the US Premiere of Dave Not Coming Back, which chronicles the 283 meter cave dive of two friends Don and Dave, who find a dead body after breaking a world record, as well as the Utopia title Golden Arm written by Ann Marie Allison and Jenna Milly and directed by Maureen Bharoocha. The annual Writers Conference, scheduled for the first five days of the Festival, October 22-26, released today a new batch of programming with panels featuring conversations with Gina Prince Bythewood, director of Netflix’s The Old Guard and writer/director of Love & Basketball, in addition to Alec Berg and Bill Hader, creators of the Emmy award winning series Barry.
The slate will feature 22 world, North American, and US premieres directly hailing from AFF’s four feature film competition categories, including: the world premiere of director Felipe Mucci’s Two Deaths of Henry Baker written by and starring Sebastian Pigott with Gil Bellows, Tony Curran, Joe Dinicol, Jess Salgueiro, and Dani Kind. Produced by Neshama Entertainment, MarVista Entertainment and Particular Crowd; The Badger, starring Vishka Asayesh by Iranian indie writer/director Kazem Mollaie; and Good, written/directed by Justin Etheredge along with co-writer Nathan Allen starring Keith David, Nefetari Spencer, and Kali Racquel. Other world premiere titles include the Marshall Cook directed comedy Film Fest, co-written by Cook and Paul Alan Cope, starring Matt Cook, Diona Reasonover, CJ Vana, Laird Macintosh, and Will Sasso; along with Chelsea McEvoy’s and Ryan Tebbutt’s insightful documentary Re-Inventing The Wheel with a deep-dive into the Okanagan wheelchair community of Kelowna, Canada.
The Festival will showcase other world premieres highlighting Texas productions and talent including the World Premiere of Austin & LA based writer/director Justin Corsbie’s debut feature, Hard Luck Love Song, staring Michael Dorman (Amazon’s Patriot, Invisible Man), Sophia Bush, RZA, Dermot Mulroney, Brian Sacca, Melora Walters and Academy Award nominated Eric Roberts, and Queens of Pain co-directed by Cassie Hay and Amy Winston, chronicling the lives of three skaters for Gotham Girls Roller Derby (one of the most successful teams in New York sports history).
AFF also announced the world, North American, and US Premieres for a number of international films representing the countries of Spain, Denmark, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Cameroon, Iran, France, and Poland. Titles include the romantic comedy Time for Love, written/directed by Miguel Velez and starring Marcin Franc and Marta Sutor; the blistering dark comedy Standard written/directed by Fernando González Gómez; Carl Marlott’s thrilling sci-fi roller coaster The Blue Orchid; the filmmaking debut of Olivier Assoua with The Eagle’s Nest; and director O’Neil Bürgi’s dynamic documentary ALE chronicling a 19-year-old wrestling student’s unexpected journey to becoming a full-fledged wrestler.
Austin Film Festival revealed today their full Writers Conference schedule. The Conference features a roster of prominent screenwriters in film and television, including conversations with Gillian Flynn, creator of Amazon Prime’s dystopian-thriller Utopia and writer of Widows, Sharp Objects, and Gone Girl; three time Oscar nominated writer John Logan, creator of Showtime’s Penny Dreadful and writer of Skyfall, Hugo, and The Aviator; Oscar winner Kevin Willmott, co-writer of BlacKkKlansman and Da 5 Bloods. Other notable panelists include Paul Feig, Prentice Penny, Scott Frank, Howard Gordon, Tracey Scott Wilson, Ed Solomon, Leslye Headland, Rolin Jones, and Emily V. Gordon.
NARRATIVE FEATURES
The Catch (World Premiere)
Writer/Director: Matthew Ya-Hsiung Balzer
Paper Tiger (World Premiere)
Writer/Director: Paul Kowalski
Wake Show (World Premiere)
Writer: Aldo Miyashiro, Érika Villalobos, Abril Cárdenas
Director: Aldo Miyashiro
Vagabonds (Texas Premiere)
Writer: Philippe Dajoux, Rebecca Bitan
Director: Philippe Dajoux
Good (World Premiere)
Writer: Justin Etheredge, Nathan Allen
Director: Justin Etheredge
The Badger (North American Premiere)
Writer/Director: Kazem Mollaie
Two Deaths of Henry Baker (World Premiere)
Writer: Sebastian Pigott
Director: Felipe Mucci
Hard Luck Love Song (World Premiere)
Writer: Justin Corsbie, Craig Ugoretz, inspired by the song “Just Like Old Times” by Todd Snider
Director: Justin Corsbie
MARQUEE FEATURES
Dave Not Coming Back (US Premiere)
Director: Jonah Malak
Golden Arm (Texas Premiere)
Writer: Ann Marie Allison, Jenna Milly
Director: Maureen Bharoocha
COMEDY VANGUARD FEATURES
Death of a Telemarketer (Texas Premiere)
Writers/Director: Khaled Ridgeway
Reboot Camp (World Premiere)
Writer/Director: Ivo Raza
Film Fest (World Premiere)
Writer: Marshall Cook, Paul Alan Cope
Director: Marshall Cook
Standard (North American Premiere)
Writer/Director: Fernando González Gómez
Murder Bury Win (Texas Premiere)
Writer/Director: Michael Lovan
Time for Love (World Premiere)
Writer/Director: Miguel Velez
DARK MATTERS FEATURES
Blinders (North American Premiere)
Writer: Tyler Savage, Dash Hawkins
Director: Tyler Savage
The Blue Orchid (North American Premiere)
Writer: Carl Marott, Hans Frederik Jacobsen
Director: Carl Marott
The Arbors (Texas Premiere)
Writer: Clayton Witmer, Chelsey Cummings
Director: Clayton Witmer
The Eagle’s Nest (US Premiere)
Writer/Director: Olivier Assoua
DOCUMENTARY FEATURES
Open Field (World Premiere)
Director: Kathy Kuras
Re-Inventing The Wheel (Texas Premiere)
Director: Chelsea McEvoy
The Book Keepers (World Premiere)
Director: Phil Wall
Kusasa (Texas Premiere)
Director: Shane Vermooten
Wildflower (Texas Premiere)
Director: Matt Smukler
Baato (Texas Premiere)
Director: Lucas Millard
ALE (World Premiere)
Director: O’Neil Bürgi
TEXAS INDEPENDENT FEATURES
The Get Together (World Premiere)
Writer: Will Bakke, Michael B. Allen
Director: Will Bakke
Horton Foote: The Road To Home (World Premiere)
Director: Anne Rapp
Fugitive Dreams (US Premiere)
Writer: Jason Neulander, Caridad Svich
Director: Jason Neulander
Queens of Pain (World Premiere)
Director: Cassie Hay, Amy Winston
ABOUT AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL:
Austin Film Festival (AFF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to furthering the art, craft, and business of writers and filmmakers and recognizing their contributions to film, television, and new media. AFF champions the work of aspiring and established writers and filmmakers by providing unique cultural events and services, enhancing public awareness and participation, and encouraging dynamic and long-lasting community partnerships. AFF is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department and the Texas Commission on the Arts. All attendees and events are based on permitting schedules and are subject to change and/or cancellation without notice. For media credentials, please contact Kelly Lafargue at marketing@austinfilmfestival.com. Virtual Badges and Virtual Film Passes are available for purchase online or by phone at 1-800-310-FEST.
Sources: Hollywood Reporter / Deadline / Official website of Austin Film Festival /
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