Austin, TX (September 16, 2026) – Austin Film Festival (AFF), the premier film festival recognizing writer’s and filmmaker’s contributions to film, television, and new media, today announced its second wave of programming for the 33rd annual Festival, taking place October 29 – November 5, 2026. The announcement adds 12 films to this year’s lineup, including seven World Premieres and five Texas Premieres, with films spanning narrative, documentary, comedy and horror, alongside new Writers Conference programming and the addition of Academy Award-winning screenwriter Jim Taylor to AFF’s 2026 roster of award honorees.
AFF will honor Jim Taylor with the 2026 Bill Wittliff Award for Screenwriting. A longtime collaborator of writer-director Alexander Payne, Taylor co-wrote Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt, Sideways and Downsizing, earning an Academy Award, two Golden Globes and two Writers Guild Awards. His producing credits include Cedar Rapids, The Descendants and The Savages, and he has collaborated with his wife, filmmaker Tamara Jenkins, on several screenplays, including an adaptation of Nick Hornby’s Juliet, Naked. Taylor will discuss his career and craft at AFF’s Writers Conference, including a Script to Screen presentation of Sideways, and will be recognized at the Awards Luncheon alongside previously announced honorees Brad Bird, Aleshea Harris, Andrew Haigh, Nina Jacobson, Eric Kripke.
AFF is thrilled to present an impressive lineup of exciting premieres showcasing the best of filmmaking presently both from Texas filmmakers as well as the newest Hollywood has to offer.
World Premieres
- 109 Billion Followers – a supernatural drama about a film student making a documentary about a homeless man who believes he is the Grim Reaper, written and directed by Ela Thier and starring Olivia Simmons and Academy Award winner J.K. Simmons.
- Cedar Bluff – a thrilling drama about a pregnant 19-year-old who embarks on a Bonnie-and-Clyde-style journey with a gas-station robber after a chance encounter, written and directed by Jesse Scimeca and starring Alia Williams and Jesse Gallegos.
- Frank Stein M.D. – a horror comedy about a gifted young neurosurgeon who finds himself resurrecting his estranged mad-scientist father, co-written by Rowen Kahn and Aidan Kahn, directed by Rowen Kahn, and starring Rowen Kahn and Rick Worthy.
- The Standard: The Chris Bumstead Story – an intimate documentary tracing the extraordinary rise of six-time Mr. Olympia champion Chris Bumstead and how he became the most famous bodybuilder since Arnold Schwarzenegger, directed by Mark Bone.
World Premieres with Texas Ties
- A Man of Vision: The Bill Wittliff Story – from a small-town Texas boy to the visionary behind Lonesome Dove, Bill Wittliff spent a lifetime capturing the soul of Texas through photography, film, and storytelling.
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Cradled by Grace – a music documentary from Austin filmmaker Vanessa Reiser following Austin-based composer Sam Lipman and Austin Music Hall of Fame inductee and jazz trumpeter Ephraim Owens as they create a genre-defying concerto for the Austin Symphony Orchestra. Filmed at music venues across Austin, the documentary will make its World Premiere in its hometown.
- The Last Rocketman – a crowd-pleasing documentary chronicling the life and career of renowned Texas stuntman Dan Schlund, whose extraordinary work has taken him from high-risk stunts to becoming one of the world’s foremost human cannonball performers, directed by Jonny Zeller.
Texas Premieres
- Bitter Christmas – a tragicomedy exploring the blurred lines between life, fiction and inspiration through the parallel stories of two filmmakers struggling with their creative process, written and directed by Academy Award winner Pedro Almodóvar and starring Bárbara Lennie and Leonardo Sbaraglia.
- Club Kid – a heartfelt comedy-drama about a washed-up New York party promoter whose life is upended when a 10-year-old boy unexpectedly arrives claiming to be his son, written and directed by Jordan Firstman and starring Firstman and Cara Delevingne.
- Ink – a kinetic drama about the visionaries and misfits who set out to reinvent the British newspaper business, with Jack O’Connell as The Sun editor Larry Lamb and Guy Pearce as Rupert Murdoch, directed by Academy Award winner Danny Boyle and adapted by James Graham from his acclaimed stage play. The film also stars Claire Foy.
- Paper Tiger – an intense New York crime thriller about two brothers who become entangled in a dangerous scheme involving the Russian mafia, putting their family and their bond at risk, written and directed by James Gray and starring Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Miles Teller.
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The Debut – a hilarious comedy-musical about a shy housewife who transforms into an overcommitted method actor when she is cast in a community theater production, written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg and featuring tour-de-force performances from Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti.
As part of AFF’s Writers Conference, taking place October 29 – November 1, newly announced programming includes:
- Inside the Making of DTF St. Louis – Steven Conrad
- Inside the Writers Room: Paradise – John Hoberg
- Script to Screen: May December – Samy Burch
- Script to Screen: Sideways with Jim Taylor – Jim Taylor
- Writing For the Muppets – Kelly Younger
Badges and passes are on sale now, including AFF’s first-ever Student Film Pass for $43, offering students a new way to experience the Festival and Writers Conference. Visit https://
PROGRAMMING DETAILS
WORLD PREMIERES
109 BILLION FOLLOWERS (US)
Written/directed by: Ela Thier
Cast: Olivia Simmons, J.K. Simmons, Jake Ryan, Nina Arianda
Synopsis: Emma, a lonely film student, documents a man who claims to be the Grim Reaper, while she keeps everyone at arm’s length–including her devoted and openhearted camera
A MAN OF VISION: THE STORY OF BILL WITTLIFF (US)
Directed by: Elizabeth Mims
Synopsis: From a small-town Texas boy to the visionary behind Lonesome Dove, Bill Wittliff spent a lifetime capturing the soul of Texas through photography, film, and storytelling.
CEDAR BLUFF (US)
Written/directed by: Jesse Scimeca
Cast: Alia Williams, Jesse Gallegos, Denise Santos, Matthew Swift, Nicholas Michaud
Synopsis: Nineteen, pregnant, and desperate to escape her dead-end life, Marlo Lockett falls for Junior, a charming out-of-towner who robs the local gas station she works at, sending them on a Bonnie and Clyde–esque crime spree through rural Alabama. What begins as a thrilling escape soon spirals out of control, forcing Marlo to confront the devastating cost of the freedom she craved.
CRADLED BY GRACE (US)
Directed by: Vanessa Reiser
Synopsis: Cradled by Grace follows acclaimed jazz trumpeter Ephraim Owens and composer Sam Lipman as they undertake an ambitious collaboration: an original concerto uniting Ephraim’s improvisational style with the Austin Symphony Orchestra. As the premiere approaches, a life-altering health challenge complicates their journey, requiring them to confront new realities and limits. Set amid Austin’s music community, the film is an intimate portrait of friendship, artistic risk, and the grace required when life demands improvisation.
FRANK STEIN M.D. (Canada)
Co-written by: Rowen Kahn & Aidan Kahn
Directed by: Rowen Kahn
Cast: Rick Worthy, Rowen Kahn, Sarah Jeffery, Peter Kelamis, Jedidiah Goodacre, Aidan Kahn, Peter Deluise
Synopsis: When brilliant young neurosurgeon Dr. Frank Stein Jr. accidentally kills his father-in-law, Joe, he has no choice but to bring his estranged, mad-scientist dad back to life in Joe’s body. Now that he’s back from the dead, father and son must band together to save the world and ultimately mend their relationship. And it turns out family isn’t brain surgery— it’s harder.
THE LAST ROCKETMAN (US)
Directed by: Jonny Zeller
Synopsis: The Last Rocketman follows Dan Schlund, a Jetpack (Also called a Rocket belt) pilot who survived a near-fatal crash in 2013 and, over a decade later, decided he wasn’t done flying. Around him is one of the strangest subcultures in modern history: flight-obsessed builders, pilots, stuntmen, astronauts, and lunatics who have spent their lives chasing a dream that began in the 1960s and never quite died.
THE STANDARD: THE CHRIS BUMSTEAD STORY (Canada)
Directed by: Mark Bone
Synopsis: Chris Bumstead has become the most famous bodybuilder since Arnold Schwarzenegger. But at the height of his career, the pursuit of defending his title at the Mr Olympia Championships has begun to take its toll on his health, his relationships, and his identity. The Standard follows Chris through his final season as he returns to the stage one last time, chasing a historic sixth title while confronting the question every champion eventually faces: who are you when the pursuit is over?
TEXAS PREMIERES
BITTER CHRISTMAS (Spain, Sony Pictures Classics)
Written/directed by: Pedro Almodóvar
Cast: Bárbara Lennie, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Aitana Sán
Synopsis: Bitter Christmas tells two alternating stories, one starring Elsa, an advertising director, in 2004, during a long weekend in December. The second takes place in 2026 and stars Raúl, a screenwriter and director who is writing a script that we soon discover is the story of Elsa, her boyfriend Bonifacio, and her friends Patricia and Natalia. Mixed with fiction, Elsa is, in a way, Raúl’s alter ego, who, like him, resorts to autofiction as a solution to a long period of creative drought. He looks inside himself, and he can’t help but also look at the people who make up his most intimate universe: his partner and his assistant. The film narrates the close relationship between reality and fiction, between inspiration and life, exploring the limits of autofiction and stories within stories.
CLUB KID (US, A24)
Written/directed by: Jordan Firstman
Cast: Jordan Firstman, Reggie Absolom, Diego Calva, Cara Delevingne, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Colleen Camp, Vicki Pepperdine, Nigil Whyte, Eldar
Synopsis: A hard-partying New York City club promoter sees his whirlwind lifestyle upended by the arrival of the 10-year-old son he never knew he had.
INK (UK, Netflix)
Written by: James Graham
Directed by: Danny Boyle
Cast: Jack O’Connell, Guy Pearce, Claire Foy, Bertie Carvel, Christopher Fulford, Brian Gleeson, Blake Harrison, Jonathan Hyde, Patrick Kennedy
Synopsis: Based on the Tony-nominated play by multi-Olivier Award-winning playwright and screenwriter James Graham, who adapted the screenplay, Ink is billed as an explosive cinematic rollercoaster about a group of visionaries and misfits who had an idea for a new kind of news — one that would give the people what they want and would change the face of the world we live in today.
PAPER TIGER (US, NEON)
Written/directed by: James Gray
