2021 Austin Film Festival & Conference

WORLD PREMIRE

(USA,78 MIN)

Directors: Sam French, Clementine Malpas

At the height of the international occupation of Afghanistan, two women – Gulnaz, raped and impregnated by her uncle, and Farida, on the run from an abusive husband – are imprisoned on charges of “moral crimes” by an Afghan justice system that is supported by billions of dollars of aid money from the European Union. Shot over ten years, "With This Breath I Fly" follows these two courageous women as they fight for their freedom against a patriarchal Afghan society determined to keep them bound to tribal culture, while exposing the complicity of the European Union in censoring their voices.

(Sweden, 77 MIN)

Writer/Director: Zahavi Sanjavi


Imad is a five-year-old Yazidi child who is released from ISIS captivity after two and a half years. During this time, ISIS has brainwashed Imad and he considers himself one of the ISIS fighters. His eyes still emanate innocence, but he shows no other feelings than hatred for his mother and resentment towards those around him. Will Imad's family be able to help him overcome his trauma and become again the child he once was?

(USA, 100 MIN)

Writers/Directors: Jared Drake, Steven Siig

The story of an unprecedented avalanche that devastated a small mountain community and the forecaster responsible for predicting it.

(USA, 119 MIN)

Writer/Director: Justin Monroe


A talented, yet unknown LA artist wins the commission to create the largest stained-glass window of its kind, but he doesn’t know how to make it. After a desperate search, he finds someone who might have the answer…a famous glass maestro named, Narcissus Quagliata. From the moment Narcissus arrives, Tim quickly learns that his talent and humor can only take him so far. If he has any chance to make it to the end of the project and potentially achieve greatness, he has to put down his ego and submit to the life and artistic lessons of a complicated master, who has already preceded him in greatness.

USA PREMIERE

(USA, 95 MIN)

Writers: Danny Abel, Brett Blake
Director: Danny Abel


Jeremiah Heaton: Farmer. Father. Monarch? "The King of North Sudan" chronicles one Virginia man’s brash quest to turn a desolate patch of African desert into his very own country - and get unspeakably rich in the process. Jeremiah must navigate the murky waters of global diplomacy, U.S. military dark sites, and the Chinese criminal underbelly to turn his dream into reality. Can he do it before he bankrupts his family? What moral compromises will he have to make in order to succeed? And what can this teach us about white male privilege and what’s left of the American Dream?