AUSTIN, Texas — A virtual version of the Austin Film Festival & Writers Conference (AFF) kicked off on Thursday, October 22.
Most of the festival is taking place online this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
On opening night, the festival will screen Nine Days, from writer/director Edson Oda. Cast members Winston Duke and Zazie Beetz will participate in a post-screening Q&A.
The festival’s centerpiece slot will feature Farewell Amor, which tells the story of an Angolan immigrant reuniting with his wife and daughter after 17 years apart.
AFF will return to the historic Paramount Theatre on October 24 for two socially-distanced, in-person film screenings. Anne Rapp’s Horton Foote: The Road to Home will premiere at 1:30 p.m. CST and Will Bakke’s The Get Together will premiere at 6 p.m. CST. The venue will require masks and will have COVID-19 safety guidelines in place.
On closing night, the festival will present WWE Network Documentaries’ Brothers of Destruction, which chronicles the lives of icons Undertaker and Kane.
AFF will also include virtual roundtables and pitch sessions. The festival runs through October 29.