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.

Richard cannot dream, and has turned to drugs to escape his reality. But when he hears that his dealer has a new drug which can make your dreams come true, he is desperate to get his hands on it.
Coverage from the Austin Film Festival, highlighting some panels and films that emphasized the importance of diverse and inclusive storytelling.
The new biopic 'Elvis' highlights the beginning and end of the career of this rock and roll legend. The audience is taken on this journey knowing the tragic ending but not so much about what led him there. A large topic of discussion is the influences on Elvis that made him who he was as a singer, musician, and performer, which were blues, gospel, and country. Many of the songs that rose him to fame were songs by Black artists he heard growing up in primarily Black settings.
Juno is extremely funny, very well-written, and contains great performances. The film is also about a very important topic, one that is extremely relevant now: women’s reproductive rights. Is this Oscar-winning film spreading a pro-life or pro-choice message to its audience?
Swapped combines comedy, adventure and emotional growth while delivering one of the biggest plot twists in animation history.
It's not love. It's Obsession. The hook of this movie is the tension between wanting to be loved and the fear of being all-encompassed by that love. It plays on men’s typical (though certainly not universal) inner-conflict
Released on Netflix this last July, Mile End Kicks, catches the eyes of those who are wanting to escape the disasters of 2026 and visit the era of peak Tumblr, unforgettable music hits, and iconic fashion trends—-of 2011. This coming-of-age film directed by Chandler Levack succeeds at portraying an accurate representation of what life was like in the early 2010’s.