Austin Film Festival 2009 Film Venue Guide
Austin Film Festival has eight venues for its movies this year. In addition, the AFF screenwriters' conference takes place at the Driskill Hotel and the Stephen F. Austin Hotel. AFF parties are all over downtown, from the traditional BBQ at the French Legation to Buffalo Billiards to the Belmont.
Slackerwood has put together a handy (we hope) guide to the AFF venues where movies are shown. A couple of these venues are new to us, so feel free to post helpful comments. Check the AFF 2009 schedule for a full list of movies, conference panels and parties.
A few notes on distance: You can easily walk between the Paramount, the Hideout and Alamo Ritz, and from those to the Driskill and Stephen F. Austin. If you love walking and aren't in a hurry, you could walk from these to the Rollins Theater in the Long Center, or even to the Texas Spirit Theater in the Texas History Museum ... but it might be easier to drive or take a cab instead. The Independent at 501 isn't a long walk from the central venues, either, but it involves crossing under I-35, which can look a little scary at night. You might be able to talk a pedicab driver into taking you there and picking you up later.
As AFF Film Program Director Kelly Williams notes in Podcast #15, the Arbor and Alamo Lake Creek form a kind of "satellite fest" for AFF, since they're notably distant from the other venues (although not too far from one another by car). If you live in north Austin, these theaters are a convenient way to enjoy AFF. Alamo Lake Creek is hosting the fest's "Dark Matters" series, with evenings devoted to films about cannibalism and the undead. It ties in nicely with Lake Creek's "Dismember the Alamo" zombie fest the following weekend. But if you're visiting Austin and don't have a car, or don't know the city well, you may want to stick with the downtown venues.
Bear in mind that AFF prohibits audiences and press from taking photos during screenings and panels, so when you're visiting these venues during the festival, you may want to leave your camera at home (or stash it away carefully). This is an especially smart idea for big screenings of studio-distributed movies that haven't yet been released, where sometimes security guards may prohibit cameras.
The only theater we know about this year where it may be difficult for passholders and even badgeholders to get into movies is Alamo Ritz. AFF will be using the smaller Ritz theater, which seats no more than 90, and you know visitors love to try out the Alamo no matter what the film. So get to the Ritz early if you don't want to sit in the front row, or even be turned away.
Click the theater names below for more information, including bus routes and nearby places to grab a bite to eat or a drink. Again, if we've left out anything helpful about these venues, please leave a comment.