2024 Austin Film Festival & Writers Conference

Screening Date, Time, and Location to be announced soon!

Blitz
(UK, 114 MIN)

Writer/Director: Steve McQueen
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Paul Weller, Elliott Heffernan, Harris Dickinson

Sir Steve McQueen’s “Blitz” follows the epic journey of George (Elliott Heffernan), a 9-year-old boy in World War II London whose mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan) sends him to safety in the English countryside. George, defiant and determined to return home to his mom and his grandfather Gerald (Paul Weller) in East London, embarks on an adventure, only to find himself in immense peril, while a distraught Rita searches for her missing son.

Screening Date, Time, and Location to be announced soon!

Maria
(USA, 123 MIN)

Writer: Steven Knight
Director: Pablo Larraín
Cast: Angelina Jolie, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Alba Rohrwacher, Pierfrancesco Favino, Valeria Golino

Academy Award®-winner Angelina Jolie is Maria Callas, one of the most iconic performers of the 20th century in acclaimed director Pablo Larrain's operatic MARIA. The film follows the American-Greek soprano as she retreats to Paris after a glamorous and tumultuous life in the public eye. MARIA reimagines the legendary soprano in her final days as the diva reckons with her identity and life.

Screening Date, Time, and Location to be announced soon!

Nickel Boys
(USA, 140 MIN)

Writer: RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes
Director: RaMell Ross
Cast: Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Daveed Diggs, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor

Elwood Curtis’s college dream shatters alongside a two-lane Florida highway. Bearing the brunt of an innocent misstep, he’s sentenced to the netherworld of Nickel Academy, a brutal reformatory sunk deep in the Jim Crow South. He encounters another ward, the seen-it-all Turner. The two Black teens strike up an alliance: Turner dispensing fundamental tips for survival, Elwood, clinging to his optimistic worldview. Backdropped by the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement, Elwood and Turner’s existence appear worlds away from Rev. Martin Luther King’s burnished oratory. Despite Nickel’s brutality, Elwood strives to hold onto his humanity, awakening a new vision for Turner.

Screening Date, Time, and Location to be announced soon!

Nightbitch
(USA, 100 MIN)

Writer: Marielle Heller
Director: Marielle Heller
Cast: Amy Adams, Scoot McNairy, Arleigh Patrick Snowden, Emmett James Snowden, Zoë Chao, Mary Holland, Archana Rajan, Jessica Harper

A woman (Amy Adams) pauses her career to be a stay-at-home mom, but soon her new domesticity takes a surreal turn.

Screening Date, Time, and Location to be announced soon!

September 5
(USA, 95 MIN)

Writer: Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum
Director: Tim Fehlbaum
Cast: Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin, Leonie Benesch

"September 5" unveils the decisive moment that forever changed media coverage and continues to impact live news today. Set during the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics, the film follows an American Sports broadcasting team that quickly adapted from sports reporting to live coverage of the Israeli athletes taken hostage. Through this lens, "September 5" provides a fresh perspective on the live broadcast seen globally by an estimated one billion people at the time. At the heart of the story is Geoff, a young and ambitious producer striving to prove himself to his boss, the legendary TV executive Roone Arledge. Together with Marianne, a German interpreter, Geoff unexpectedly takes the helm of the live coverage. As narratives shift, time ticks away, and conflicting rumors spread, with the hostages' lives hanging in the balance, Geoff grapples with tough decisions while confronting his own moral compass.

Screening Date, Time, and Location to be announced soon!

The Room Next Door
(USA, 110 MIN)

Writer: Pedro Almodóvar
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Cast: Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton

Ingrid (Julianne Moore) and Martha (Tilda Swinton) were close friends in their youth, when they worked together at the same magazine. Ingrid went on to become an autofiction novelist while Martha became a war reporter. Eventually, they were separated by the circumstances of life. After years of being out of touch, they meet again in an extreme but strangely sweet situation.

After one long year, Austin Film Festival is thrilled to welcome you back to its 31st annual celebration of storytelling through film, television, theatre, and new media. Join AFF staff and special guests for Opening Remarks to kick off the Conference, prepare for the week ahead, and get information about last-minute additions, schedule changes, and special announcements.

Must have an AFF Producers Badge for entry.