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.

The noise of the badly projected cathode ray tube image cleared up and a news program called "Ficfyon 7" appeared on the monitor. Professor Kim Wilson, an expert on the mysterious genre of "Ficfyon" was introduced as a guest, and the host asked him questions about the current state of "Ficfyon." The professor's answer was not in words, but a mysterious gesture. With the presenter's astonished expression, the images on the monitor split and repeat like a matryoshka. Eventually, the program ends as if nothing had happened, but the strange loop continues afterwards...
Coverage from the Austin Film Festival, highlighting some panels and films that emphasized the importance of diverse and inclusive storytelling.
In a film where a Black couple is framed to be the lead characters, they still managed to get shuffled off to the sidelines. The enthusiastic cast delivers well on goofy bits- but can only go so far before they begin to fall flat.
Nightbooks, the newest entry in children's horror, honors classic horror films, focuses on themes of acceptance, and has awesome production design.
Dora is the superhero we didn't know we needed.
Although Christmas is a time of year for love and cheer for all, holiday cinema has not always represented diverse communities. Being a holiday with Christian origins, much of its media consists of straight white families or straight white romances. Luckily, modern years have been bringing with them plenty of POC and LGBTQ+ representation that the holidays so desperately need.
It’s fun, it’s energetic, but it’s also understated and vicarial. Zola is a modern black fairytale and future of black movies.