ANNUAL REPORT — 2016 A GREAT LEAP FORWARD Austin Film Society 1901 East 51st Street Austin, TX 78723 512.322.0145 austinfilm.org TO OUR STAKEHOLDERS The Austin Film Society has long held the dream of our own full-time cinema, a local place where people can assemble to communally explore all that international film culture has to offer. This was the year we took action on that dream and signed a long-term lease with The Linc to create the AFS Cinema. Two full-time screens will support interesting, challenging and entertaining cinematic events, lovingly curated by our brilliant team of programmers. A kitchen, lobby bar and event hall will support community gatherings and provide extra income to supplement ticket sales. The AFS Cinema was not AFS’s only program expansion in fiscal 2016. We also opened Austin Public, a 7,000-square-foot television studio in East Austin open to anyone in Austin who wants to explore filmmaking. By virtue of a contract with the City of Austin, AFS is able to offer classes, studio space and equipment at an incredibly low barrier to entry, and distribute locally made work on our channels and website. Additionally, we are making progress on plans for building out the former National Guard Armory into a creative media hub with the help of the 2012 bonds. Our facilities team expects to have schematic designs to show in 2017 as well as a plan for obtaining the $3.5 million-plus needed to create a fully functioning building. Meanwhile at AFS, it’s business as usual, with our instructors delivering youth media programs at under-resourced schools in Austin and our programmers planning screenings at various beloved Austin theaters while the AFS Cinema is dark for renovations (November 2016 –Spring 2017). We have compiled the stories and statistics presented in this annual report to inspire our members and donors and make you proud. We look forward to connecting in 2017 at one of our three locations — Austin Studios, Austin Public, and the AFS Cinema — as well as around town. We appreciate our members, donors and customers for participating in all of these programs and supporting these initiatives, helping realize the vision that Austin will be synonymous with great film. With gratitude, Richard Linklater Rebecca Campbell AFS Artistic Director CEO 1 2016 IN REVIEW EXHIBITION ARTIST SERVICES 245 194 19,781 42 $105k 17 SCREENINgs FILMS SCREENED ATTENDEES AFS GRANTS DISTRIBUTED CasH FUNDS AWARDED FILMMAKERS AWARDED THROUGH THE AFS GRANT TRAVEL GRANTS TO ATTEND FILM FESTIVALS COMMUNITY MEDIA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 19,488 448 781 85 2,547 $70.8m HOURS OF FREE INSTRUCTION YOUTH PARTICIPANTS IN RECIPIENTS OF TOURS AT PRODUCTIONS AT JOBS CREATED THROUGH USE ECONOMIC IMPACT OFFERED TO afs FILM CLUB OUR FILM CLUB AND AUSTIN PUBLIC AND AUSTIN STUDIOS OF AUSTIN STUDIOS STUDENTS IN UNDER- SUMMER CAMPS AUSTIN STUDIOS RESOURCED AISD SCHOOLS 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 THE BEST LITTLE ART HOUSE IN TEXAS 5 AUSTIN’S HOME FOR GLOBAL CINEMA 9 NURTURING ARTISTS TOWARDS CAREER LEAPS 11 TEXAS FILMMAKERS IN ACTION 12 AUSTIN: A CREATIVE & CULTURAL CAPITAL 14 YOUNG VOICES, FUTURE ARTISTS 17 MEDIAMAKERS FIND THEIR VOICE 18 CELEBRATING TEXAS FILM 20 OPERATIONS & FINANCES 3 THE BEST LITTLE ART HOUSE IN TEXAS EARLY DAYS Richard Linklater and his cinephile friends started the Austin Film Society 31 years ago with the simple desire to show great films from around the world, important films that wouldn’t otherwise be shown in Austin. Their nomadic film series became a staple of Austin’s DIY creative culture and strengthened the local film community by fostering a love of global cinema. AFS AT THE MARCHESA In 2013, after years of nomadic programming, AFS made a decisive move to invest in a single-screen space as a partnership with the Marchesa Hall and Theater, located at the Linc complex in the Highland neighborhood. Through this move, the Film Society was able to double our offerings and grow our community. Today’s Film Society screenings bring together a community of filmmakers and film lovers and have become an essential element of Austin’s unique culture, a place where we honor and celebrate our city’s deep appreciation of film. THE AFS CINEMA In 2016, it looked like AFS might lose the space that had allowed our programs to flourish, until two of our most dedicated supporters stepped up to make the largest gift ever in our organization’s history. Their donation allowed AFS to establish our permanent future home for film screenings and take over the lease to the theater at the Linc this past spring. In November, we begin construction, and in the spring of 2017 the space reopens as a full-time repertory and art house cinema complete with a second screen, renovated lobby, and updated special event space. 4 AUSTIN’S HOME FOR GLOBAL CINEMA ↑ Founding AFS board member, professor and author Charles Ramírez Berg presented three works of Classical Mexican Cinema, including DISTINTO AMANECER, Mexico’s first film noir. ↑ World-class retrospectives graced the silver screen at the AFS Cinema, including series featuring the work of Chantal Akerman, Roberto Rossellini, Maurice Pialat, Wim Wenders and Blake Edwards. → 5 SCIENCE ON SCREEN AFS HOSTS NEW EUROPEAN FILMMAKERS AFS participated in the national Science on Screen program, In June, AFS welcomed four new European directors to Austin as in which we presented science-themed films and hosted post- part of our annual partnership with the Premiers Plans Festival screening discussions with practicing scientists and science of Angers, France. The filmmakers, who visited from France and professionals. Professors from UT’s physics department Belgium, shared the US premieres of their films to an enthusiastic explained how particle physics help us understand the origins of and welcoming audience. At a member mixer and moviemaker the universe after a screening of PARTICLE FEVER; two doctors dialogue, Austin filmmakers made connections with the visitors. discussed mystery illnesses and chemical sensitivity along with Todd Haynes’ SAFE; and the doctors of KUT’s “Two Guys on Your Head” debunked some of Hitchcock’s suggestions about memory loss after a screening of SPELLBOUND. AFS celebrated the release of Richard Linklater’s ‘80s college comedy, EVERYBODY WANTS SOME! with the director and cast in person. The after-party recreated scenes from the film, including an epic ping pong tournament. ↓ 6 “I can earnestly say that the AFS LEARN program has been one of the very best things about moving to Austin.” - James McNulty, Graduate Student THE LEARN PROGRAM PROVIDES FREE FILM TICKETS TO STUDENTS AFS’s LEARN program became a fundamental resource for STUDENTS ENROLLED IN students to get their film education on the big screen. The 638 LEARN PROGRAM program — established in 2014 when Sony Pictures Classics Co- President Michael Barker made a gift in honor of his fellow UT classmate and good friend Ed Lowry — provides free tickets to students at every regular AFS screening. TICKETS ISSUED THROUGH 1239 THE LEARN PROGRAM ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: ETHAN HAWKE Ethan Hawke was the subject of the Austin Film Society’s 2016 Artist Spotlight, which included an insightful Q&A with Hawke after a special screening of Sidney Lumet’s BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD. The following evening, Hawke returned to the AFS Cinema for an unforgettable conversation with frequent collaborator Richard Linklater. 7 AFS GRANT RECIPIENT DIRECTS PETE’S DRAGON FOR DISNEY “I owe my career David Lowery, a five-time AFS Grant recipient, returned to Austin in August with his biggest film yet, Disney’s summer hit PETE’S DRAGON. AFS presented a special preview screening to the Austin Film of the film with David and co-screenwriter Toby Halbrooks in attendance. To come full circle, the screening benefited the Society.” Austin Film Society’s grant program. “I owe my career to the AFS, so it’s great to be able to give back in this way and to help support the next wave of Texas filmmakers,” said Lowery. - David Lowery 8 NURTURING ARTISTS TOWARDS CAREER LEAPS WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM PIT STOP STUMPED Heather Courtney Yen Tan Robin Berghaus EVOLUTION OF A CRIMINAL NAKOM ST. NICK Darius Clark Monroe T.W. Pittman and Kelly Daniela Norris David Lowery THE SENSITIVES SLASH HELLION Drew Xanthopoulos Clay Liford Kat Candler IN THE SHADOWS COMPUTER CHESS KUMIKO, THE TREASURE HUNTER Alvaro Torres-Crespo Andrew Bujalski David Zellner 20 YEARS OF THE AFS GRANT AFS GRANTS Through the AFS Grant, we awarded $105,000 in cash in addition to $64,000 in goods DISTRIBUTED 42 IN 2016 and services to 42 projects and 36 filmmakers from across the state of Texas in 2016. Among this year’s AFS Grant recipients there were many newcomers, with two-thirds being first-time Grant recipients. AFS Artistic Director Richard Linklater led the CasH FUNDS establishment of the AFS Grant 20 years ago to address the lack of public funding for GRANTED IN THE emerging Texas artists. Since then, the Austin Film Society has awarded a total of $1.6 $105k 2016 CYCLE million in cash and $268,345 in goods and services to 503 projects. Past recipients include David Lowery, who went on to direct this year’s summer blockbuster, Disney’s PETE’S DRAGON, and Jeff Nichols, who went on to make the internationally celebrated AFS GRANTS DISTRIBUTED films MUD, MIDNIGHT SPECIAL and the much-anticipated LOVING. Additionally, other 503 SINCE 1996 previous recipients include Guggenheim Fellows, Gotham Award and Independent Spirit Award nominees and winners, and filmmakers whose AFS Grant-supported works have been in selection at Cannes, Berlin and Sundance. CasH FUNDS GRANTED $1.6m SINCE 1996 9 “There’s no more important moment in the life of a finished film than its premiere.