Austin Film Society Announces Recipients of the 2024 AFS Grant for Short Films

January 7, 2025, AUSTIN, TX— The Austin Film Society announces the 21 filmmakers receiving the 2024 AFS Grant for Short Films, a production fund for emerging Texas filmmakers. Since its creation in 1996, the AFS Grant has awarded more than $2.7 million in cash grants to 540 Texas filmmakers, creating life-changing opportunities for exceptional emerging artists making visionary work from a state often overlooked by the film industry.

The full list of 2024 AFS Grant for Short Films recipients can be found below.

Grants in this funding cycle are awarded to short films — films 40 minutes or under — in any phase of production. For short-film funding in 2024, 19 projects by 21 director applicants were selected from 168 eligible applications, spanning narrative, documentary, animation and experimental work in diverse genres and styles. Among this year’s grant recipients, 17 of the 21 directors are receiving AFS grants for the first time.

AFS Head of Film and Creative Media Holly Herrick commented:

“Through the AFS Grant program, we experience how our contemporary art form continues Texas’ storytelling heritage. Texas is home to some of the world’s top filmmakers. Our shorts grant ensures support for the next generation of artists and that geographic origin doesn’t exclude these emerging talents from the resources they need to realize their vision.”

The AFS Grant for Short Films has an impressive track record. Recent jury prizes at Tribeca, AFI, SXSW and Doc NYC have gone to AFS-supported short projects (Sangre Violeta/Sangre Violenta, Birds, Walker, More Than I Want to Remember). One of this year’s repeat grantees, Flatbread Friends, secured ITVS funding and distribution after receiving its first AFS Grant. AFS’s history with short film grantees indicates many filmmakers build their film and TV careers after honing their craft with AFS support for short films (examples include Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan, David and Nathan Zellner, David Lowery and Kat Candler, among others).

In addition to the awards for shorts, AFS administers a special grant for an undergraduate student filmmaker through the Harrison McClure Endowed Film Fund. The 2024 recipient is Isaac Ehrler for his short film Here & Now.

AFS received support from MPS Camera and Lighting to provide an additional in-kind grant for production rentals and services for a filmmaker receiving cash funds from the AFS Grant. Director Alex Chew received the MPS Camera and Lighting Austin Grant for her short Bluegrass Radio, which awarded her $10,000 for a multi-day camera package rental.

AFS Grant Selection Process

The AFS Grant selections are made by a panel of industry experts. Those who jury the production grant reside outside of the state of Texas and are integral in selecting new and diverse talent. This year’s panel for the AFS Grant for Short Films included three independent filmmakers. On this panel was Kristian Mercado Figueroa, a leading voice in the emerging Puerto Rican cinematic movement and director of the award-winning short film Nuevo Rico as well as the critically acclaimed If You Were the Last starring Anthony Mackie and Zoë Chao. This year’s panel also included Emily Cohen Ibañez, a Colombian-American filmmaker based in Oakland, known for her award-winning feature documentary Fruits of Labor and her short film Sol in the Garden (co-directed with Débora Souza Silva), which premiered at SFIFF in 2023. The third panelist was Paul Sloop, an Ohio-based festival programmer who serves as the director of programming at Film Pittsburgh and the Cordillera International Film Festival as well as the lead programmer of short films for the Oscar®-qualifying Cleveland International Film Festival.

“It was amazing to see the competitive and impressive work that’s coming out of Texas,” said the panelists involved with the 2024 AFS Grant for Short Films. “It’s a lively, alive film community with a wide diversity of filmmaking approaches and perspectives. As enjoyable as it was to see the great work, it made the process that much more challenging. There are far more worthy projects than we could fund.”

A diverse committee of filmmakers, film industry professionals and former AFS Grant recipients act as first-round reviewers, providing feedback and recommendations to the panel. Reviewers included: Jackie Barragan, Alfred Cervantes, Angela Chen, Carlos F. Corral, Ryan Darbonne, Steven DeBose, Bears Rebecca Fonte, Bita Ghassemi, Niloo Jalilvand, Andee Kinzy, Daniel Labbs, Kim LeBlanc, Keith Maitland, Alejandra Martinez, Maverick Moore, Tony Ngyugen, Edwin Oliva, Maclane Paddock, Tamar Price, Giselle De La Rosa, Charlie Vela, Jessica Wolfson and Carlos Zapata. This year’s grant was administered by AFS Head of Film and Creative Media Holly Herrick, Senior Manager of Filmmaker Support Sharon Arteaga and Filmmaker Support Program Associate Maryan Nagy Captan.

Austin Film Society aims to actively work against the well-documented structural racism and sexism in the screen industries and brings an equity lens to the administration of all of its programs. Texas is among the nation’s most ethnically and culturally diverse places. The exceptional artists that AFS supports reflect the rich diversity of Texas, and many hail from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in the film industry. Demographics of directors submitting to and receiving the grant are listed in the addendum.

About the AFS Grant

The AFS Grant is administered with two application periods and deadlines.

• The AFS Grant for Feature Films application cycle is for documentary and narrative feature-length film projects (over 40 minutes) in any phase of production or feature-length films in development. The next application cycle for the AFS Grant for Feature Films will open in April 2025.

• The AFS Grant for Short Films application cycle is for short films, 40 minutes or under in length.

The AFS Grant has been a part of launching many significant careers. Filmmakers Kat Candler (former showrunner of O Network’s Queen Sugar, Hellion, 13 Reasons Why), David Lowery (The Green Knight, Pete’s Dragon, A Ghost Story), David and Nathan Zellner (Showtime’s The Curse, Damsel, Sasquatch Sunset), Channing Godfrey Peoples (Disney+’s Genius: MLK/X, Miss Juneteenth), Patrick Bresnan and Ivete Lucas (Skip Day, Directors’ Fortnight winners), Andrew Bujalski (Support The Girls, Funny Ha Ha) and Annie Silverstein (Bull, Cannes 2019 and SXSW 2020) all received production grants for shorts and/or independent feature films through the AFS Grant fund. This year’s Gotham Award-winning and Independent Spirit Awards-nominated narrative Sing Sing was made by three filmmakers previously supported by the AFS Grant: director Greg Kwedar, co-writer Clint Bentley and co-producer Monique Walton.

The AFS Grant is generously supported by grant partners Ley Line Entertainment, David Lowery, Oak Cliff Film Festival, the Warren Skaaren Charitable Trust, Kat Candler, Kyle and Noah Hawley, South by Southwest, MPS Camera and Lighting Austin and Stuck On On in addition to the City of Austin Economic Development Department/Cultural Arts Division and the Texas Commission on the Arts.

Recipients of the 2024 AFS Grant for Short Films

Louise Van Assche (Austin, TX)

Documentary Short in Pre-Production

A Safe Space — In the face of rising book bans and attempts to silence diverse narratives, Austin’s only Black youth librarian fights to keep their library a sanctuary for young readers.

Sarthwik Bollu (Aubrey, TX)

Narrative Short in Production

Jāti — As a couple strives for acceptance from a traditional father, the film paints a nuanced portrait of caste practice in the U.S., capturing the emotional struggles and how deeply held beliefs challenge relationships and reshape family dynamics.

Alex Chew (Austin, TX)

Narrative Short in Production, MPS Camera and Lighting Austin Award

Bluegrass Radio — Alone in her radio station, an ambitious late-night DJ gets an on-air call from a kidnapped woman that threatens to unravel every dark secret in her small town … including her own.

Mandy Kim Clinton (Houston, TX)

Narrative Short in Post-Production

Sukkot — Mira, a Korean-American adoptee who is longing to connect with her familial roots, unintentionally evokes an elderly Korean woman as she celebrates Sukkot with her Jewish boyfriend. The encounter propels her to a spiritual and cultural awakening.

Isaac Ehrler (Dallas, TX)

Narrative Short in Pre-Production, Harrison McClure Endowed Film Fund Award

Here & Now — A college student struggling with insomnia attends a late-night movie screening in hopes of falling asleep. There he encounters a former child actress. As the theater staff tries to close up, the boundaries between the drama on and behind the screen begin to blur.

Nicole Elmer (Austin, TX)

Narrative Short in Post-Production

Bone Guitar — A young metalhead, with the help of the God of Carrion, makes an electric guitar of bones, all to cheer up his big brother after he is kicked out of his death metal band.

Kayla Freeman (Austin, TX)

Narrative Short in Post-Production

Plant Moms — After a breakup, Tori is in need of some new friends. After receiving an invitation to a plant propagation party by her cool neighbor, things take a strange and dark turn.

Julián Fernández Garnik (Austin, TX)

Narrative Short in Post-Production

Amanece — Iker, a nine-year-old boy in Puerto Rico, navigates the thin line between fantasy and reality after a striking event tears at the fabric of family and safety in the island.

Crayton Gerst (Dallas, TX)

Narrative Short in Production

Eban Village — Struggling to maintain placement, a 14-year-old boy grapples with death and religion in a faith-based foster home.

Mauricio Hernandez (Austin, TX)

Animated Narrative Short in Production

The Red Door — In 1968 Mexico City, a construction worker discovers a colonial door at his worksite, buried under rubble and dust. As he searches for his missing brother amid a city torn by student protests, he becomes obsessed with unlocking the door’s secrets — without understanding the dark forces it may unleash should he open it.

Sabiha Khan (El Paso, TX)

Animated Documentary Short in Post-Production

Flatbread Friends — Flatbread Friends is the story of women with differing origins who bond over a food item that evokes memory, history, and legacy.

William Magnuson and Max Perkins (Wrong Brother Productions) (Austin, TX)

Narrative Short in Post-Production

The Busboy — The Busboy is a noir action-comedy that follows Brick, a young busboy at a Matter Farms cafeteria who witnesses the severe consequences of defying the company’s complete authority. As Brick navigates a world of corporate greed, culinary cartels, and mystical power, he delves into the philosophical question of humanity’s role within nature. In this strange yet familiar world, Brick is propelled into a series of events that will not only change his destiny but also reshape life on the planet indefinitely.

Amy Martinez (Austin, TX)

Documentary Short in Post-Production

The School of Hope — The School of Hope follows two children at the U.S.-Mexico border who find hope and healing in a one-room school while waiting for asylum.

Joel Mendez-Zarate (Dallas, TX)

Narrative Short in Post-Production

The Fatal Egg — A man tries to make an egg for breakfast, but the universe has other plans.

India Opzoomer (Austin, TX)

Narrative Short in Post-Production

Poster Boy — In the cutthroat world of ’90s boy bands, a desperate 16-year-old dancer betrays his best friend and bandmates in a misguided attempt to secure his spot in the limelight, only to discover the true cost of fame.

Nicholas Pitts (Longview, TX)

Narrative Short in Production

Just My Luck — A high school boy, hired to mow a horribly overgrown lawn, accidentally awakens a magical genie living inside a watering can. Only he doesn’t even notice the genie, let alone the three wishes he was granted.

Megan “Megz” Trufant Tillman and Kimiko Matsuda-Lawrence (McKinney, TX)

Narrative Short in Production

The Birthday Song — A Black girl’s intimate remembering of her 13th birthday on the eve of Hurricane Katrina.

Calvin J. Walker (Fairview, TX)

Narrative Short in Production

Paper Dad — A man trapped in a dimension constructed by his bills finds himself separated from his family.

Fatima Wardy (Austin, TX)

Narrative Short in Post-Production

White Musk — A young Sudanese woman comes to terms with the loss of her terminally ill mother. Only by performing the Islamic funeral rite of ghusl mayyit can she learn to let her go.

About Austin Film Society

Founded in 1985 by filmmaker Richard Linklater, AFS creates life-changing opportunities for filmmakers, catalyzes Austin and Texas as a creative hub, and brings the community together around great film. AFS is committed to racial equity and inclusion, with an objective to deliver programs that actively dismantle the structural racism, sexism and other bias in the screen industries. AFS supports filmmakers from all backgrounds towards career leaps, encouraging exceptional artistic projects with grants and support services. AFS operates Austin Studios, a 20-acre production facility, to attract and grow the creative media ecosystem. Austin Public, a space for our city’s diverse mediamakers to train and collaborate, provides many points of access to filmmaking and film careers. The AFS Cinema is an ambitiously programmed repertory and first run arthouse with broad community engagement. By hosting premieres, local and international industry events, and the Texas Film Awards, AFS shines the national spotlight on Texas filmmakers while connecting Austin and Texas to the wider film community. AFS is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.