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“If you don’t care about money and you just want to do something cool, you can do it.”

When Richard Linklater thinks back on the Austin Film Society (Afs), now celebrating its 40th anniversary, it all boils down to that. A powerful example of creating something cool that you love and then the money might come later, Afs has given over $2.7 million in grants to filmmakers and boasts 20 acres of studio space with its Austin Studios — where productions have created 37,000 jobs and over $2.6 billion of economic impact for Austin.

On the evening of March 6, Afs will be celebrating its 40th anniversary at the annual event it hosts, the Texas Film Awards, which also touts 25 years of inducting Texans from the film and TV world into the Texas Film Hall of Fame.

In terms of swank and style, Afs has come a long way. But according to its founder, Linklater,...

“Fast and Furious” star Michelle Rodriguez, “Fargo” and “Alien: Earth” showrunner Noah Hawley and the founders of the Alamo Drafthouse exhibition chain will be feted in March at the 25th annual Texas Film Awards, presented by the Austin Film Society.

The event is set for March 6 at Distribution Hall in Austin. Alamo Drafthouse founders Tim League and Karrie League will be inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame with Rodriguez and Hawley as part of the ceremony.

Alamo Drafthouse founders Karrie League and Tim League (Photo credit: Alison Narro)

Rodriguez’s award will be presented by Lone Star state filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, who has worked with Rodriguez on 2019’s “Alita: Battle Angel,” 2010’s “Machete” and 2013’s “Machete Kills.” The actress is known for her long run on Universal Pictures’ “Fast and Furious” franchise, among other roles.

Hawley is a prolific writer, showrunner and novelist who has spearheaded FX’s...

No animated movie dominated 2024 quite like Pixar’s “Inside Out 2.” The sequel, which saw lead character Riley, now a teenager, dealing with brand-new emotions like Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), Envy (Ayo Edebiri) and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), was an instant sensation. The follow-up to 2015’s “Inside Out” (which won the Best Animated Feature Oscar) is now the top-grossing animated movie of all time and the eighth highest-grossing film ever and has appeared on a number of year-end best-of lists. For director Kelsey Mann, the only emotion he’s feeling is joy.

“To have the response be what it was for this film was beyond what I had hoped for,” Mann said. “I hoped that people would go to the theaters and see it. And man, did they show up. It was apparent from that first weekend that people were excited to see the next chapter in Riley’s life.

Linklater's filmography spans iconic modern classics, including Dazed and Confused and Boyhood, inspiring filmmakers for decades. Hit Man showcases Linklater's genius, offering a love story with Powell's challenging role and sharp writing that defies expectations. From groundbreaking animations like A Scanner Darkly to romantic masterpieces like Before Midnight, Linklater's diverse work continues to captivate audiences.

Richard Linklaters newest film Hit Man is the latest in the director's expansive filmography, but which of his movies is the best? The director and writer of many landmark pieces of modern cinema, such as the cinematic classics Dazed and Confused, the Before trilogy, Boyhood, and Everybody Wants Some!!, his first collaboration with Powell. Linklater was also an instrumental figure in the independent film movements of the 1990s. His innovations in animation and narrative continue to inspire filmmakers across the decades.

Born in Texas, Richard Linklater developed a love for cinema in his early twenties.

Two days after ”Everything Everywhere All at Once“ won seven Oscars, including best picture, the SXSW Film Festival, where Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s movie launched last year, has announced its own awards. To be clear, “Eeaao” was a studio-backed opening night premiere (not one of the smaller movies launched in competition at the indie-focused fest), but you can still feel the excitement in Austin around the landmark Oscar win. After all, SXSW was the first festival to take Daniels seriously, awarding them top prize for their Battles music video (“My Machines”) in 2012.

Will any of the movies or directors screening here this year go on to change film history?

With five days still to go at SXSW, the juries convened to present the winners.

Narrative feature honors went to writer-director Paris Zarcilla’s “Raging Grace.” On the surface, the tense story of an undocumented Filipina house cleaner and...

May on the Criterion Channel will be good to the auteurs. In fact they’re giving Richard Linklater better treatment than the distributor of his last film, with a 13-title retrospective mixing usual suspects—the Before trilogy, Boyhood, Slacker—with some truly off the beaten track. There’s a few shorts I haven’t seen but most intriguing is Heads I Win/Tails You Lose, the only available description of which calls it a four-hour (!) piece “edited together by Richard Linklater in 1991 from film countdowns and tail leaders from films submitted to the Austin Film Society in Austin, Texas from 1987 to 1990. It is Linklater’s tribute to the film countdown, used by many projectionists over the years to cue one reel of film after another when switching to another reel on another projector during projection.” Pair that with 2008’s Inning by Inning: A Portrait of a Coach and your completionism will be on-track.

Films will continue to be available on festival platform until March 21.

James Morosini’s I Love My Dad starring Patton Oswalt and Morosini has won SXSW 2022’s Narrative Feature Competition and Rosa Ruth Boesten’s Master Of Light the documentary feature competition.

In other juried and special awards announced on Tuesday night (15) Antonia Campbell-Hughes’s It is In Us All earned special jury recognition for extraordinary cinematic vision. All 2022 film categories will be eligible for category-specific audience awards which will be announced next week.

“It was extraordinary to gather together in person again after so long and we are so...

IndieWire parent company Penske Media’s P-mrc Holdings has invested in SXSW, the robust set of conferences and festivals that have rocked Austin for 34 years. The partnership aligns P-mrc as a long-term partner and SXSW shareholder, with the company utilizing SXSW as an opportunity for all of its media brands.

The essence of the events, and its management, are expected to remain intact while expanding SXSW’s potential for new events and business models. SXSW and P-mrc are now developing the March 2022 event in Austin. P-mrc is a joint venture between Penske Media Corporation and MRC, whose holdings include Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Rolling Stone, Variety, and Vibe.

P-mrc will reportedly take a 50% stake in the business, which last hosted its physical edition in 2019. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the news.

“It has been an incredibly tough period for small businesses, SXSW included,” said SXSW CEO...

The SXSW Film Festival has announced the winners of its juried and special awards on Friday. In a year mostly free of major studio features and established talents, the 2021 winners class is made up of indie outings and rising stars to watch. Top Grand Jury awards went to Narrative Feature Competition winner “The Fallout” from director Megan Park, which was picked up by Universal late last year, and Jeremy Workman’s documentary “Lily Topples the World.”

The festival virtually screened 75 features, 84 shorts and music videos, 11 episodic selections, 20 virtual cinema projects, 14 title design entries, and 34 special events. Fifteen juries — which included IndieWire’s own Kate Erbland, plus industry heavy-hitters like Jason Blum and Sheila Nevins — bestowed awards to over three dozen titles.

The all-virtual festival wraps Saturday at 11:59 p.m. Ct; Audience Award voting continues for 24 hours after that. Those awards will be announced on sxsw.com on Tuesday.

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The SXSW Film Festival has revealed its Jury and Special Award winners of the 28th edition of the fest, which took place virtually this week. The Megan Park-directed high school shooting tragedy The Fallout took the top award in the Narrative Feature category, while Jeremy Workman’s portrait of Lily Hevesh, Lily Topples the World, won in the Documentary Feature category.

Also on the narrative side, Kelley Kali and Angelique Molina’s I’m Fine Thanks for Asking) won a Special Jury Recognition for Multi-hyphenate Storyteller. Martin Edralin’s Islands also took home a Special Jury Recognition for Breakthrough Performance for actor Rogelio Balagtas.

In the docu feature competition Rachel Fleit’s Introducing, Selma Blair was honored with Special Jury Recognition for Exceptional Intimacy in Storytelling. Meanwhile, Nicholas Bruckman’s Not Going Quietly scored Special Jury Recognition for Humanity in Social Action.

“We are so honored by the 2021 filmmakers...

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference and Festivals has announced its 2020 Jury and Special Award winners for this year’s film festival, despite it having been cancelled due to the spread of the coronavirus earlier this month.

The SXSW Film Festival had several Special Awards juries set up, but after the cancellation, the organization expanded to the juried competitions.

“When we curated and announced our slate for the 2020 SXSW Film Festival, filled with an array of wonderful films we were excited to share with our unique audience, we had no idea of the unprecedented impact that Coronavirus would have on all our lives,” Janet Pierson, Director of Film, said. “Our hearts were broken for all the filmmakers who invested so much time and talent in their work, hoping for a transformative experience at our event. We’re honored to at least be able to present our juried and special awards.

Exclusive: Spy Kids franchise and Predators producer Elizabeth Avellán and Full Tilt Boogie and Kicking & Screaming producer Rana Joy Glickman are opening the doors to their new global multimedia production company Tealhouse Entertainment which will develop and produce content across horror thrillers, comedies, dramas, docs and auteur-driven narratives, including films from underrepresented voices. Tealhouse will have offices in Austin, TX and Los Angeles, CA. The first pics that are being produced under Tealhouse include supernatural horror feature The Whistler, an English-language reimagining of the award-winning South American film El Silbón: Orígenes. Gisberg Bermúdez, who co-wrote, directed, co-produced and edited the original movie, will direct the new pic. There’s also Quincy Rose’s Margaux From Manhattan, the story of a renowned memoirist from Manhattan who is forced to move to Brooklyn after a nasty divorce turns her world upside-down. Grappling with her new identity and sexual freedom, Margaux once again finds herself coming of age.

There are few filmmakers with more video essays, articles, and other materials related to their careers than Quentin Tarantino, so what could a new documentary possibly offer? Well, Tara Wood’s QT8: The First Eight actually includes interviews with some of the director’s closet collaborators, including Samuel L. Jackson, Christoph Waltz, Tim Roth, Lucy Liu, Zoë Bell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jamie Foxx, Eli Roth, Robert Forster, Diane Kruger, Michael Madsen, Kurt Russell, Louis Black, Richard Gladstein, Scott Speigel, Stacey Sher, and more.

Set for a release this December, the first trailer has now arrived and while it seems like it could err on the side of complete hagiography, hopefully the full documentary will dive deeper into what makes his work stand out. The trailer, of course, is well-timed with the theatrical re-release of an expanded Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, which features an additional 10 minutes and is now in over 1,000 theaters starting today.

Quentin Tarantino and his first 8 movies are the subject of QT8: The First Eight. The documentary has just revealed the first trailer and it gives brief, albeit entertaining, glimpse into what we can all expect. Working with Tarantino is anything but orthodox and the several interviews with the director's collaborators over the years cements this fact. Zoe Bell, Louis Black, Bruce Dern, Robert Forster, Jamie Foxx, Richard Gladstein, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Diane Kruger, Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Eli Roth, Tim Roth, Kurt Russell, Stacey Sher, Scott Spiegel, and Christoph Waltz all sing the praises of Tarantino in the doc.

QT8: The First Eight takes viewers on a journey through the first 8 wildly divergent movies that Quentin Tarantino has helmed, narrated by the actors and collaborators who have worked with him. From Reservoir Dogs through The Hateful Eight, from the video store to the fall of Harvey Weinstein,...

"There will always be blood, brilliance and controversy." Wood Ent. has debuted an official trailer for the documentary QT8: The First Eight, a film about Quentin Tarantino's career and the first eight films he made - starting with Reservoir Dogs in 1992. This is made by the same filmmaker who bought us 21 Years: Richard Linklater about, obviously, Linklater's career. With Tarantino's newest film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood arriving to praise and controversy, filmmaker Tara Wood takes us on a journey through the first 8 wildly divergent films that Tarantino has helmed, narrated by the actors & collaborators who have worked with him. Featuring interviews with: Zoe Bell, Louis Black, Bruce Dern, Robert Forster, Jamie Foxx, Richard Gladstein, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Diane Kruger, Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Eli Roth, Tim Roth, Kurt Russell, Stacey Sher, Scott Spiegel, and Christoph Waltz. Quite a line-up. Enjoy the trailer below. Here's...

You know you’ve made it as a filmmaker when they’re making films about you. After a big year bolstered by the release of his already-beloved awards contender “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Quentin Tarantino has now become the subject of yet another film. Tara Wood tackles Qt’s filmography, legacy, and influence in the wide-ranging “QT8: The First Eight,” which (appropriately enough) digs into the first eight films made by the American auteur.

Per the film’s official synopsis, it will take audiences “on a journey through the first 8 wildly divergent films that Tarantino has helmed, narrated by the actors and collaborators who have worked with him. From ‘Reservoir Dogs’ through ‘The Hateful Eight,’ from the video store to the fall of Harvey Weinstein, QT8 digs deep into the story of the most important and controversial filmmaker of our time.”

The film’s zippy first trailer hints...

In one of the intermittent revealing moments in “QT8: Quentin Tarantino, The First Eight,” a documentary about the films of Quentin Tarantino that’s like a familiar but tasty sundae for Quentin fans, we see Tarantino on the set of “Pulp Fiction,” shooting the iconic dance contest at Jack Rabbit Slim’s. As John Travolta and Uma Thurman gyrate to “You Never Can Tell,” staring each other down as they do the twist with that two-fingers-across-the-eyes gesture that I first saw Adam West do, in full cowl and costume, on an episode of “Batman,” Tarantino stands next to the camera, a few feet from his actors, and he’s dancing, too. It’s not some big show-offy director thing. He just seems like an overgrown kid, a starstruck bystander who couldn’t help but join in.

Directors tend to be stern taskmasters, and Tarantino is famous for tolerating no nonsense on his sets.

Wood Entertainment has completed sales for France, Germany, Turkey, Italy and Russia for “QT8: The First Eight,” a documentary that chronicles Quentin Tarantino’s first eight films.

The first buyers’ screening took place on Sunday at the Cannes Film Festival. Tarantino’s ninth film, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” premiered at Cannes on Tuesday night.

Producer Tara Wood completed “QT8: The First Eight” after a protracted legal battle to regain the rights following a production deal with the Weinstein Company back in 2016. The screening in Cannes was the first time potential distributors saw the final cut of the film.

The documentary profiles Tarantino’s first eight movies through interviews with his casts, producers and industry friends, including Zoe Bell, Bruce Dern, Robert Forster, Jamie Foxx, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Diane Kruger, Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Eli Roth, Tim Roth, Kurt Russell and Christoph Waltz, plus...

The story of Country Music Hall of Fame duo the Louvin Brothers will be told in a new biopic starring Ethan Hawke, according to Variety. Satan Is Real, currently in development, costars Hawke and Alessandro Nivola as sibling singers Charlie and Ira Louvin.

Best known for their 1958 album Satan Is Real, with its outrageous hellscape album cover, the Louvin Brothers were a study in conflict. While delivering songs like “The Christian Life” and “The Kneeling Drunkard’s Plea,” the siblings often quarreled and lived on the edge, particularly Ira, whose...

Fresh off of its world premiere at SXSW, Ben Masters’ documentary The River and the Wall has released its first full trailer. Gravitas announced today that the film will be released in theaters in the U.S. and Canada and On Demand May 3 with a one night preview in nearly 100 theaters on May 2.

As exclusively reported by Deadline, The River and the Wall was acquired by Gravitas Ventures ahead of its premiere at SXSW. The documentary premiered to a standing ovation at its premiere at the Austin-based fest with newly announced presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke making an appearance during the Q&A. O’Rourke also appears in the film (as seen in the trailer above) alongside sitting Republican Congressman Will Hurd as well as Jay Kleberg, Filipe DeAndrade, Heather Mackey, and Austin Alvarado.

Masters started filming The River and The Wall two years ago right when the “build that...

Nothing Stays The Same: The Story of The Saxon Pub functions as both a local interest story and something deserving of greater attention. The battle to keep Austin weird is very real as skyrocketing property values and a tech boom have priced out artists that have been responsible for making the city what it is. The story, thankfully, has a happy ending as one of the film’s executive producers, Greg Keller–a real estate agent who feels partly responsible for “selling Austin”–decides to preserve its funkiness.

Directed by Jeff Sandmann, Nothing Stays The Same is a minor documentary with excellent, occasionally transcendent performances by Austin luminaries like Bob Schneider, The Resentments, and Patrice Pike who graced the stage of the South Lamar Boulevard pub. Those of that have been making the trek to Austin for SXSW for the last ten years know have rapidly that neighborhood has changed.

The SXSW Film Festival unveiled the 2019 Jury and Special Award winners for 26th edition of the fest at Austin’s Paramount Theater with Josephine Mackerras-directed drama Alice winning in the Narrative Feature Competition and Waad al-Kateab & Edward Watts’s For Sama taking top honors for the Documentary Feature Competition. Short films and other juried sections, including Film Design Awards were also presented.

Alice follows the titular character, a happy and perfect wife and mother whose life is turned upside down when she discovers her husband is living a secret life. She is left abandoned, financially ruined but fights back as she goes on a journey of self-discovery. For Sama tells the epic story of a young woman’s journey through love, war and motherhood across five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria.

SXSW also announced Special Awards including the Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship, the Vimeo Staff Picks Award,...

The SXSW Film Festival has announced the winners of the its Narrative and Documentary Competitions. The winners were unveiled during a ceremony at Austin’s Paramount Theater on Tuesday, alongside several other prizes for features and shorts from across the the SXSW lineup.

Among this year’s big Narrative Feature entries is Grand Jury winner “Alice,” Josephine Mackerras’ story of a woman’s choice to become a sex worker to support her husband and child. “For Sama,” this year’s Documentary Feature winner, follows a Syrian filmmaker as she starts a family amidst the backdrop of the country’s ongoing political turmoil.

Previous SXSW winners include Lena Dunham’s “Tiny Furniture” and “Marwencol.” Last year, the top prizes went to “Thunder Road” and “People’s Republic of Desire.”

Audience awards will be announced closer to the conclusion of the festival. The full list of Tuesday evening’s winners can be...

The Church of the SubGenius may not be a household name across the country, but beginning in the early 1970s, a pair of enterprising Texas-area satirists turned one wildly overt religious experiment into a genuine phenomenon. That evolving story forms the foundation of “J.R. ‘Bob’ Dobbs and the Church of the SubGenius,” a documentary that’s set to play this month’s SXSW Film Festival.

The film is the directorial debut of Sandy K. Boone, who’s served as an executive producer on films like the Ethan Hawke-directed “Blaze,” Keith Maitland’s recounting of the 1966 University of Texas-Austin shooting “Tower,” and Louis Black and Karen Bernstein’s 2016 cinematic profile “Richard Linklater — Dream is Destiny.”

The “Church of the SubGenius” doc features interviews with a number of notable Texans and people who have memories of the church, including Linklater himself, plus Nick Offerman, Penn Jillette, Gerald Casale, and the late Margaret Moser.

Director Tara Wood has successfully reclaimed the rights to the authorized Quentin Tarantino documentary feature21 Years: Quentin Tarantino. The film, a celebration of Tarantino's works-to-date, looks at the passion behind the worldwide box office dominator. The lightening rod that is Tarantino's career illuminates the discussion of changes in the industry.

In 2017, Wood, co-director of 2014's acclaimed 21 Years: Richard Linklater, asked The Weinstein Co. to release the documentary following the onslaught of sexual harassment allegations against company founder Harvey Weinstein. "TWC should respectfully release us from our deal," Wood said in a statement at the time, "To allow the project to be handled with the care and consideration it, Mr. Quentin Tarantino, and all the participants deserve." The company refused, and Wood embarked on a prolonged legal battle.

Now, Wood is proud to announce that the film has returned to the creative team at Wood Entertainment, and is ready to find the right home for distribution.

Ben Dickey, the musician and actor who inhabited the role of mercurial singer-songwriter Blaze Foley in the biopic Blaze last year, is set to release his full-length LP A Glimmer on the Outskirts for SexHawkeBlack Records on March 8th. The boutique Americana label based in Austin is a joint venture with Nashville’s Dualtone Records and was co-founded by filmmaker Ethan Hawke, Austin businessman Louis Black and musician-actor Charlie Sexton, who portrayed Townes Van Zandt in the film.

Produced by Sexton, Glimmer is the follow-up to the Blaze soundtrack, which...

Filmmaker and actor Ethan Hawke, musician-actor Charlie Sexton and Louis Black, co-founder of the Austin Chronicle and South by Southwest festival, have announced the launch of SexHawkeBlack, a label based in Austin and an imprint of the Nashville-based music company Dualtone.

As their first artist, the founders have signed actor and musician Ben Dickey, who portrayed singer Blaze Foley in Blaze, the critically acclaimed, Hawke-directed biopic released earlier this year. Black served as an executive producer on the film and Sexton appeared as another Texas music legend, Townes Van Zandt.

Gravitas Ventures has acquired North American rights to Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders doc Daughters of the Sexual Revolution, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

The film, directed by Oscar nominee Dana Adam Shapiro, had its world premiere at the 2018 SXSW Film Festival, where it won the Louis Black "Lone Star" special jury award. The film will get an Oscar-qualifying theatrical release on Nov. 2 and be available on VOD the same day.

Daughters explores the development, during the sexual revolution, of the controversial pop culture phenomenon of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, and features unprecedented access to the late "Godmother of modern ...

Gravitas Ventures has acquired North American rights to Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders doc Daughters of the Sexual Revolution, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

The film, directed by Oscar nominee Dana Adam Shapiro, had its world premiere at the 2018 SXSW Film Festival, where it won the Louis Black "Lone Star" special jury award. The film will get an Oscar-qualifying theatrical release on Nov. 2 and be available on VOD the same day.

Daughters explores the development, during the sexual revolution, of the controversial pop culture phenomenon of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, and features unprecedented access to the late "Godmother of modern ...

Four-time Oscar nominee Ethan Hawke is an actor, writer and director, but soon he will have another title: music executive. 

Hawke, in conjunction with friends Louis Black and Charlie Sexton, announced the formation of their new record label, SexHawkeBlack, on Tuesday. Black is a film producer, as well as the co-founder of SXSW and the The Austin Chronicle. Sexton is a musician currently on tour with Bob Dylan, and is also the music director for the Austin Music Awards.

While promoting Hawke's Blaze, a biopic about musician Blaze Foley that he co-wrote and directed and which debuted ...

Four-time Oscar nominee Ethan Hawke is an actor, writer and director, but soon he will have another title: music executive. 

Hawke, in conjunction with friends Louis Black and Charlie Sexton, announced the formation of their new record label, SexHawkeBlack, on Tuesday. Black is a film producer, as well as the co-founder of SXSW and the The Austin Chronicle. Sexton is a musician currently on tour with Bob Dylan, and is also the music director for the Austin Music Awards.

While promoting Hawke's Blaze, a biopic about musician Blaze Foley that he co-wrote and directed and which debuted ...

In the aftermath of the #MeToo movement, Hollywood has taken notice, with much more of an emphasis not only on female filmmakers but female characters —Supergirl, we're talking to you — as well. In the world of superheroes, Marvel has certainly made great strides with the likes of Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow in various Avengers films, Zoe Saldana as Gamorra in Guardians of the Galaxy, Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne, aka Wasp, in Ant-Man and the Wasp; and next year's Captain Marvel, starring Brie Larson in the title role. And over at DC, there has been Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman, the sequel to which is filming now, and, of course, Supergirl. Supergirl was created in 1959 by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino. Journalist Louis Black, who knew Otto well, comments to us, "One would be hard-pressed to argue that Otto was a feminist, but that having more...

Juried prizes were presented tonight at the 25th annual Swsw Film Festival. Jim Gaffigan, in Austin to represent the Miranda Bailey-directed ensemble comedy “You Can Choose Your Family,” presided as host. The venue was the Paramount Theatre, a 103-year-old landmark just blocks from the Texas Capitol.

SXSW will continue screening films through Saturday, when most of the festival’s audience awards recipients will be announced. The exception is for the headlining films, such as “A Quiet Place,” “Blockers,” and “Ready Player One” — those verdicts follows on March 19.

This year’s line-up comprised 256 total features and shorts, culled from 8,183 submissions. Best narrative feature “Thunder Road” was adapted from the namesake, one-take short that won a Grand Jury award at Sundance in 2016.

Lena Dunham’s “Tiny Furniture” (2010) and Destin Daniel Cretton’s “Short Term 12” (2013) are among the best-known past jury victors at SXSW. IndieWire’s Dana Harris helped choose the Louis Black “Lone Star” honoree,...

While Paul Thomas Anderson’s collaborations with Daniel Day-Lewis appear to be over, the director has a hunch he’ll be back on set with their fellow “Phantom Thread” Oscar nominee Lesley Manville. “I can’t shake the feeling that I have more business with Lesley,” Anderson told Austin Film Society founder and artistic director Richard Linklater Thursday at the Texas Film Awards. “Whatever that means.”

During the making of their six-time Academy Award nominee (and Best Costume Design winner), Day-Lewis created some tension by refusing to rehearse his scenes. “Lesley won’t be the one who says, ‘I want to rehearse,’ Lesley will go, ‘Whatever you boys want,'” Anderson explained. “There’s something so appealing about that. She’s like I’m going to come in and be great no matter what you guys do.”

“Powerhouse” Manville also impressed Anderson by wedging a few hours at Sunday’s...

From co-directors Louis Black and Karen Bernstein and airing on PBS, American Masters: Richard Linklater – dream is destiny is an unconventional and in-depth look at the fiercely independent style of filmmaking that emerged out of Austin, Texas in the late 1980s and 1990s, and the role that Richard Linklater played in it, as his career evolved. It features never-before-seen archival footage, early journal writings and new interviews with the writer/director/producer, along with some of the actors he’s worked with, including Matthew McConaughey, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke and Jack Black. During this interview with …...

Having the look and feel in some ways of a Linklater film, the doc traces Linklater's life and career from Slacker up through Everybody Wants Some!!, featuring a brilliant selection of film clips from Linklater's filmography as well as interview footage with Ethan Hawke, Jack Black, Patricia Arquette, Matthew McConaughey and others. Additionally, there is stellar footage of Louis Black sitting and interviewing Linklater while they rummage through boxes of his early career memorabilia, including journals, scripts, handbills and more.

Paladin has acquired Mr. Roosevelt, the comedy that stars former Saturday Night Live regular Noël Wells in what is also her directorial debut. The pic, which won the audience award and the Louis Black Lone Star Award at SXSW this year, is now set to bow in theaters in late fall, and Netflix has also acquired worldwide streaming rights and will launch it later this year. Wells plays Emily, a talented but hard-to-classify comedic performer who left behind her home and…...

Programmers at Brooklyn’s BAMcinématek had already been planning Jonathan Demme month when news of his death broke, the comprehensive retrospective of one of American cinema’s most influential voices took on new meaning in the wake of his passing — and brought some of his disciples out of the woodwork. These included Paul Thomas Anderson, who moderated a series of conversations throughout the program’s opening weekend.

The series kicked off with the 1986 slapdash comedy and road movie “Something Wild,” and Anderson was on hand to interview the film’s producer Ed Saxon and SXSW founder Louis Black, a longtime friend of the late director. But it was Anderson, who’s currently in post-production on his December release “Phantom Thread,” who naturally consumed the spotlight. “This is so thrilling for me, and nerve-wracking to be here,” he said by way of introduction, calling himself the “master of ceremony for the weekend.

As with so many conversations with and about filmmaker Richard Linklater, the talk turned to Texas.

Deep in production on a film elsewhere and with the East Coast-set “Last Flag Flying” slated to premiere in the fall, Linklater touched on future projects while speaking to the Television Critics Association on Sunday.

While speaking about the upcoming PBS American Masters documentary “Richard Linklater: Dream is Destiny,” Linklater referenced a recent New Yorker article about the history of Texas-based productions. Linklater explained that he has an idea percolating that may bring him back to making another film in his home state.

“I have a script I’m working on now that touches into Texas. It’s a true story that’ll be somewhere down the line that touches on demagoguery, a kind of con man, let’s say. To me, that’s apt for our times,” Linklater said.

While there’s been...

Franco Nero to reprise legendary role as Django.

Christian Alvart will direct from a screenplay by John Sayles and Italian icon Franco Nero will reprise the role that brought him worldwide fame in Sergio Corbucci’s 1966 classic Django.

Myriad will handle international sales and introduce the project to buyers in Cannes next week.

Django Lives! will star Nero as a drifter in California in 1914 who encounters White Supremacists.

“I’m excited and honored to be a part of this great project that will update us on one of the greatest archetype characters of movie history,” Alvart said.

“Having Christian direct Sayles’s powerful screenplay is a dream come true,” Nero, who appeared in Quentin Tarantino’s 2012 western Django Unchained, said. “Even Christian’s third son is named Django. It was meant to be.”

Syrreal Entertainment’s Sigi Kamml, Josef Brandmaier and Alvart produced alongside Fast Draw Films’ Carolyn Pfeiffer, Louis Black, David Hollander, and Nancy P. Sanders...

At a packed Paramount Theater this evening, the SXSW Film Festival, now at the halfway mark, handed out their big film awards. The fest’s two big competition jury prizes went to director Ana Asensio’s “Most Beautiful Island” (Best Narrative Feature) and directors Jairus McLeary and Gethin Aldous’s “The Work” (Best Narrative Feature).

Read More: Terrence Malick Makes a Rare Appearance at SXSW 2017 and Digs Deep On His Process

Asensio, a Spanish actress and filmmaker living in New York, shot her film in super 16mm. It tells the story of undocumented female immigrants struggling to start a life in New York. It is a feature film debut for Asensio, who also stars and wrote the screenplay. “Island” is being billed as a dramatic thriller and was produced by the New York horror master Larry Fessenden’s Glass Eye Pix.

The Doc Prize winner, “The Work,” is an intense...

A trip to the dentist turns into a surreal stroll through a dreamworld in the new clip for Karen Skloss' The Honor Farm, making its premiere later this month at the SXSW Film Festival.

Check out the new clip below, and stay tuned to Daily Dead for our live, on-site coverage of the SXSW Film Festival.

"Acclaimed filmmaker Karen Skloss (SXSW premiere Sunshine) world premieres her new psychedelic teen horror film The Honor Farm at this year's SXSW.

When Lucy's prom night falls apart, she finds herself jumping into a hearse headed for a psychedelic party in the woods. Looking for a thrill, the party wanders deeper into the forest, to a haunted and abandonded prison work farm. A secret wish and a summoning of the dead sends the group on a mind-bending trip into a dangerous trap.

The Honor Farm takes the most beloved youth genres - rebellious coming of age,...

Richard Linklater’s “Before” trilogy encapsulates the way love feels in a way few films can match. Twenty years in the making, the story of Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy) follows the beginning (“Before Sunrise,” 1995), re-beginning (“Before Sunset,” 2004), and eventual strain (“Before Midnight,” 2013) of one relationship. And the Criterion Collection has released a 2K restoration of the three films, along with hours of bonus features and behind-the-scenes footage.

Read More: Robert Downey Jr. Teaming Up With Director Richard Linklater for ‘Man of the People’ Podcast Film Adaptation

Linklater wrote all three films with the stars of his trilogy. In honor of its Criterion release, IndieWire has assembled this guide to the collaborative production in the words of the people who brought it to life.

The Writing Process Was the Biggest Challenge

Linklater collaborated with his two leads to develop the characters over the course of several years. It...

Who would have thought that a ’90s ‘slacker’ independent filmmaker would make such a strong romantic statement? Well, it’s not all romance in the old sense. In what must be a project of love, Richard Linklater examines the ongoing love life of Jesse & Céline, in three movies spread across eighteen years. The conversations are as free- flowing as are the cameras roaming through European back streets. Thanks to the commitment of Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, the in-depth relationship seems real.

The ‘Before’ Trilogy

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 856

1995, 2004, 2013 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 101, 80, 109 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date February 28, 2017 / 79.96

Starring: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy

Cinematography: Lee Daniel; Lee Daniel; Christos Voudouris

Film Editor: Sandra Adair (3)

Original Music: Fred Frith; none; Graham Reynolds

Written by Richard Linklater, Kim Krizan; Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Kim Krizan; Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Kim Krizan.

Produced by Anne Walker-McBay...

While we celebrate Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Punch Drunk Love” coming to The Criterion Collection today, more amazing news arrives in the form of February new additions, which just so happens to include a box set that is bound to cause some major swooning from Richard Linklater fans.

The director’s seminal “Before” Trilogy, which includes “Before Sunrise” (1995), “Before Sunset” (2004) and “Before Midnight” (2013), will finally join the Criterion library, which cinephiles expected would happen sooner than later after “Boyhood” joined the collection in October. Rumors started swirling last summer about a potential box set, and now Criterion has confirmed the release.

Read More: ‘Before’ Trilogy: Beautiful Video Shows Parallel Emotion From All Three of Linklater’s Films

The “Before” Trilogy Criterion set includes restored 2K digital transfers of the first two installments and a 2K digital master of “Before Midnight,” all approved by director Richard Linklater. Behind-the-scenes content includes “Dream is Destiny,...

Update: The Before Trilogy on Criterion is currently $39.95. Pre-order while you can.

After The Criterion Collection hinted at it and some of the own crew confirmed it, it’s now been officially revealed that one of their most-requested releases will be arriving next year. Richard Linklater‘s Before trilogy will be joining the colelction just a few weeks after Valentine’s Day, on February 28th, featuring new 2K restorations of Before Sunrise and Before Sunset as well as Before Midnight.

Special features include a new discussion with Linklater, Julie Delpy, and Ethan Hawke, moderated by Kent Jones, and Athina Rachel Tsangari’s documentary on the making of the most recent feature. There’s also the full feature-length documentary Richard Linklater: Dream Is Destiny, and more. While we’re still waiting on cover art for the Linklater set, check out the full details on February’s line-up below, also including one...

On Tuesday, Americans go to the voting booth to determine what kind of country they want theirs to be. Months of the most polarized, and polarizing, presidential campaign in recent memory have left many of us with battle fatigue and gnawing pangs of cynicism and nausea. To quote Thomas McGuane, in the opening line of his 1973 novel “92 in the Shade”: “Nobody knows, from sea to shining sea, why we are having all this trouble with our republic.”

Our filmmakers might have a clue. And a little distance brings perspective. The American Film Festival just celebrated its seventh annual survey of new (and mostly) independent cinema made in the U.S.A., as assembled for and viewed by eager European audiences in Wroclaw, Poland. Though not without some escapist and experimental tangents, the selections couldn’t help but offer a provocative composite of work that serves as a kind of state of the union address.

★★★☆☆ In the two and a half decades since his first feature film Slackers debuted at New Directors/New Films in New York, Richard Linklater has built an unlikely career out of humility and driven artistic ambition. Choosing to remain in Austin, Texas rather than racing blindly for the big lights of Tinseltown he's cultivated an enviable reputation as an indie auteur and the epitome of the mission at Sundance. In Richard Linklater: Dream Is Destiny, a new film screening at this year's festival, Louis Black and Karen Bernstein pay warm tribute to the filmmaker in what is a fitting ode to independent spirit more than a penetrating portrait.

Racking up three prizes upon its premiere at SXSW 2016 (Best Documentary Feature, the Louis Black “Lone Star” Award, and an audience award), Keith Maitland’s Tower debuted on home turf — which doesn’t mean that audiences knew the tragic details. A breathtaking retelling of the horrific 1966 University of Texas campus shooting that left 16 dead, Tower tirelessly recreates, through modern day interviews, archival footage, and meticulously crafted rotoscope animation, the life-or-death situation many found themselves unexpectedly thrust into. By having the viewer live through the experience while simultaneously listening to the stories of those affected by it, Maitland’s film emphasizes memory and shared experience. Impressively incorporating animation, Tower is […]...

Guests attending this year to include Bernardo Bertolucci, Don DeLillo, Ralph Fiennes.Scroll down for full line-up

The Rome Film Festival (Oct 13-23) has revealed its line-up for 2016.

The festival will present 44 films and documentaries in its official programme, selected from 26 countries.

Rome will open with Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight, which premiered in Toronto.

Further titles in the Official Selection include Gavin O’Connor’s The Accountant [pictured], starring Ben Affleck and Anna Kendrick, Nate Parker’s The Birth Of A Nation, Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester By The Sea, and Oliver Stone’s Snowden.

The festival’s previously announced Alice In The City line-up will include John Carney’s Sing Street and Matt Ross’s Captain Fantastic.

The Everybody’s Talking About It strand, which highlights films that has generated exceptional buzz following their international debuts, will showcase Yeon Sang-ho’s Train To Busan, Michael Grandage’s Genius, David Mackenzie’s Hell Or High Water, and [link=nm...