The Austin Film Festival was started in 1994 in Austin, Texas

Austin, Texas

Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

 and is claimed to be "the first organization of its kind to focus on the writer’s unique creative contribution to the film and television industries". It has a number of events and services for emerging and professional writers and filmmakers.

Past participants

Past participants include Ron Howard

Ron Howard

Ronald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...

, Steven Zaillian

Steven Zaillian

Steven Ernest Bernard Zaillian is an American screenwriter, film director, film editor, producer, and founder of Film Rites, a film production company. He won an Academy Award for his screenplay for Schindler's List and he has been nominated two times for Awakenings and Gangs of New York...

, Mitch Hurwitz, Robert Altman

Robert Altman

Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...

, Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson

Wesley Wales Anderson is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer of features, short films and commercials....

, Russell Crowe

Russell Crowe

Russell Ira Crowe is a New Zealander Australian actor , film producer and musician. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 historical epic film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor, a...

, Barry Levinson

Barry Levinson

Barry Levinson is an American screenwriter, film director, actor, and producer of film and television. His films include Good Morning, Vietnam, Sleepers and Rain Man.-Early life:...

, Darren Star

Darren Star

Darren Bennett Star is an American producer, director and writer for film and television. He is best known for creating the hit TV shows Melrose Place, Beverly Hills, 90210 and Sex and the City.-Career:...

, Robert Duvall

Robert Duvall

Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....

, Buck Henry

Buck Henry

Henry Zuckerman, better known as Buck Henry , is an American actor, writer, film director, and television director.-Early life:...

, Dennis Hopper

Dennis Hopper

Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...

, Lawrence Kasdan

Lawrence Kasdan

Lawrence Edward "Larry" Kasdan is an American film producer, director and screenwriter.-Life and career:Kasdan was born in Miami, Florida, the son of Sylvia Sarah , an employment counselor, and Clarence Norman Kasdan, who managed retail electronics stores.His Brother is the writer/producer Mark...

, John Landis

John Landis

John David Landis is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer. He is known for his comedies, his horror films, and his music videos with singer Michael Jackson.-Early life and career:...

, Garry Shandling

Garry Shandling

Garry Emmanuel Shandling is an American comedian, actor and writer. He is best known for his work in It's Garry Shandling's Show and The Larry Sanders Show....

, Bryan Singer

Bryan Singer

Bryan Singer is an American film director and film producer. Singer won critical acclaim for his work on The Usual Suspects, and is especially well-known among fans of the science fiction and superhero genres for his work on the X-Men films and Superman Returns.-Early life:Singer was born in New...

, Oliver Stone

Oliver Stone

William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...

, Sandra Bullock

Sandra Bullock

Sandra Annette Bullock is an Academy Award winning American actress and producer who rose to fame in the 1990s after roles in successful films such as Demolition Man, Speed, The Net, A Time to Kill, and While You Were Sleeping. She continued with films such as Miss Congeniality, The Lake House,...

, Harold Ramis

Harold Ramis

Harold Allen Ramis is an American actor, director, and writer, specializing in comedy. His best-known film acting roles are as Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters and Russell Ziskey in Stripes , both of which he also co-wrote...

, Shane Black

Shane Black

Shane Black is an American actor, screenwriter and film director. He contributed to some of the biggest blockbuster action films of the late 1980s and early 1990s, including work on Lethal Weapon and The Last Boy Scout...

, Sydney Pollack

Sydney Pollack

Sydney Irwin Pollack was an American film director, producer and actor. Pollack studied with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City, where he later taught acting...

, Adam Collis

Adam Collis

Adam Collis is an American filmmaker and actor. He attended the Duke University from 1986 to 1990 and the University of California, Los Angeles from 2007 to 2010. He also studied cinema at the University of Southern California from 1991 to 1997. Collis first work was the assistant director for the...

, John Milius

John Milius

John Frederick Milius is an American screenwriter, director, and producer of motion pictures.-Early life:Milius was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Elizabeth and William Styx Milius, who was a shoe manufacturer. Milius attempted to join the Marine Corps in the late 1960s, but was rejected...

, Alan Klingenstein

Alan Klingenstein

Alan Klingenstein is a corporate and securities attorney, an investment banker, a film distributor, and an award-winning film producer. His feature film Two Family House won the Audience Award at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival...

, America Ferrera

America Ferrera

America Georgina Ferrera is an American actress, best known for playing the lead role in the television comedy series Ugly Betty...

, and Owen Wilson

Owen Wilson

Owen Cunningham Wilson is an American actor and writer, known for his roles in the films The Haunting, The Royal Tenenbaums, Zoolander, Meet the Parents, Wedding Crashers, You, Me and Dupree, Bottle Rocket, the Cars series, The Darjeeling Limited, Marley & Me, Midnight in Paris, Shanghai Noon,...

.

Purpose

It is dedicated to furthering the art, craft and business of writers and filmmakers and recognizing their contributions to film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

, television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 and new media

New media

New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...

. The AFF supports the work of aspiring and established writers and filmmakers by providing unique cultural events and services, enhancing public awareness and participation, and encouraging dynamic and long-lasting community partnerships.

The Austin Film Festival is known for the access and support provided to filmmakers and industry professionals.

17th Annual Festival & Conference

The 17th Annual Film Festival & Conference took place October 21-28, 2010, in Austin, Texas.

External links

• Austin Film Festival website
• Austin Film Festival at the Fargo Filmmaking Wiki Project