Press

"Cinematexas is a festival of great importance in the field of contemporary arts and media. The choices, openness, inventivity, and rigorous quality of the selection are unique. It is a Festival of reference."

—Nicole Brenez, Curator of the Experimental and Avant-Garde programs,
Cinémathèque française

"The best short film festival in the U.S."

—Leslie Thornton, filmmaker (Peggy & Fred in Hell)

"The wonderful thing about Cinematexas is that it sets out to do the impossible on the slenderest of means, and often succeeds. Getting to see the world premiere of the complete and finished Peggy and Fred in Hell is a good case in point, and so, apparently, are the Kiarostami and Jarmusch events that I missed the previous year. In contrast to the business orientation of other festivals (whose names I don't need to mention), the passion for cinema determines everything at Cinematexas--which makes it very special."

—Jonathan Rosenbaum, film critic, author of Movie Wars:
How Hollywood and the Media Conspire to Limit What Films We See

"The friendliest and best-programmed festival I've been to."

—Joe Gibbons, filmmaker (Confessions of a Sociopath)

"From my first exposure to Cinematexas, I [have been] awed by the imagination, energy, and dynamism that are in evidence, both in the festival’s curation and in its production. The festival’s juxtaposition of film with live music and performance art proves elegant, useful, and utterly organic, creating a cultural experience that is far greater than the sum of its parts."

—Shannon Kelley, Programmer, Sundance Film Festival;
Co-Director of Programming, Outfest

"It’s easy to become hopelessly drunk on the compassion, hospitality, and positive energy that Cinematexas radiates. As a young filmmaker, I can not express how deeply I appreciated the respect that my film and I were shown."

--Aaron Wickenden, filmmaker (Salingasian Chariot of Mnemosyne),
Portland, Oregon

"Cinematexas has become, in a very short time, simply one of the best, most varied and most respected venues for new independent film worldwide. The festival has become an important resource for many European curators, and an indispensable conduit to the larger, more established and prestigious film festivals. The sheer intelligence of the directors and staff is in evidence everywhere: in the cutting edge programming, in the various special projects, screenings, exhibitions, retrospectives and events that are produced, and in the accommodation of new media forms, and broad support of local, national and international works by emerging and established artists. I don't think there is anything else like it in the US, and few other programs of its caliber worldwide."

--Tom Zummer, critic and author of "Projection and Dis/embodiment: Genealogies of the Virtual" (a catalogue essay for the Whitney Museum’s exhibit
Into The Light: The Projected Image in America: 1964-1977)

"I have found a piece of free-minded, independent, educated , friendly filmland on earth: Cinematexas, Austin."

--Goran Rodvanovic, filmmaker (My Country), Sarajevo, Bosnia

"Cinematexas is about the ineluctable power of images and sounds--and that power can be poetic or political, but it is always evident."

--Holly Willis, RES magazine

"There are no other festivals that have earned international recognition and passionate admiration so quickly. Such promise is rare. Cinematexas followed its own mind and ran smack into the zeitgeist."

--Ralph McKay, Sixpack Film

"There is a well-earned national buzz going around. I will come back every year and I will tell everyone that Cinematexas is a do-not miss event. It is a signifier of the rebirth of radical media."

--Kate Horsfield, Executive Director, Video Data Bank

"Cinematexas is at the right place at the right time…hands down the most dedicated festival to developing film and art form engaged with contemporary culture."

--Roddy Bogawa, filmmaker + juror, Cinematexas 2000, New York City

"What a wonderful festival you all put on! I met great people and became eager to make more films, especially ones that continue to be committed to an alternative vision. What you did is incredibly unique in a world where ‘independent’ merely means pre-Hollywood."

--Catherine Hollander, filmmaker (Light As A Feather)

"Thank you so much for creating such a happy, intelligent festival environment"

--Johanna Hibbard, filmmaker (Vanilla Egg Cream, 3 Kisses)

"Not a day has gone by since I left that I haven’t told someone how totally magic my visit to Austin was. Thank you so much for each of your hard work and generosity. It really, really, matters."

--Miranda July, filmmaker + performance artist+ founder,
Joanie4Jackie distribution

"The week I spent in Austin was a total rejuventation. I left determined to make more films, and soon--in part because I’d been excited by what I’d seen and who I’d met, in part because I had been assured there was an audience for my kind of work, and in part because I was hellbent on coming back again next year."

--Daniel Cockburn, filmmaker (Dr. Virtuous, The Other Shoe, Rocket Man),
Toronto, Ontario

"Best Short Film Festival"
"Best Free Filmmaking Screening Venue"
"Best Outdoor Screening Venue"

--The Austin Chronicle, "Best of Austin 2001" issue