The AFS grant machine keeps paying for the next Texas filmmakers.

The Austin Film Society has given more than $3 million in cash grants to over 570 Texas filmmakers since 1996. The 2026 machine is running on schedule.

In February, AFS announced its short-film grant class: fifteen directors across fourteen projects, chosen from 225 eligible applications — twelve of the fifteen first-time AFS grantees, which is the statistic that matters if you care about the pipeline. Maria Mealla's Body Shop also took a $10,000 MPS Camera and Lighting award, and Ryan Darbonne's We Skip School a TBD Post color-and-conform award worth up to $12,000. “Short films are where a lot of our medium's creativity and vitality lives,” AFS's Head of Film Holly Herrick said with the round — and shorts remain the cheapest bet any film ecosystem can make on its own future.

In April, the feature cycle opened: up to $20,000 cash for Texas filmmakers, alongside the North Texas Pioneer Film Award, the New Texas Voices Award, and the Harrison McClure fund for undergraduate shorts. Applications closed May 20; recipients land later this year. The same announcement added seven filmmakers to the AFS advisory committee, including Greg Kwedar and Monique Walton of the Oscar-nominated Sing Sing — working filmmakers reading Texas applications.

The March gala

The Texas Film Awards, held March 5 at Robert Rodriguez's Troublemaker Studios, honored Texas-raised painter-filmmaker Julian Schnabel, Austin native Sydney Chandler with the Rising Star award, and character-actor institution Sonny Carl Davis — and threw a 25th-anniversary party for Spy Kids, the movie that proved a family blockbuster could be made in Austin on Austin's terms. The gala is the fundraiser; the grants above are what it funds.

Doc Days followed in early May: nine Austin premieres over four days at AFS Cinema, opening with Who Moves America and closing with Soul Patrol. Past Doc Days selections have a habit of turning up on award-season shortlists.

If you're a Texas filmmaker reading this: the short-film cycle opens again in July. Put it on the calendar. The people reading your application have been where you are — several of them as recently as this spring's class.