About
Since its inception in 1995 as a tiny student showcase, the festival
has grown rapidly, mutating with each new edition. Our competition
program is a forum, an ongoing argument, a free zone for celebrating
and exchanging stories, for collaborations and for exposing audiences
to brave and radical forays in cinema. We seek out and reward
films that provoke, expose and explore the short format as a genre in
itself, arduously defending the beauty, social role and integrity of
the moving image. Although our first and primary focus was and is short
film, over the years we have come to understand and champion this
truth: artistic expression cannot be confined to a camera, projector
and a screen.
At present, the festival includes sidebars for theater, performance art
and all manner of live performance (Eye + Ear); invitational film/video
programs in which programmers and filmmakers are invited to trace the
face of their city/country of origin, exile, transit or residence
(Face/Off); site-specific moving image installations (Terra Cognita); a
symposium about life as seen through the eyes of communities instead of
through the lens of mainstream media ; and free
filmmaking workshops for children with scant resources .
Cinematexas has been called "one of the most significant and inspiring
film festivals in the country" by indieWIRE. “Through a
consistently high standard of adventurous, unabashedly cerebral
programming, Cinematexas has earned a place as one of the most vital
showcases for visionary cinema in the U.S.” – Ioannis Mookas, senses of
cinema, Fall 2004. We are downright humbled and amazed by what we have
created when composer Terry Riley, a true pioneer of creative
expression, tells us “It is really remarkable what you are doing. I
wish there were more things around the country like it.”
About Parallax View
Parallax View is an annual forum for media-based artwork and
dialogue that takes a critical position on contemporary political
issues. The artists, scholars, and activists who are invited to
Parallax View each year interrogate the dominant discourse of current
information-based media and offer both alternative messages and modes
of transmission. Encouraging a climate of public debate between
participants and audience, and presenting radical work from film/video,
performance, installation, micro-radio, community initiatives, and the
international grassroots arena, Parallax View is a vital laboratory for
the discussion and promotion of alternatives to mainstream media and
its manufacture.
About Eye+Ear
Started in 1999, Eye+Ear traces the convergence of aural and visual
media performance. Complementing the films and videos celebrated
elsewhere in the festival, Eye+Ear exposes Austin to courageous musical
experimentation – live, multi-disciplined and crucial. Some
productions are commissioned by Cinematexas; all are setting foot on
Austin’s stage for the first time.
About Face/Off
Programmers and filmmakers are invited to trace the face of their
cities, latitudes, topographies or psycho-geographies – of origin,
exile, transit or residence. As these faces stare at each other,
or stare each other out, it’s possible that features and expressions
will be mirrored, distorted, swapped, coalesced or repelled.
Despite the confrontational implication of the term, face/off is not
meant to be a duel. Nor does it intend to survey the
filmic-scapes conjured by the guest programmers. It’s concern as
a perennial program is to assemble a series of sociopolitical aesthetic
interfaces, and to attempt a reconnaissance tour.
About Terra Cognita
Terra Cognita, a multimedia, moving-image installation program,
brings internationally known and local artists together in
site-specific exhibitions throughout Austin. Venues range from street
corners and under-utilized commercial complexes to the city’s most
astute galleries, art centers and museums.
About International Competition
Our International competition programs are a free zone for
celebrating and exchanging stories and exposing audiences to brave
forays in cinema. In 2004-2005 Competition highlights toured seventeen
venues in five different countries as the Cinematexas Roadshow.
About UT student Competition
The University of Texas Student Competition, the core program upon
which Cinematexas was founded, continues to be a vital part of the
festival, showcasing approximately fifty of the year’s best films from
University of Texas students. As a direct result of exposure at
Cinematexas, UT student filmmakers have signed feature production
deals, had work picked up by major video distributors, and screened
films internationally at festivals including International Film
Festival Rotterdam and the Thessaloniki Film Festival in Greece.
About Cinemakids
Cinemakids offers free filmmaking workshops for children with scant
resources, and screens youth-made films from around the globe, bringing
to public awareness children’s perspectives on their lives,
communities, and particular social issues. Unlike most youth film
festivals, Cinemakids does not look for “the Steven Spielbergs of the
future,” but instead focuses on economically disadvantaged children,
treating youth-media as a viable method of artistic expression, rather
than as a road to a career in mass media.