For the past 23 years, The Austin Film Festival has celebrated films from all over Texas, as well as films from all over the world. Known as “The Writer’s Festival,” AFF focuses on the screenwriter’s contribution to the film, who are typically overlooked in the process. While there are plenty of panel discussions, script-readings, and events, here are just a handful of what we’re looking forward to this year.
Edge Of Seventeen
While Hailee Steinfeld impressed critics and audiences worldwide with her portrayal of Mattie Ross in 2010’s remake of True Grit, she truly comes into her own here with her portrayal of Nadine, a perpetually awkward and alienate teenage girl. Writer/director Kelly Fremon Craig crafts a poignant, hilarious, and undeniably touching film about what it means to come of age in an ambiguously desensitized modern world.
We Are X
Director Stephen Kijak crafts this musical biopic about the Japanese heavy metal band X Japan and their monstrous cultural impact. X Japan’s drummer and bandleader, Yoshiki, serves as our window into X Japan’s incredible rise to the top, how they challenged the fundamentals of Japanese society, and the tragedy that earmarked their career.
Middle Man
A testimony to the power of determination and circumstance, Jim O’Heir, best known as office pariah Jerry/Gerry in NBC’s Parks and Recreation, stars as Lenny, a straight-shooting accountant who dreams of a career in stand-up comedy. On a whim, he decides to go to Las Vegas to try and make it happen, only to have his plans derailed by a hitchhiker, a heckler, and a body count.
Suburban Cowboy
Based on real-life events, Suburban Cowboy tells the story of a Long Island drug dealer who ends up way over his head when one of his associates ends up robbing a Serbian mobster. Writer/co-director Ryan Colucci crafts a stylish and suspenseful modern noir thriller.
Brave New Jersey
Billed as an “alien invasion movie where the aliens never show up,” Brave New Jersey focuses on the small town of Lullaby, NJ that fateful Halloween night back in 193X when Orson Welles performed his War of the Worlds radio broadcast. Stricken with panic, the town’s mayor, Clark (Tony Hale) scrambles to try and keep everyone’s sanity intact. Anna Camp, Dan Bakkedahl, and Heather Burns round out the film’s impressive ensemble cast.
