Linklater in Filmmaker Magazine: “This is the Best Year AFS has Ever Had”

There’s a great new piece in Filmmaker Magazine in which AFS Founder and Artistic Director Richard Linklater discusses the present and future of AFS.

In the piece, Linklater lays out what might just as well be a blueprint for the new AFS Cinema opening later this spring:

“I say this all the time to the great people who are working at the Film Society, but I mean it: this is the best year we’ve ever had.” Linklater continued.

“Usually you only realize the peak times when they’re over, i.e. ‘oh, that was a golden age at the time but I didn’t recognize it at the time.’ I’m recognizing it at the time. We’ve got a wonderful organization, we have the best people, and it’s been a thrill. We’re appreciating that and just trying to serve film-lovers and our film culture locally. It’s something Austin can do. We feel there’s a need there and we’re there for that. We’re looking forward to showing a lot of movies, to give that film that wouldn’t have a theatrical run anywhere else in town — we want that film to show for a week or more and to hold it over if it’s doing well. We want the film to build an audience here. When you show it only one night, a lot of people can’t go that night. When you show it for a week, it gets reviewed and becomes a thing. We look forward to offering that opportunity to a lot of films and to be a collaborator with other film organizations. We want to make a film-happening space. It’s going to be fun.”

We’ll have more information about the opening of the AFS Cinema soon. Get ready for a great new addition to the Austin moviegoing landscape.