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.

Following the unexpected death of their wealthy father, two estranged sisters return home to sort out the estate. But the women share a dark secret from their childhood, one that will lead to a confrontation with the ghastly supernatural creature known as The Barghest. Camp meets horror in this low-budget thriller in the tradition of 1960s William Castle films.
Coverage from the Austin Film Festival, highlighting some panels and films that emphasized the importance of diverse and inclusive storytelling.
A spoiler-free review of 'Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,' highlighting the way the modern setting and current social climate once again influence Johnson's approach to the whodunit narrative.
'The Last Black Man in San Francisco' is part fiction, part documentary. Jimmie longs for the old Victorian home that he grew up in — the house that his grandfather built. However, this home is now in an overpriced, White, San Francisco neighborhood.
Hiring bias is something that's rampant in all industries (even unconscious bias). But writing a script totally neutral not only opens the door for more diverse actors, but also for characters that are people first.
Nick Rowland’s She Rides Shotgun is a blistering, blood-soaked road thriller that doubles as a bruised love story between a haunted ex-con (a career-best Taron Egerton) and the daughter he barely knows (astonishing newcomer Ana Sophia Heger). Fueled by white-knuckle chases, razor-tense shootouts, and quiet moments of aching tenderness, the film captures both the terror and fragile beauty of survival. It’s gritty, heartbreaking, and unforgettable—a father-daughter odyssey destined to leave audiences shaken.
White audiences saw Peola’s mixed-race passing as a Black woman’s struggle to be white. Black audiences saw it as the rebellion of a Black woman trying to gain privileges only given to white people.