Now Playing at AFS: Cinematic Rarities and Discoveries

One of the best things about movies is the genuine feeling of discovery they can bring. Clicking play or purchasing a ticket often means making mental and emotional space for something that could change you. 

Whether it’s a filmmaker’s latest experiment, something beautifully animated, or a short that makes familiar elements feel fresh again, something made for the screen can continuously generate new experiences. The right movie can inspire creators, change minds, or bring strangers together.

The Austin Film Society has always curated and presented films in ways that center the thrill of watching something unique (or watching something you already knew in a new and unique way). In keeping with this approach, the virtual theater experience currently offers some rare films experiencing a second life as well as work by new and exciting storytellers.

SON OF THE WHITE MARE

(1981) dir. Marcell Jankovics

“In memory of the Scythians, Huns, Avars, and other nomadic peoples.” This message opens Son of the White Mare, an animated film restored by the Hungarian National Film Institute. It is visually stunning, epic in scope, and bold in its mythical storytelling. 

In addition to vibrant colors and innovative sounds, a core component of the film’s construction is the use of the drawn line. It informs characterization, conflict, speed of movement, and emotional turmoil. Things never stop being in motion, creating the effect of a single set of lines being played like musical instruments throughout the piece. They expand, contract, bend, and collapse in on themselves to craft the emotional bears of the story. 

The white mare is a goddess and her three sons are the best hope of defeating 77 dragons that represent the root of all evil. These ingredients make for scenes that observe how myths are constructed. There is a visual through-line of things like swords and spells conquering imitations of military and industrial might. Several villains are portrayed as bulky, geometric renderings of buildings, military weapons, and immovable mountains while the heroes are more elemental and drawn as such. 

The narrative of the film being restored coupled with the pure thrills of the sounds and visuals make for a great viewing experience. For people that already gravitate toward animation, this will be a delight. 

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STILL LIFE

(2006) dir. Jia Zhangke

Jia Zhangke’s quietly devastating film is notable for several reasons. In addition to winning the Golden Lion for Best Film at the 2006 Venice Film Festival and resonating as profound commentary on human displacement, it was approved by the Chinese government for viewing beyond its borders. That last point is ultimately concerning and indicative of the authoritarian suppression of creative work critiquing China. It’s also why the inclusion of this film among Austin Film Society’s current virtual slate presents an opportunity to experience some of the most moving gifts cinema can offer. Still Life opens gateways to artistry and human empathy that, due to several factors, have been closed for a long time.

In a series of beautifully observed vignettes, a collection of incredible performances conveys the struggles of people scrambling for stability. They are affected in a multitude of ways by oncoming floods and the construction of the Three Gorges Dam in a rapidly changing part of China. By setting the film in Fengjie, a city upstream of the dam, Zhangke was able to enhance each character’s experience with its ghostly atmosphere. The commitment of each actor cements an affecting portrayal of how class disparities, aggressive expansion policies, emotional distance, and the changing nature of land itself can converge to repeatedly restructure people’s realities.

Watching this film alone in my room—while contemplating the compounded effects of the pandemic and the United States’ accelerating trajectory toward long-term instability—made themes like loss, uncertainty, and an ever-changing future especially resonant. I am extremely fortunate to not have experienced it on the scale portrayed here, but Zhangke’s expansive idea of the human soul makes the film relatable on a number of levels. It embodies a wide spectrum of thinking, feeling, and surviving.

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2020 SUNDANCE SHORTS

Film festivals like Sundance are opportunities for innovative storytellers to draw more audience and industry eyes to their work. The collection of shorts in this 2020 showcase spans several regions, genres, belief systems, and methods of generating empathy. Streaming these shorts without looking anything up beforehand maintains something festivals are designed to preserve: an openness to the unexpected.

BENEVOLENT BA 

dir. Diffan Sina Norman

A goat must be slaughtered. That is the to-do list item that drives the plot of this satirical and somewhat whimsical take on how ritual, religion, gender norms, and societal expectations interact with more universal human insecurities. For example, someone facilitating the slaughter of a goat for religious reasons may be psychologically unable to commit the act themselves. Family members might feel obligated to participate without truly believing in the task at hand. The absurdity bubbling beneath so much of human existence is mined to great effect throughout this fast-paced story.

HOT FLASH

dir. Thea Hollatz

A weather reporter is experiencing what the title of this short indicates. Using smart and hilariously rendered animation, the film embeds the viewer within the main character’s predicament. It’s not just a matter of cooling down; it’s a struggle to feel whole, safe, and possessive of some degree of agency in a body. Confrontations with the realities of aging and the inherent violence of the male gaze as a default assumption imbue an increasingly tense narrative with meaningful nuance. The animation does not aim to offset the tension so much as effectively illustrate its surreal manifestations.

THE DEEPEST HOLE

dir. Matt McCormick

Following a warning about strobe effects, lines begin to populate the screen while a narrated preamble to something “disturbing” forms the opening soundtrack. Project MOHO, launched so that humans could drill a hole to the center of the planet, emerges as the primary subject of this documentary short. Through a series of archival clips discussing how this drilling project related to things like the space race, the film reveals just how many mysteries will always be framed as conquerable by human beings—especially when solving those mysteries become an asset in international rivalry and spiritual validation.

MEATS

dir. Ashley Williams

A woman is conflicted about what is about to happen to a dead lamb at a butcher shop. It remains wrapped in trash bags and displayed on a counter while a man named Chris listens to her stream-of-consciousness rationalizations. These include meditations on what it means to be vegan, confessional anecdotes about guilt-ridden human impulses, and implied pleas for connection. This short effectively and hilariously conjures many moral quandaries associated with both food and existence.

T

dir. Keisha Rae Witherspoon

This documentary short about the end of the T Ball in Miami focuses on themes of queerness, creativity, and what it takes for marginalized people to feel safe in their vulnerability. Each scene is intimate, lovingly observed, and part of a sustained exploration of what expressive spaces mean. One of the subjects directly addresses the audience by asking what they want to (or expect to) see. Those mourning the T Ball had grown comfortable being witnessed in a particular context that is no longer available to them. They are used to grief, but it’s especially hard after losing a collective, loving space.

SO WHAT IF THE GOATS DIE

dir. Sofia Alaoui

A man looking for grains to feed his goats begins questioning the very nature of human existence when he stumbles upon something extraordinary. The idea of a higher power being the only gateway to all mysteries of the universe has been called into question by the arrival of something in Earth’s atmosphere. This unknown entity drives people to begin taking drastic action. Upon learning what is happening—that there are visitors from beyond our planet in the sky—the main character begins expressing general doubts as to what human beings of faith actually know. He encounters several people that feel inclined to lean even more heavily into their beliefs in attempts to make sense of what’s going on. The decisions each character makes reflect how so many of our adopted beliefs simply reflect our selective taming of the unknowable. The apocalyptic nature of the story reminds us of how the pandemic feels—like a visit from forces beyond our immediate control.