Diversity Programming At The Austin Film Festival
Coverage from the Austin Film Festival, highlighting some panels and films that emphasized the importance of diverse and inclusive storytelling.

Justin is a troubled teen looking for a way out of the gang life. His best friend Charlie is a rich Taiwanese kid who lives in the nice part of town. Justin runs away from home after a fight with his Mom and takes refuge at Charlie's house while Charlie's parents are away on a prolonged business trip. The murder of a fellow gang member avalanches into a full blown war with a rival gang. Caught in the midst of teenage angst, gang life, and alienation, the two friends find themselves heading down two different paths of life."
Coverage from the Austin Film Festival, highlighting some panels and films that emphasized the importance of diverse and inclusive storytelling.
Marvel’s first Asian superhero film, 'Shang-Chi', deserves praise for balancing epic superhero action, a heartfelt family plot, and positive Asian representation.
Perhaps the most amazing and groundbreaking quality about The Birdcage is how removed it is from both illness and insensitivity. Whereas films preceding it were often somber stories about the tribulations of being gay in a conservatively straight world, Nichols and screenwriter Elaine May expose the fallacies of conservatism as traditional values are thrown into a more open-minded space. They don’t care how far the community has fallen so much as how high they can rebuild themselves.
Mala tripped over in a company Diwali party, which led to unexpected visits and realizations.
Years before Mexican director, Alfonso Cuaron, was winning Academy Awards for movies like Gravity (2013) and Roma(2018), he directed a small, intimate film about two best friends who decide to embark on an improvised road trip to spend time with an older, attractive woman who miraculously agrees to go with them. Y tu Mamá También is a deep journey into the raw sexuality and friendship of the young protagonists, as well as a subtle social and political commentary on Mexico at the time.
Many call 'Tragedy Girls' a modern-day 'Heathers', and I do see the resemblance. The film asks the same question that all teenagers suffer with: who am I? Well, the movie answers this — you are your online presence.