UT at the 2025 Austin Film Festival

October 23–30, 2025 • Austin, TX

We celebrate the many UT and RTF affiliates who are participating in the 32nd Austin Film Festival, including several listed below.

Features

Texas Independent Feature

Screening Times

Thursday October 23, 2025
6:30pm - 8:25pm • State Theatre
Thursday October 30, 2025
7:00pm - 8:56pm • Galaxy Theatre 7

Sell Out

Writers: Nicholas Jude Holden, Joshua Ashy Holden (BS '07)
Directors: Nicholas Jude Holden, Joshua Ashy Holden (BS '07)
Cast: Nick Holden, Stephanie Hunt, Olivia Applegate, Adrianne Palicki, Temple Baker, Gabriel Luna, Jimmy Gonzalez, Bill Wise

A neurotic novelist can’t tell if his biggest problem is the blank page, his Southern family —or his best friend’s off the rails political campaign.
(USA, 90 MIN)

Marquee

Screening Times

Sunday October 26, 2025
2:00pm - 4:07pm • State Theatre

Leads

Writer: Bryan Poyser (BS RTF '96), Heather Kafka, Justin Arnold
Director: Bryan Poyser (BS RTF '96)
Cast: Heather Kafka, Justin Arnold, Macon Blair

An acting professor has her life upended when her charming but volatile baby brother joins her acting class, setting off a battle of wills between them for the hearts and minds of her eager students that could bring them all to the brink of success or debilitating ruin.
(USA, 102 MIN)

Shorts

Shorts Program 6: Emotional Threads

Screening Times

Friday October 24, 2025
3:30pm - 5:38pm • Galaxy Theatre 5
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
1:30pm - 3:38pm CDT • Galaxy Theatre 4

Huntsville

Writer: Johnny McAllister (BS RTF '96), Annie Silverstein (MFA Production '13)
Director: Johnny McAllister (BS RTF '96)

J.W. drives across Texas to pick up his old friend, Will, on the day of his release from a three-year stint at the State Penitentiary. He brings along Will’s son, nine-year-old Cole, perhaps unwisely.
(USA, 14 min.)

Shorts Program 4: Strange Encounters

Screening Times

Friday October 24, 2025
6:15pm - 8:30pm • Galaxy Theatre 5
Tuesday October 28, 2025
12:30pm - 2:45pm • Galaxy Theatre 5

Those Who Love Me Will Follow Me

Writer: Alessandro Giovanni Lunghi (MFA Production '24), Ailish Elzy (RTF PhD Student)
Director: Alessandro Giovanni Lunghi (MFA Production '24)

When 8-year old Adom performs a holy miracle in his small Texas town, his mother Daniela is forced to fight against her church, her husband, and the community in order to protect him from media and religious exploitation.
(USA, 19 MIN)

Shorts Program 8: Everything Is Shorter In Texas

Screening Times

Friday October 24, 2025
9:35pm - 11:59pm • Galaxy Theatre 6
Monday October 27, 2025
6:45pm - 9:10pm • Galaxy Theatre 5

Roadside

Writer: Meron Ewnetou (BS '24) & Grant Norsworthy (BS '24)
Director: Macey Moser (BS '25)

A man and boy are stranded on the side of the road in the middle of the night.
(US, 11 MIN)

Tech Free Retreat

Writer: Kelsey Pribilski, C. Bailey Werner (BS RTF '14)
Director: Willie Rockefeller (BS RTF '09)

Cut off from smartphones during a secluded work retreat, a team of coworkers sees one member’s compulsive fact-checking habit unravel into madness.
(USA, 7)

Heated

Writer/Director: Shianne Salazar (MFA Production Student)

A 10-year-old Black girl grows frustrated with her natural hair and decides to straighten it without considering the damage it will cause to her scalp and her psyche.
(USA, 7)

Blasphemy

Writer/Director: Adam Tinius (BS RTF '09)

A grieving man at the end of his rope attends a church community group and quickly spirals out of control.
(US, 11 MIN)

Goblin

Writer/Director: Santiago Gardner Berkley (BS RTF '25)

Through a game of imagination, a determined young girl and her isolated, distant uncle gradually find a shared desire for friendship.
(US, 11 MIN)

Vandals

Writer: Josh Brener, Meghan Falcone
Director: C. Bailey Werner (BS RTF '14)

Jay and Maggie decide to upend their lives and live in a van. Things are awful... until their new neighbors come along, and a potential murder unfolds before them.
(US, 11 MIN)

Shorts Program 9: Coming of Age

Screening Times

Saturday October 25, 2025
12:15pm - 2:07pm • Galaxy Theatre 5
Tuesday October 28, 2025
1:00pm - 2:52pm • Galaxy Theatre 6

Stuck & Leaving

Writer/Director: Zoe Dahmen (RTF Student)

Two best friends believe they’ve found evidence of a missing teenager in a box of photos from the eighties and race to solve the puzzle before one of them has to leave town for a new life in New York.
(USA, 15 MIN)

Speakers & Moderators