I'm a member of several film related associations, the longest of which is the Austin Film Society. AFS was founded by film fans and makers, and has been supporting film in so many ways it could take several posts to describe it all, from the running of the city owned Austin Studios, to world premiere events. 

One of my favorite programs is their Essential Cinema Series, six week long programs featuring a film a week, with a central theme.  Themes are as varied as the films, focusing on a director, a genre, a country, a period, or anything else that can create a theme.  Films can be very new, or very old, and in some cases play for the first time in Austin. 

It can get pretty esoteric and obscure, or more nostalgic, like the current series about  Fedric March, I Married a Witch: Fredric March’s Comic Curse.  I missed most of the recent "Third Wave" series on contemporary German cinema focusing on recent films by younger directors. I did catch Was nützt die Liebe in Gedanken (Love in Thoughts), which was very good. 

The cool thing is, it's free to AFS members, and cheap to the public ($4).  If you're in a higher membership bracket, you may even be able to bring in guests for free, and even have reserved seats.  As a film geek, it's the best of all worlds, seeing films on the big screen, and since they usually screen at the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar, it's also close to home, and I can eat dinner there.  What's not to like?

Not a film geek?  AFS' Chale Nafus usually has a handout with plenty of information about the film, filmmakers, and actors to satisfy any curiosity.

Here are the write-ups on the current series about Fedric March.  I do recommend reserving online prior to the show because occasionally the screenings sell out.   


Death Takes a Holiday
Tuesday, October 28 - 7pm (1hr 19 min)
Death is curious about why people fear him and cling to life, so he takes a short holiday as “Prince Sirki” and persuades Duke Lambert to invite him to a weekend party in his villa. There “Sirki” meets Grazia, who despite her engagement to Corrado, feels strangely drawn to the mysterious stranger. Two other female guests, Rhoda and Alda, are also intrigued by the Prince, but Alda feels frightened when she looks into his eyes. Death actually wishes to experience love and chooses Grazia as the object of his inexperienced “affection.” In such a scenario, complications are bound to arise.

Nothing Sacred
Tuesday, November 4 - 7pm (1hr 17 min)
Small town folks were usually depicted cinematically in the 30s as fish out of water when landing in New York City, but Hazel Flagg figures out a way to put one over on the big city slickers. Getting a quack diagnosis that she is dying from radium poisoning after painting too many watch dials, the eager young woman wins a free trip to the Big Apple where she is the proverbial toast of the town and object of a journalist’s fantasies.

I Married a Witch
Tuesday, November 11 - 7pm (1hr 17 min)
Burned at the stake several hundred years before, Jennifer returns to life to make life hell for the descendant of her Puritan executioner. But her love potion gets misdirected and she instead becomes infatuated with Jonathan rather than vice- versa. Attracted but not drawn to her, the man is more focused on his fiancée and his upcoming senatorial election. Jennifer’s drunken warlock father only further complicates matters in this classic screwball comedy.

The Best Years of Our Lives
Tuesday, November 18 - 7pm (2hrs 52 min)
Still one of the most powerful and relevant postwar movies to come out of Hollywood, THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES follows the lives of three returning veterans trying to reintegrate into their rather unremarkable pre-war lives. One has lost his hands in combat , another is returning to a dead-end job and a dying marriage, and the third (March), though securely middle-class, has been dramatically changed by wartime and intense male bonding, which transcended class divisions.



Membership in Austin Film Society is open to the public and starts at a mere $30.00.  And since it's a non-profit, your membership is tax deductible.