Festival Season

Austin Film Festival reels out full lineup for 30th anniversary edition

The Bikeriders, starring Austin Butler, will be one of the marquee films during the 30th annual Austin Film Festival.

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

The 30th annual Austin Film Festival and Writers Conference, taking place October 26-November 2, will bring the goods for its landmark season, featuring a number of Oscar-hopeful feature films, short films from up-and-coming filmmakers, and screenwriters celebrating the recent end of the writer's strike.

The festival, which will have screenings at the Paramount Theatre, Stateside at the Paramount, Galaxy Theatres, and elsewhere, will feature nearly 60 feature films in total, including 18 world premieres and two North American premieres.

Among the big films aiming for glory at the festival and beyond are opening night film Saltburn from writer/director Emerald Fennell, starring Jacob Elordi, Barry Keoghan, and Rosamund Pike; The Bikeriders from writer/director Jeff Nichols, starring Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, and Tom Hardy; The Holdovers from writer/director Alexander Payne, starring Paul Giamatti; and closing night film Day of the Fight from writer/director Jack Huston, starring Michael C. Pitt, Steve Buscemi, Ron Perlman, and Joe Pesci.

Fennell, Nichols, and Huston (making his feature film debut) will be among a number of filmmakers in attendance at the festival. Other big names making appearances include Brian Helgeland, Paul Reiser, Lena Headey, and Cord Jefferson.

Other notable screenings will include a costumed retrospective of Iron Man 3, with writer/director Shane Black leading a discussion on the film’s creation post screening; and the pilot episode of the upcoming Paramount+ original series, Lawmen: Bass Reeves, from executive producers Taylor Sheridan, Chad Feehan, and star David Oyelowo.

Coming soon after the end of WGA writer's strike, the Writer's Conference portion of the festival will take on a deeper meaning this year. Sharing insight into their projects and more will be screenwriters like Reiser, Damon Lindelof, Lauren Shuler Donner, Lee Eisenberg, Celine Song, Karyn Kusama, Joanna Calo, and more.

Jefferson, who has worked on Watchmen, Succession, The Good Place, and Master of None, will be presented with the inaugural Writer’s Writer award. His new film, American Fiction, is also playing at the festival.

Short films will also be in abundance at the festival, with 16 separate programs featuring 4-10 films each. The different blocks include ones focused on animated films, those filmed in Texas, documentaries, digital shorts, and more. David Gow, Jr. (son of CultureMap's Gow Media Chairman David Gow), stars alongside writer/director Tyler Martin in the short film Candice, part of Shorts Program 3: Just You and Me.

Passes for the festival start at $80, with options all the way up to $7,000, depending on how involved you want to be. Individual screening tickets are available on a limited basis. Passes/tickets can be purchased at austinfilmfestival.com.

movies festivals film

The Mead-up

Medieval village pops up near Austin for days of immersive role-playing

hynafol.com

The Grand Gathering of Hynafol takes place annually at the Sherwood Forest Faire grounds.

Hark! A roving band of role players approaches. The Grand Gathering of Hynafol, an immersive fantasy summit, is coming to the Sherwood Forest Faire grounds in McDade, Texas, from November 6-10.

This Medieval weekend escape makes several promises including a temporary escape from 2024 politics as well as an introduction to LARPing, or Live Action Role Playing. This broad term could apply to anything from taking your visit to the Renaissance Faire super seriously to attending a murder mystery party, and much more in between.

Essentially, it's playing make-believe with an adult understanding of relationships, strategy, consequences, and yes, even politics, although they're usually fictional and set hundreds of years ago. It's also applying that inner-child spirit to playing with access to an adult budget, so the costumes, props, and venues are a lot more exciting.

The Grand Gathering takes place at the site the Austin area's annual Renaissance Faire, which returns from March 1 to April 21, 2025. This off-season event is organized by the Sherwood team and LARPing group The Voyage North.

Attendees will create a character, don a costume, and participate in "combat," dancing, shopping side quests, and much more. Unlike at a standard Ren Faire, people are expected to interact with each other often and in character. Hynafol presents a narrative from start to finish to help inspire and tie all the games and interactions together. A detailed YouTube video by LARPing.org covers the experience for prospective attendees.

Organizers assure first-timers that this is the perfect place to get their feet wet, speaking in an introductory video to Dungeons and Dragons and other tabletop role playing game (TTRPG) players, Ren Faire-goers, and even just fans of fantasy fiction. In fact, it sounds like most Hynafol attendees join because they saw videos from the event online — not some fancy network of role-players who know each other or maintain complicated backstories.

This is good news considering the ticketing circumstances: all-inclusive passes are sold out, but tickets are still available to stop by all events over two or five days, plus a packing list, discounts to assemble a costume, and access to the community throughout the year via a Discord server and monthly Zoom calls.

Attendees using the Weekend Pass and Do-it-yourself Package will still camp at Hynafol, but they'll have to use their own equipment. They can bring their own decorum (Medieval-style) tent to stay on the grounds, or a modern tent to stay in a separate campsite off the main grounds. They can also purchase a meal plan add-on, pack their own food, or purchase food from a vendor during lunch or late-night meals.

More information and tickets ($197-497) are available at hynafol.com.

renaissance faire camping

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Austin Film Festival reels out full lineup for 30th anniversary edition

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