AFS Cinema Announces Its March/April 2025 Program Calendar
February 11, 2025, AUSTIN, TX— The Austin Film Society announces its March and April 2025 calendar featuring signature programs, special screenings and events and a new, diverse lineup of films from around the globe that filmgoers can only see at the AFS Cinema. The full calendar and more information can be found at www.austinfilm.org.
Beginning in April, the Austin Film Society will present a new series of Essential Cinema showcasing films whose origins are connected to a unique Canadian tax incentive from the mid-’70s. Canuxploitation: Canadian Tax Shelter Movies will feature works by David Cronenberg (The Brood) and Oliver Stone (Seizure) among others. AFS’s Paper Cuts series with partners Alienated Majesty Books will include two films, each paired with a complementary book selection, post-film discussion and pop-up shop in the AFS Cinema lobby: Let’s Scare Jessica to Death on March 1 paired with House of Psychotic Women by Kier-la Janisse and Dario Argento’s Tenebre on April 6 and 11 paired with Kevin Killian’s Argento Series. The Austin Film Society will also partner with local literary magazine American Short Fiction and award-winning Texas author Fernando A. Flores to present a double-feature of landmark Chicano indies on April 2: Pretty Vacant by AFS Grant-supported filmmaker Jim Mendiola and Staccato Purr of the Exhaust by Luis M. Meza followed by a post-film discussion. On March 22, the AFS Cinema will host consecutive screenings for Francomania, showcasing two films by the Spanish B-movie legend Jess Franco: The Diabolical Dr. Z (1966) and Sex Is Crazy (1981). Local non-profit record label Spaceflight Records will co-host an evening of music and film at the AFS Cinema on April 5, pairing the animated ’80s anthology Heavy Metal with a live performance by Billy King & The Bad Bad Bad. As a part of the Austin Film Society’s efforts to exhibit and celebrate 35mm film prints, AFS will show the following films in this format: Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing (February 28–March 4), Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ (April 16–19) and Andrew Bujalksi’s Results (April 19), the last of which will be followed by a Q&A with the film’s director. On April 24, AFS will also host a special screening of David Byrne’s True Stories followed by a Q&A with screenwriter/filmmaker Anne Rapp. On March 25, the AFS Cinema will show the new documentary Every Little Thing as a part of its partnership with Science On Screen®, followed by an expert panel discussing the film’s subject, hummingbirds. Science on Screen® is an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Calendar highlights in detail:
From April 1–May 3, AFS’s Essential Cinema programming will feature a brand new series of five films under the banner of Canuxploitation: Canadian Tax Shelter Movies. Due to a scarcity of films made in Canada during the early ’70s, their government decided to allow producers and investors to claim a 100% tax write-off on their work in order to stimulate the industry. The films compiled in this series represent that fertile time for film funding that produced many projects from the horror/exploitation genres: David Cronenberg’s The Brood (April 1–6), Class of 1984 (April 8–14), Deadline (April 15–19), East End Hustle (April 22–27) and Oliver Stone’s first feature, Seizure (April 29 and May 3).
The Austin Film Society will partner with several literary organizations in the coming months. AFS’s Paper Cuts series with Alienated Majesty Books returns with two events. On March 1, the AFS Cinema will screen Let’s Scare Jessica to Death about a woman questioning her sanity, which will be paired with a new and expanded edition of House of Psychotic Women by Kier-la Janisse. Following the film, there will be a discussion with Jenny McKeown (A Woman of Taste programmer) and C. Rees (Alienated Majesty). Then, on April 6 and 11, the series will continue with Dario Argento’s metafictional Tenebre, which will be paired with Kevin Killian’s book of poetry, Argento Series, using the filmmaker’s work as a means to explore emotions around the AIDS crisis. The March 1 and April 6 events will both be followed by a pop-up shop in the AFS Cinema lobby hosted by Alienated Majesty Books. On April 2, the Austin Film Society will partner with American Short Fiction — the long-running Austin-based literary magazine — to screen two landmark works of Chicano independent cinema: Staccato Purr of the Exhaust by Luis M. Meza and Pretty Vacant by AFS Grant-supported filmmaker Jim Mendiola. Following the two films will be a discussion between Mendiola and author and American Short Fiction guest editor Fernando A. Flores (Tears of the Trufflepig).
The Austin Film Society will host several screenings attended by special guests from the film industry. On April 19, the AFS Cinema will host filmmaker Andrew Bujalski for a 35mm screening of his 2015 Austin-shot film Results. The locally based director will participate in a post-film Q&A to reflect on the film a decade after its release. On April 24, AFS will also host a screening of David Byrne’s True Stories with Anne Rapp, filmmaker and notable script supervisor. She will also participate in a post-screening Q&A to talk about her experiences working on the film.
The full March/April lineup continues below, and a complete list of all film screenings announced to date and special events are on the AFS website at austinfilm.org. Ticket prices range from $11 to $13.50, with discounts for AFS members. Special pricing is noted if applicable.
AUSTIN FILM SOCIETY MARCH/APRIL CALENDAR
ESSENTIAL CINEMA: CANUXPLOITATION: CANADIAN TAX SHELTER MOVIES
In 1974, only three feature films were produced in all of Canada. For a country with so many natural settings conducive to filmmakers — and so much homegrown talent — this seemed absurd, so the government responded, raising the allowable tax deduction for Canadian film productions to a full 100%. Needless to say, this produced a boon in filmmaking. Dentists were waving checkbooks around trying to find film school grads who could put a film into production before the end of the fiscal year. As a result, some of the strangest films were made. You’ve heard of David Cronenberg? Well, without the Canadian tax shelter law, he might never have gotten a feature film project off the ground. This series celebrates some of the most interesting products of this golden era of filmmaking. All of these were aimed squarely at the exploitation/horror market so be advised, but all of these selections are fascinating artifacts of cinema and culture.
THE BROOD
David Cronenberg, Canada, 1979, DCP, 92 min.
4/1–4/6
No writer-director used the springboard afforded to him by the Canadian tax shelter laws more effectively than David Cronenberg who went from local art-film weirdo to international art-film weirdo with a series of horror and sci-fi films that enthralled audiences and critics alike. This is an especially visceral one, with Oliver Reed as a pop psychiatrist who specializes in “psychoplasmic” therapy and Samantha Eggar as his patient. You’re probably assuming things get disturbing from there, and you’re probably right.
CLASS OF 1984
Mark Lester, Canada, 1982, DCP, 98 min.
4/8, 4/14
This truly over-the-top juvenile delinquent movie feels more like a war epic than a typical story of misbehaving teenagers. Here, a new teacher (Perry King) first tries to reason with his criminally-minded students, but when they push him too far, he fights back. With Roddy McDowall as the principal, Michael J. Fox as a (good) student, and the band Teenage Head as themselves. Though this film is fairly silly in its way, it should be mentioned that it is an extremely violent movie, so be advised.
DEADLINE
Mario Azzopardi, Canada, 1980, DCP, 90 min.
4/15, 4/19
A horror novelist and screenwriter who is a national celebrity — think Stephen King — tries to finish a new screenplay as his personal life falls apart around him. Throughout this film, his increasingly gonzo thematic ideas are shown in full fantasy set pieces in counterpoint to the wreckage of his personal life. A genuinely disturbing and powerful film full of gory deaths and new wave music.
EAST END HUSTLE
Frank Vitale, Canada, 1976, DCP, 91 min.
4/22, 4/27
When a group of sex workers is pushed too hard by the exploitation tactics of the mob, they band together to go to war for their rights and their dignity. You’ll be standing up in your seats cheering for these women when they fight back against the Man. This is a rough, tough, harsh slice of ‘70s Canadian reality, featuring gritty Montreal locations and a blorping synth-funk score.
SEIZURE
Oliver Stone, Canada, 1974, DCP, 98 min.
4/29, 5/3
Oliver Stone had the Canadian tax laws to thank for helping him get his first feature as a director off the ground. This is a weird one, a Bergman-influenced story of an author whose nightmares take human form in the personages of the Queen of Evil, a malevolent dwarf (Hervé Villechaize), and a giant strongman. Completely bizarre and thoroughly unbelievable.
FRANCOMANIA
THE DIABOLICAL DR. Z
Jess Franco, Spain/France, 1966, DCP, 87 min.
3/22
Perhaps Jess Franco’s most digestible film for first-timers while also being one of his beloved masterpieces for aficionados. Franco here tells the body-horror inflected story of a woman, the daughter of a mad scientist, who uses a nightclub dancer with long pointed fingernails to seduce and destroy the women responsible for discrediting her father and his work.
SEX IS CRAZY
Jess Franco, Spain, 1981, DCP, 86 min. In Spanish with English subtitles.
3/22
When Jess Franco and his filmmaking partner Lina Romay got rolling, they were unstoppable. This film, made during the height of their productivity together, is a little bit sci-fi, a little bit Godard, and a lot of Jess and Lina in a panoramic story about the intersection between sex and surreality.
DOC NIGHTS
DIG! XX
Ondi Timoner, USA, 2024, DCP, 147 min.
2/28–3/2
The 20th anniversary extended edition of the now-classic rock doc DIG! adds over 40 minutes of never-before-seen footage and new narration by The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Joel Gion, charting the story of one the music world’s most epic rivalries: The Dandy Warhols versus The Brian Jonestown Massacre. “We used to be friends…” Newly restored.
NEVER LOOK AWAY
Lucy Lawless, New Zealand, 2024, DCP, 85 min.
3/16, 3/17
Lucy Lawless’ feature directorial debut is an uncompromising portrait of the demonically driven and danger-addicted war zone camerawoman (and former Austinite) Margaret Moth, who looked and partied like a rock star in her downtime and who went into the heat of battle time and time again, even when the odds of coming out alive seemed impossible. With tons of interviews and archival footage, this is a riveting documentary.
GOODBYE HORSES: THE MANY LIVES OF Q LAZZARUS
Eva Aridjis, USA/Mexico, 2024, DCP, 103 min.
3/30, 4/3
We all know the song “Goodbye Horses,” made famous as the music that Buffalo Bill does his disturbing dance to in THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. But the artist Q Lazzarus was a mystery woman for years. This documentary, made by DJ and filmmaker Eva Aridjis, goes right to the source, Q Lazzarus herself, to tell how a church singer from New Jersey became a club star and changed the fabric of popular music before disappearing again.
BIG SCREEN CLASSICS
DO THE RIGHT THING
Spike Lee, 1989, 35mm, 120 min.
2/28–3/4
Set in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, Spike Lee’s thought-provoking and powerful 1989 comedy/drama chronicles the events that lead up to a racial confrontation between the residents. The action takes place on the hottest day of the year and centers around a pizza parlor run by Italian-American Sal (Danny Aiello) and his two sons. Lee’s kinetic and colorful style showcases wonderful acting turns by the large ensemble cast, which includes the writer-director Spike Lee himself, John Turturro, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosie Perez, Bill Nunn, Robin Harris, and the wonderful Ossie Davis, who gets to deliver the best line of the film. In 35mm.
RAISING ARIZONA
Joel Coen, USA, 1987, DCP, 94 min.
3/16–3/22
An exhilarating comedy masterpiece. Holly Hunter and Nicolas Cage star as a young couple who desperately want a child of their own but are unable to conceive. Then, a local businessman and his wife have quintuplets and the dam breaks.
SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN
Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, USA, 1952, DCP, 103 min.
3/28, 3/30
This Technicolor showstopper from Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen is the stuff Hollywood is made of. A singin’, swingin’ sendup to the dream factory itself, starring Kelly and Debbie Reynolds.
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
Jonathan Demme, USA, 1991, DCP, 118 min.
3/29–4/2
On the hunt for an elusive killer who skins his victims, FBI trainee Clarice Starling enlists Hannibal Lecter — a brilliant, cannibalistic psychopath — to help uncover the killer’s identity. Starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins in a landmark thriller from director Jonathan Demme.
THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST
Martin Scorsese, USA, 1988, 35mm, 163 min.
4/16–4/19
Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis’ banned novel was itself banned by many of the same religious authorities. Willem Dafoe plays Jesus as he contends with numerous temptations. Screenplay by Paul Schrader. With Barbara Hershey, Harvey Keitel, and David Bowie. In 35mm.
SCIENCE ON SCREEN®
EVERY LITTLE THING
Sally Aitken, USA, 2024, DCP, 93 min.
3/25
In this award-winning documentary, we follow the work of Terry Masear, an amateur animal lover who runs a de facto hummingbird hospital in Hollywood. She cares for the smallest, most delicate creatures with loving, knowing care. For this special Science On Screen® presentation, we will be joined by an expert on hummingbirds and other diminutive avians to talk about their social habits and miraculous flight abilities. Science on Screen® is an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
BEST OF THE FESTS
KIDNAPPING INC.
Bruno Mourral, Haiti/France, 2024, DCP, 107 min. In Haitian, Creole, and French with English subtitles.
4/20, 4/21
This lightning-paced action comedy and social satire from Haiti had Sundance attendees rolling in the aisles. When a pair of petty criminals are dispatched to kidnap a wealthy heir, everything goes wrong, hilariously. Multiple members of this film’s crew were kidnapped and ransomed during shooting!
SPACEFLIGHT RECORDS
HEAVY METAL with Billy King & The Bad Bad Bad
Gerald Potterton, Canada, 1981, DCP, 91 min.
4/5
Our friends from Spaceflight Records, the local non-profit record label that has turned the industry on its head, present a special screening of this animated stoner classic — an anthology film that draws on the comics of Mœbius, Richard Corben, and Bernie Wrightson and sets them to a diverse soundtrack of rock music. This screening will be preceded by the soothing sounds of Billy King & The Bad Bad Bad live on stage.
WORLD CINEMA CLASSICS
GHOST IN THE SHELL
Mamoru Oshii, Japan, 1995, DCP, 83 min. In Japanese with English subtitles.
4/3–4/6
Cyborg agent Major Kusanagi is hot on the trail of a hacker known as “The Puppet Master.” The closer she gets, the more questions she has about the case and her existence. Director Mamoru Oshii (DALLOS, PATLABOR) questions what it means to be human in his critically acclaimed adaptation of the hit manga series.
NEWLY RESTORED
WHO KILLED TEDDY BEAR?
Joseph Cates, USA, 1965, DCP, 90 min.
3/21, 3/23
Sal Mineo stars in this taboo-busting ’60s thriller about a disco jockey who finds herself on the other side of the dial tone when she begins to receive obscene calls from a stalker with a few sexual hangups. Censored after its original theatrical release and only available since in its edited version, WHO KILLED TEDDY BEAR? will screen in its uncensored theatrical-release version, adding several minutes of material, newly restored from original 35mm negative materials.
COMPENSATION
Zeinabu irene Davis, USA, 1999, DCP, 92 min. English and ASL with English subtitles.
4/20, 4/23
Eighty years apart, the lives and loves of two couples are lyrically interwoven through the use of archival photography, ragtime, and African percussion. A poetic portrait of the struggles of Black American, deaf and hearing communities, and the complexity of romance at the start and turn of the twentieth century. A landmark of independent cinema from writer-director Zeinabu irene Davis.
QUEER CINEMA: LOST & FOUND
VIBRATIONS
Joseph W. Sarno, USA, 1968, DCP, 75 min.
3/18
A sexually and professionally frustrated writer seeks to shake up her life by moving into a Manhattan apartment. But when her sister unexpectedly shows up to stay with her, the ever-present hum of her kinky neighbor’s vibrator through the thin apartment walls dredges up memories of the games they used to play together when they were younger. An early feature from the “Ingmar Bergman of sexploitation,” Joe Sarno, VIBRATIONS is perhaps not sterling Positive Representation, but it is a fascinating example of the freedom that the genre offered filmmakers at a time when Hollywood wouldn’t. Screening with a video introduction by Queer Cinema: Lost & Found programmer Elizabeth Purchell.
LATES
MERMAID LEGEND
Toshiharu Ikeda, Japan, 1984, DCP, 110 min. In Japanese with English subtitles.
3/28, 3/29
Notes of terror hit higher than a siren’s song when a pearl diver goes on a killing spree to avenge the death of her fisherman husband at the hands of ruthless businessmen hellbent on redeveloping the couple’s oceanfront sanctuary. From Toshiharu Ikeda (EVIL DEAD TRAP) and featuring a haunting score from Honda Toshiyuki (known for the anime METROPOLIS), it’s an eco-revenge thriller unlike anything before or since. Newly restored.
NIGHTSHIFT
Robina Rose, UK, 1981, DCP, 67 min.
4/4, 4/5
Sleepwalk through the night with a hotel desk clerk (U.K. counterculture icon Jordan) and a nocturnal constellation of guests ranging from punks to a scenester magician as the hours march deeper into night and the varied clientele departs the waking world, transforming the hotel into an otherworldly, liminal space swaying between the everyday and the enchanting. A somnambulist fantasy photographed by Jon Jost (ALL THE VERMEERS IN NEW YORK) with a soundtrack by Simon Jeffes of the legendary Penguin Cafe Orchestra. Newly restored.
THE CRAZY FAMILY
Gakuryū “Sogo” Ishii, Japan, 1984, DCP, 106 min. In Japanese with English subtitles.
4/18–4/23
From the original Japanese punk auteur, Gakuryu “Sogo” Ishii comes the wild story of the Kobayashi family, a suburban dream turned domestic nightmare. Much like a termite infestation, this “savage slapstick satire” (MUBI) steadily gnaws away at the idea of the “perfect family” until the foundation falls through, giving new meaning to the idea of nuclear destruction. Newly restored.
PAPER CUTS
LET’S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH
John Hancock, USA, 1971, DCP, 89 min.
3/1
Recently released from a psychiatric facility, a woman moves to a remote farmhouse in hopes of a new life but soon begins to experience strange happenings. Could it be the country air, or is Jessica losing her mind? This Paper Cuts selection is paired with a new and expanded edition of House of Psychotic Women, an autobiographical exploration of female neurosis in horror and exploitation films by Kier-la Janisse, featuring a post-film conversation with A Woman of Taste programmer Jenny McKewon and Alienated Majesty’s own C. Rees. Featuring a post-film discussion and a pop-up shop on Saturday, March 1. House of Psychotic Women is available for purchase at Alienated Majesty Books, in-person or online here.
TENEBRE
Dario Argento, Italy, 1982, DCP, 101 min. |
4/6, 4/11
In this taut, meta-slasher from horror master Dario Argento, an American horror novelist on a promotional tour for his latest chiller finds himself in a story he can’t write his way out of when he crosses paths with a razor-wielding lunatic on a killing spree in Rome. TENEBRE is paired with Kevin Killian’s Argento Series, which uses the “films of Dario Argento as a prism through which to take apart the horror of living and dying in the AIDS era.” Featuring a post-film discussion and a pop-up shop on Sunday, April 6. Argento Series is available for purchase at Alienated Majesty Books, in-person or online here.
SPECIAL ENCORE
ENO
Gary Hustwit, USA, 2024, DCP, approximately 85 min.
3/21, 3/22
Director Gary Hustwit (HELVETICA) has done something truly new in the documentary field. With ENO, he’s created the first generative feature film, taking hundreds of hours of footage documenting the great musician and theorist Brian Eno (known for his work with Roxy Music, David Bowie, U2, and Talking Heads) and incorporating it into a groundbreaking software platform. This makes every screening of ENO unique, featuring a different mix of scenes, footage, and music each time it’s shown. This sense of experimentation and chance is completely in tune with Eno’s own artistic values.
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
TRUE STORIES with Anne Rapp
David Byrne, USA, 1986, DCP, 90 min.
4/24
You may know Austin’s own Anne Rapp as a screenwriter and filmmaker in her own right, but for decades she was “the script supervisor to get” for the most interesting directors in Hollywood and elsewhere. She joins us for a special screening of David Byrne’s ode to American weirdness, TRUE STORIES, with her reminiscences of the shoot and her fellow collaborators on the film.
American Short Fiction presents STACCATO PURR OF THE EXHAUST and PRETTY VACANT
Luis M. Meza/Jim Mendiola, USA, 1996, DCP, 125 min.
4/2
In collaboration with American Short Fiction, the non-profit literary organization and publication based in Austin, Texas, since 1991, and guest editor Fernando A. Flores, author of Tears of the Trufflepig (2019), Valleyesque (2022), and the forthcoming Brother Brontë (2025), AFS will present two landmark Chicano indies: STACCATO PURR OF THE EXHAUST(Luis M. Meza) and PRETTY VACANT (Jim Mendiola). The short film PRETTY VACANT (30 min.) by AFS Grant-supported filmmaker Jim Mendiola will precede the feature STACCATO PURR OF THE EXHAUST (92 min). Filmmaker Jim Mendiola and author Fernando A. Flores join us for a post-film discussion.
RESULTS with Andrew Bujalski
Andrew Bujalski, USA, 2015, 35mm, 105 min.
4/19
In 2015, celebrated Austin-based indie auteur Andrew Bujalski identified the newly emerging Mueller neighborhood as the perfect setting for this modern comedy featuring Kevin Corrigan as Danny, a wealthy divorcee trying to get his life on track by joining a gym. Featuring pitch perfect performances by Guy Pearce and Cobie Smulders, romantically entangled personal trainers caught up in Danny’s existential crisis. In 35mm.
About Austin Film Society
Founded in 1985 by filmmaker Richard Linklater, AFS creates life-changing opportunities for filmmakers, catalyzes Austin and Texas as a creative hub, and brings the community together around great film. AFS is committed to racial equity and inclusion, with an objective to deliver programs that actively dismantle the structural racism, sexism and other bias in the screen industries. AFS supports filmmakers from all backgrounds towards career leaps, encouraging exceptional artistic projects with grants and support services. AFS operates Austin Studios, a 20-acre production facility, to attract and grow the creative media ecosystem. Austin Public, a space for our city’s diverse mediamakers to train and collaborate, provides many points of access to filmmaking and film careers. The AFS Cinema is an ambitiously programmed repertory and first run arthouse with broad community engagement. By hosting premieres, local and international industry events, and the Texas Film Awards, AFS shines the national spotlight on Texas filmmakers while connecting Austin and Texas to the wider film community. AFS is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
Will Stefanski
Will@austinfilm.org
