Austin Film Festival Announces 2020 Lineup and US Premiere of DAVE NOT COMING BACK

Austin Film Festival & Writers Conference (AFF) announced today the full schedule of films and panels for the 27th annual Festival, this October 22-29, to be held exclusively online.

Gravitas Ventures joins the Festival with the US Premiere of Dave Not Coming Back, which chronicles the 283 meter cave dive of two friends Don and Dave, who find a dead body after breaking a world record, as well as the Utopia title Golden Arm written by Ann Marie Allison and Jenna Milly and directed by Maureen Bharoocha.

The slate will feature 22 world, North American, and US premieres directly hailing from AFF’s four feature film competition categories, including: the world premiere of director Felipe Mucci’s Two Deaths of Henry Baker written by and starring Sebastian Pigott with Gil Bellows, Tony Curran, Joe Dinicol, Jess Salgueiro, and Dani Kind. Produced by Neshama Entertainment, MarVista Entertainment and Particular Crowd; The Badger, starring Vishka Asayesh by Iranian indie writer/director Kazem Mollaie; and Good, written/directed by Justin Etheredge along with co-writer Nathan Allen starring Keith David, Nefetari Spencer, and Kali Racquel. Other world premiere titles include the Marshall Cook directed comedy Film Fest, co-written by Cook and Paul Alan Cope, starring Matt Cook, Diona Reasonover, CJ Vana, Laird Macintosh, and Will Sasso; along with Chelsea McEvoy’s and Ryan Tebbutt’s insightful documentary Re-Inventing The Wheel with a deep-dive into the Okanagan wheelchair community of Kelowna, Canada.

The Festival will showcase other world premieres highlighting Texas productions and talent including the World Premiere of Austin & LA based writer/director Justin Corsbie’s debut feature, Hard Luck Love Song, staring Michael Dorman (Amazon’s Patriot, Invisible Man), Sophia Bush, RZA, Dermot Mulroney, Brian Sacca, Melora Walters and Academy Award nominated Eric Roberts, and Queens of Pain co-directed by Cassie Hay and Amy Winston, chronicling the lives of three skaters for Gotham Girls Roller Derby (one of the most successful teams in New York sports history).

AFF also announced the world, North American, and US Premieres for a number of international films representing the countries of Spain, Denmark, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Cameroon, Iran, France, and Poland. Titles include the romantic comedy Time for Love, written/directed by Miguel Velez and starring Marcin Franc and Marta Sutor; the blistering dark comedy Standard written/directed by Fernando González Gómez; Carl Marlott’s thrilling sci-fi roller coaster The Blue Orchid; the filmmaking debut of Olivier Assoua with The Eagle’s Nest; and director O’Neil Bürgi’s dynamic documentary ALE chronicling a 19-year-old wrestling student’s unexpected journey to becoming a full-fledged wrestler.

AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL’S 2020 SLATE

MARQUEE FEATURES

Dave Not Coming Back (US Premiere)
Director: Jonah Malak

Golden Arm (Texas Premiere)
Writer: Ann Marie Allison, Jenna Milly
Director: Maureen Bharoocha

NARRATIVE FEATURES

The Catch (World Premiere)
Writer/Director: Matthew Ya-Hsiung Balzer

Paper Tiger (World Premiere)
Writer/Director: Paul Kowalski

Wake Show (World Premiere)
Writer: Aldo Miyashiro, Érika Villalobos, Abril Cárdenas
Director: Aldo Miyashiro

Vagabonds (Texas Premiere)
Writer: Philippe Dajoux, Rebecca Bitan
Director: Philippe Dajoux

Good (World Premiere)
Writer: Justin Etheredge, Nathan Allen
Director: Justin Etheredge

The Badger (North American Premiere)
Writer/Director: Kazem Mollaie

Two Deaths of Henry Baker (World Premiere)
Writer: Sebastian Pigott
Director: Felipe Mucci

Hard Luck Love Song (World Premiere)
Writer: Justin Corsbie, Craig Ugoretz, inspired by the song “Just Like Old Times” by Todd Snider
Director: Justin Corsbie