
Nothing brings the staff of a film festival greater joy than seeing one of its programmed films going on to conquer the hearts and minds of moviegoers everywhere. We were also so pleased to see “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore,” which won both our Jury and our Audience Award for Best Animated Short, go on to win the Oscar in that category. I can remember the day that my fellow film programmer, Stephen Belyeu, and I watched that film for the first time. We both knew we had just seen something very special, and we were so honored to introduce it to our festival audience and the Austin moviegoing community at large. Those are the moments that make this job so rewarding, and we can’t wait to do it all over again this October. Here’s to another year at the movies!