Despite WGA, SAG/AFTRA strike, Austin Film Festival announces first 14 films for 2023

The Austin Film Festival, America's premiere gathering for screenwriters, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. The festival kicks off on Oct. 26 and on Thursday, fest organizers released a "sneak peak" of 14 films that will be screening, and they include high-profile cast members and award-winning filmmakers.

This year's Austin Film Festival is taking place in the shadow of the WGA and SAG/AFTRA strikes, but festival organizers plan to continue will a full slate of programming.

"For 30 years, the Austin Film Festival (AFF) has been a platform for open discussion, a place where the screenwriting community comes together to pass on experience, craft, and the writers’ journey from script to screen. AFF is a forum for writers, from professionals to beginners, to speak openly and freely about writing and its power and how it is the engine for the film, television, and streaming business," festival director Barbara Morgan told the Statesman.

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Festival organizers note their support for striking actors and writers in a news release about the festival, but it is likely that fewer artists will attend this year's event, if the strike is not settled. The Austin Film Festival runs Oct. 26-Nov. 2.

Highlights from the first Austin Film Festival announcement

"American Fiction," the directorial debut from Cord Jefferson, whose writing credits include "Succession," "Watchmen" and "The Good Place," is centered on a Black writer (Tony Award-winner Jeffrey Wright) frustrated by stereotypical pop culture tropes about Black culture. When he writes a "Black" book to prove a point, he becomes enmeshed in the world he disdains. The cast includes Tracey Ellis Ross and John Ortiz and includes appearances from Issa Rae and Sterling K. Brown. Jefferson will attend the festival.

Set in the lavish estate of a moneyed but eccentric British family, "Saltburn," from Academy Award-winning British filmmaker Emerald Fennel ("Promising Young Woman"), is a psychological thriller that explores privilege and desire. Barry Keoghan ("The Banshees of Inisherin") and Jacob Elordi ("Euphoria") are top-billed talent. "Saltburn" will be the fest's opening night film, and Fennel will attend the festival.

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With a backdrop of the commercial fishing industry,"Finestkind," featuring Ben Foster, Toby Wallace, Tommy Lee Jones and Jenna Ortega, explores the relationships between two brothers who grew up in different worlds and are reunited as adults. Over a fateful summer, they tangle with a violent Boston crime family. Writer/director Brian Helgeland will attend the fest.

Rap icon RZA stars as the patron of an exclusive artist-in-residency program in "Not An Artist," which will have a world premiere at the festival. Other world premieres include "The Trap," directed by Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister from "Game of Thrones"), Chase Joliet's "Grapefruit" and South African stoner comedy "Soweto Blaze."

How to attend Austin Film Festival

Check austinfilmfestival.com for updates on films, speakers, conference events, the annual Food & Film party, writing competitions and year-round programming. Prices start at $140 for a pair of film passes, $325 for a weekend badge and $450 for a conference badge, with other options and add-ons available.

This story has been updated to correct the number of films announced.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin Film Festival announces first 14 films for 2023 event