The Austin Film Festival furthers the art and craft of film making by inspiring and championing the work of screenwriters, filmmakers, and all artists who use the language of film to tell a story.
The Austin Film Festival is a not for profit 501c3 corporation.
2012 CONFERENCE: October 18-21
2012 FESTIVAL: October 18-25
Distinguished Screenwriter Award: Steven Zaillian Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award Recipient: Ron Howard - - - - - - - - For a sneak preview of the 2009 panel schedule click here. - - - - - - - - Click on a name below for a bio of each panelist. - - - - - - - - Marvin V. Acuna CEO and President of Rainmaker Films, AE Inc., Producer The Great Buck Howard, Two Days Paul Alvarado-Dykstra Central Texas Representative, TXMPA (Texas Motion Picture Alliance); Co-Founder, Fantastic Fest; VP, Villa Muse; Producer Garrett Basch Vice President, Film Rites Greg Beal Director, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’® Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Adam Beechen Writer, Cartoon Network’s Edgar and Ellen, Hi Hi Puffy Amiyumi, Ben Ten: Alien Force, The Batman, Rugrats, The Wild Thornberrys, X-Men: Evolution Jessica Bendinger Writer/Director Stick It, writer Aquamarine, Bring It On Richard Bever Producer/Co-President, Chill Films Maggie Biggar Vice President of Fortis Films Shane Black Writer/Director Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, writer Lethal Weapon, The Long Kiss Goodnight, The Last Boyscout David Boxerbaum APA Talent Melissa Breaux Manager, Washington Square Arts Kevin Brennan Billy Brown Writer The Haunting Hour, John Carpenter’s Body Bags, Night Visions, Goosebumps William Broyles, Jr. Writer Flags of Our Fathers, Jarhead, The Polar Express, Unfaithful, Cast Away, Apollo 13 Ashley Brucks Vice President of Production, Paramount Pictures Bryan Brucks Principal, Brucks Entertainment Curtis Burch President of Latitude Productions Robert Byington Writer/Director Harmony and Me Dominic Cancilla Production Manager Greg Carter Writer/Director My Big Phat Hip Hop Family, Resurrection: The J.R. Richard Story, Hurricane Katrina and the project named Desire Mark Coffey Editor Alabama Moon, Drop Dead Sexy, Levelland Bryanne Cooke AFF Young Filmmakers Program alum and USC film student Tom Copeland Professor at Texas State University, former director of the Texas Film Commission Stephen Crawford Literary Manager, Luber Roklin Entertainment James Crowley Writer/Filmmaker Tonia Davis Head of Development, Apparatus Ludek Drizhal Score Composer Alabama Moon, Badland, Simon Says Jay Edwards Writer/Director Monster Beach Party, Stomp! Shout! Scream!, which world premiered at ’05 AFF, Producer Aqua Teen Hunger Force Owen Egerton Screenwriter, Henchmen, Bobbie Sue Warren Etheredge Founder of The Warren Report, President and Head of Development for Lockspring Pictures Carlo Eugster Development Executive, Out of the Blue Entertainment Rebecca Ewing United Talent Agency Juliana Farrell Founder of Jersey Girl Films Paul Feig Creator/Writer of the Emmy-nominated Freaks and Geeks, Writer/Director I Am David, writer Unaccompanied Minors, director The Office, Mad Men, 30 Rock, Weeds Mary John Frank VP of Production Development, Polymorphic Pictures Dan French Writer/producer Dennis Miller, The Late Late Show, The Best Damn Sports Show Period Michael Fry President Ring Tales Greg Garrett Professor of Screenwriting and Film at Baylor University Eric Geadelmann 821 Entertainment Group Sacha Gervasi Screenwriter The Terminal, The Big Tease, Henry's Crime Jeff Grace Producer/Actor The Scenesters, Writer/Producer/Actor Excuse Me Beth Grant Actress Herpes Boy, Extract, No Country for Old Men Jeff Graup Manager, Graup Entertainment Michael Green Creator/Writer Kings, writer The Green Lantern, ‘10, Heroes, Everwood, Smallville
Andrew Halbreich Music Supervisor Tim Harms Producer The Vicious Kind James V. Hart Writer Hook, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, The Last Mimzy, August Rush David Hayter Writer Watchmen, X2, The Scorpion King, X-Men Pat Hazell Writer Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, My Life In 3D, Showtime’s Aspen Comedy Special, Co-Creator American Pie for NBC, special consultant on Seinfeld Peter Hedges Writer About a Boy, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Writer/Director Pieces of April, Dan in Real Life Joel Heller Producer Winnebago Man, Editor The Ringer Sally Helppie, Esq. Entertainment Lawyer, Tipton Jones; Founder and President of Sabbatical Pictures, LLC Cheryl Hines Director Serious Moonlight, Actress Curb Your Enthusiasm, Waitress, The Ugly Truth Clint Howard Actor Alabama Moon, Frost/Nixon, Apollo 13 Jessica Julius Creative Executive of Development, Disney Animation Studios Deena Kalai, Esq. Lawrence Kasdan* Writer/Director, The Accidental Tourist, Body Heat, The Big Chill, Writer, Raiders of the Last Ark Emily Kaye Music Supervisor Leah Keith Independent Producer Alma Kuttruff Line Producer Raising Arizona, Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink, Dazed and Confused Byron Lane Writer/Director Herpes Boy Richard Linklater Writer/Director Fast Food Nation, A Scanner Darkly, Before Sunset, Waking Life Damon Lindelof Producer Star Trek, Co-creator/Writer Lost, Writer Crossing Jordan Jimmy Lindsey Director of Photography, Alabama Moon Gary Lundgren Writer/Director Calvin Marshall
James Macak Assistant Professor Visual and Media Arts, Emerson College
Berndt Mader Writer/Director Five Time Champion
Outstanding Television Writer Award: Mitchell Hurwitz
*Lawrence Kasdan's appearance is sponsored by the Visiting Artists Program of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences®.
Maggie Malone Director of Creative Development, Disney Animation Studios John Markus Writer/Producer The Cosby Show, The Larry Sanders Show, Co-Creator A Different World, Lateline Hans Martin-Liebing Independent Producer Chris Mass Writer and Producer Chalk 2006 Austin Film Festival Narrative Feature and Audience Award Winner Whitney Matheson USA Today Laura Maurer Flower Films Tim McCanlies Director Alabama Moon, writer Secondhand Lions, The Iron Giant Brian McGreevy Screenwriter Chris McQuarrie Writer The Usual Suspects, The Way of the Gun, Valkyrie Alex Meenehan Creative Executive, Smoke House Pictures Jimmy Miller Writer Slugger (2007 AFF Adult/Family Screenplay Winner) Mike Million Writer/Director Tenure Esai Morales Actor Victor Moyers CCO, Reversal Films, Producer Mississippi Chicken, Skateland, Echotone Marcia Nasatir Reel Geezers, Longtime Agent, Pioneering Woman Production Executive, Producer The Big Chill and Hamburger Hill Gayla Nethercott Nethercott Agency Jeff Nichols Writer/Director Shotgun Stories Shan Nicholson Director Downtown Calling Julie O'Hora Writer The Pool Boys '09 JT O'Neal Screenwriter Au Pair, Kansas Roberto Orci Writer, Cowboys and Aliens, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Star Trek, Transformers, Mission: Impossible III Bonnie Orr Daniel Petrie, Jr. Writer Beverly Hills Cop, The Big Easy, Shoot to Kill, Writer/Director Framed Turk Pipkin writer/director One Peace at a Time, Nobelity Ron Pippin Owner and creative director, Shiny Object Mark Potts Director/Co-writer The Stanton Family Grave Robbery, Simmons on Vinyl Dominique Preyer Music Supervisor Gina Prince-Bythewood Writer/Director The Secret Life of Bees, Love & Basketball, writer Felicity, A Different World Steven Puri Executive Vice-President, Kurtzman/Orci Jeffrey Reiner Director, "Caprica" Al Reinert Writer Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within, “From Earth to the Moon,” Apollo 13 Craig and Brent Renaud Filmmakers Warrior Champions Frank Reynolds
Editor In the Bedroom, In Search of a Midnight Kiss, Cape of Good Hope, AFF Award Winner 2004 Graham Reynolds Composer Terry Rossio Co-writer Shrek, Deja-Vu, The Mask of Zorro, Pirates of the Caribbean franchise Danny Rubin S.F.W., Groundhog Day
Robert Saitzyk Co-writer/Director Godspeed Tom Schatz Professor, Radio-Television-Film Department at the University of Texas, Founding Director of the UT Film Institute Barry Schwartz Screenwriter Cole Selix Co-writer The Stanton Family Grave Robbery, Simmons on Vinyl Sarah Sharp Singer/Songwriter, Music Supervisor Andrew Shea Production Area Head Department of Radio-Television-Film, University of Texas at Austin Lee Shipman Screenwriter Tom Skerritt Actor M*A*S*H, Alien, A River Runs Through It, Steel Magnolias, Top Gun, Contact Holly Goldberg Sloan Writer Angels in the Outfield, The Big Green, Made in America Kirsten Smith The House Bunny, The Ugly Truth, Legally Blonde Ya'Ke Smith Writer/Director Hope’s War, The Second Coming - nominated for a Student Academy Award®, Change Bob Soderstrom Screenwriter, 2002 AFF Screenplay Competition Winner Jocelyn Stamat Creator/Writer/Director TurboDates webisodes Ben Steinbauer Director/Writer/Producer Winnebago Man Matt Summers Vice President, 821 Entertainment Don Swaynos Filmmaker and Editor Beau Thorne Screenwriter Max Payne, Hiding in Time Nicole Torre Director Houston, We Have a Problem Bill True III Screenwriter, 2005 Austin Film Festival Narrative Film Jury Winner - Runaway John Turman Writer Fantastic Four II: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Ben 10: Alien Swarm Ben Velez Producer/Music supervisor Downtown Calling Gary Walker Visual FX Supervisor and President of TexFX Matthew Weiner Creator/Writer "Mad Men," writer "The Sopranos," "Dexter" Herschel Weingrod Writer Trading Places, Brewster’s Millions, Producer Falling Down Michael Weller, screenwriter Spoils of War, Lost Angels, Ragtime, Hair Dana Wheeler-Nicholson Actress "Friday Night Lights,” “Sex and the City,” Fletch Mike White Producer/Actor Gentlemen Broncos, writer The School of Rock, The Good Girl, Orange County Karl Williams, Writer 2005 AFF Comedy Screenplay Winner and Sci-Fi Competition Winner - Punctured, and 2005 Burnt Orange Screenplay Winner - Super Ego Dawn Wolfrom Producer The Perfect Man, Never Again, Accidental It Girl Boaz Yakin Writer/Director Love in Death, Remember the Titans, A Price Above Rubies Alexander F. Young Vice President of Development at Josephson Entertainment
From the 2008 Writers Who Direct panel with Eric Red, Shane Black, Bryan Bertino, John Lee Hancock and moderator Drew Yanno.
Moderators:
Steven Arvanites, Founder of NYCscreenwriter.org
Aadip Desai, President of Northwest Screenwriters Guild
Andrew Dignan, Producer, Your Half Media Group
Greg Garrett, Professor, Department of English, Baylor University
Chris Holland, B-Side Entertainment, author Film Festival Secrets
Stuart Kelban, Department of Radio-Television-Film University of Texas at Austin
Andy Langer Contributing Editor/Writer, Esquire
J. Kevin Smith Editor One Eye Peeled, My Name is Buttons, Yeti in the City
Fred Strype Professor / Chair Screenwriting, Filmmaking/New Media Arts Program at Sarah Lawrence College; Adjunct Assistant Professor Columbia University – Graduate Film Program
Jane Sumner Journalist/Former Entertainment Editor for the Dallas Morning News
Jesse Trussell, B-Side Entertainment
Dawn Wiercinski, independent producer
Drew Yanno, Adjunct Associate Professor, Film Studies Department, Boston College, author of The Third Act: Writing a Great Ending to Your Screenplay (Continuum 2006)
* Schedules Permitting
Mark Your Calendars!
AFF 2012, October 18-25
AFF 2013, October 24-31
AFF 2014, October 23-30
AFF 2015, October 22-29