Austin Film Festival Sets Audience Award Winners, 2027 Dates

EXCLUSIVE: The screenwriter-forward Austin Film Festival has officially wrapped its 2026 edition, revealing its Audience Award winners and turning to plans for 2027, setting the opening of submissions for its Film and Script competition beginning next month.

Vincent Grashaw’s Bruton, the drama based on true story and starring Theo Rossi, Aya Cash, Tammy Blanchard and Tony Hale, won the Marquee Feature Audience Award, the fest said, while Vincent Lin’s Chopin took the Narrative Audience Award title. Alec C. Cohen’s Petunia, about a wild night with a sick cat, scored a special recognition prize in the Narrative category.

See the full list of Audience Award winners below.

Two pics that won competitive jury awards at this year’s fest — documentary short Buried Under Years of Dust and the digital series Matched — also won Audience Awards. Dust, from director Sophie Sartain and which traces the journey of Emily Grodin, a woman silenced by autism who finally finds her voice, will air on PBS’ Independent Lens in January.

Another Audience Award winner, the documentary feature Cradled By Grace, an Austin-produced documentary about jazz trumpeter Ephraim Owens, will air on PBS stations beginning in February.

AAF also has set plans for its 34th annual Festival & Writers Conference, which will take place October 14–21, 2027. Submissions for its Film and Script competitions open December 7.

The 2026 Writers Conference featured more than 200 panels, workshops, roundtables and pitch competition sessions, while the festival drew more than 35,000 attendees and showcased 199 films from 24 countries.

Below is the AFF Audience Award winners list.

MARQUEE FEATURE

Bruton (U.S.; U.S. premiere)
Writer-director: Vincent Grashaw
Cast: Theo Rossi, Aya Cash, Tammy Blanchard, Tony Hale
A tragic accident leads Bryan Bruton on a wild and unforgettable experience within the Florida prison system.

NARRATIVE FEATURE

Chopin (U.S.; world premiere)
Writer-director: Vincent Lin
Cast: Eddie Liu, Violett Beane, Leon Dai, Min Wu
A second-generation Taiwanese American returns to his small American hometown to reconnect with the workaholic father he barely knows.

NARRATIVE FEATURE – SPECIAL RECOGNITION

Petunia (U.S.; world premiere)
Writer-director: Alec C. Cohen
Cast: Charlie McDermott, Vanessa Marano, John Ross Bowie, Devon Werkheiser
When their kitten falls ill, an impulsive photographer and his overworked girlfriend scramble through a chaotic night of dead-end vet visits, financial roadblocks, and emotional clashes as they fight to save their pet and their relationship.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Cradled by Grace (U.S.; world premiere)
Director: Vanessa Reiser
Cast: Ephraim Owens, Peter Bay, Sam Lipman, Giveton Gelin
As iconic Austin trumpeter Ephraim Owens and composer Sam Lipman undertake an ambitious collaboration uniting Ephraim’s jazz style with the Austin Symphony Orchestra, a health challenge requires them to confront new realities and limits.

COMEDY VANGUARD FEATURE

Christmas Pop-Up (U.S.; world premiere)
Writer: Geena Pietromonaco
Director: Molly Muse
Cast: Geena Pietromonaco, Zach Gilford, Mano Agapion, Ayanna Berkshire
Desperate for a fresh start, an unlucky-in-love set decorator takes a job designing a Christmas Eve pop-up for a jaded celebrity chef, hoping to escape her current hell, living with her ex and his new girlfriend, before he proposes on New Year’s Eve.

DARK MATTERS FEATURE

Frank Stein M.D. (Canada; world premiere)
Writers: Rowen Kahn & Aidan Kahn
Director: Rowen Kahn
Cast: Rick Worthy, Rowen Kahn, Sarah Jeffery, Peter Kelamis
After a freak accident, a brilliant young neurosurgeon must do the unthinkable: Bring his estranged, mad-scientist father back to life. From the Kahn Brothers comes a brainy comedy about fathers and sons, science and madness, and second chances.

ANIMATED SHORT

A Little Death (Denmark)
Writer: Jonathan Rockefeller
Directors: Leto Meade, Jonathan Rockefeller
Cast: Nami Annette Gillet, John Sparkes
Death’s patience is tested as his sweet and gentle apprentice appears incapable of the task, leading him to seek professional help from the most unlikely of places.

DOCUMENTARY SHORT

Buried Under Years of Dust (U.S.)
Writer: Emily Grodin
Director: Sophie Sartain
Cast: Emily Grodin, Valerie Gilpeer, Tom Grodin, Marta Amaya
How does someone go from not communicating for 25 years to narrating her life story? Buried Under Years of Dust traces the remarkable journey of Emily Grodin, a woman silenced by autism, who finally finds her voice… and has a lot to say.

NARRATIVE SHORT

The 65^th (U.S.)
Writers: Lesley Paterson, Brian Bloom, Oscar Torres
Director: Anthony Nardolillo
Cast: Anthony Ramos, Ismael Cruz Cordova, JR Villareal, Luke Mitchell
Korea, 1952. A Puerto Rican soldier and his brothers must defend a vital hill against overwhelming forces, fighting not only for survival, but to prove they belong to the country they are willing to die for.

STUDENT SHORT

Pressure Points (US)
Writer-director: Janelle Lee Austin
Cast: Joan Deschamps, Norma Jean, Hung Nguyen, Bill Karnovsky
When two lifelong friends discover the spark in their marriages has faded, their sex lives are unexpectedly reignited by an unassuming elder with “magic hands” who unlocks desire and proves that sexuality has no expiration date.

PRODUCED DIGITAL SERIES

Matched (U.S.)
Writer: Dominique Salerno
Director: Elvira Ibragimova
Cast: Dominique Salerno, Jason Veasey, Michelle Hurd, Jason Kravits
An elite matchmaker creates a secret “dating ring” pairing her wealthy clients with out-of-work actors.