Samantha Melvin: “Genius Loci”
Through October 5, Link & Pin Gallery
In Latin, “genius loci” refers to a place’s spiritual guardian, but as the years wear down the finer Roman points on the phrase, the meaning has shifted more toward a place’s vibe than its protector. Mixed media artist Samantha Melvin invokes this later interpretation in her show at Link & Pin by identifying local plant diversity as the true “spirits of the place.” In the utilization of botanical shapes, Melvin explores how the fauna native to an area function as a metaphor for where we as humans plant ourselves. The show opens this Thursday with a reception on Saturday, Sept. 6, and an artist talk on Sept. 14. – James Scott
Freedom for Families
Thursday 4, Memorial United Methodist Church
Immigrant Services Network of Austin hosts this event to help educate and connect you with your immigrant neighbors. A panel of experts relays crucial information on the current immigration enforcement efforts’ impact on our community, and firsthand accounts will be read from adults and kids currently in immigration detention. Use the emotions these interactions inspire while taking part in an art project “celebrating migration as a human right,” and feed your volunteer spirit by chatting with one of the many local orgs on-site. Oh, and also feed your stomach, as there’ll be a dinner buffet with veggie options. – James Scott
Animation Mixtape
Friday 5 – Friday 12, AFS Cinema
The intro to Animation Mixtape, a mind-bending showcase of a dozen shorts curated by local legend Don Hertzfeldt, is worth the price of admission alone. Minute one revives Hertzfeldt’s “Rejected” stick-figure blobbies; they trade screams for 60 seconds, in itself an absolute scream. Minute two, the blobbies issue a disclaimer that “certain portions of tonight’s program will be animated with artificial intelligence”: cue fuzzy-wuzzy CGI creatures mutating into vomiting, exsanguinating freak shows. And there’s still 83 minutes to go! It’s not all giggling carnage: The international assemblage shows off eclectic animation styles and moods that careen from trippy to sardonic to existential, and includes some vintage animation Hertzfeldt cites as influences on his own award-winning work. Highly recommended. – Kimberley Jones
El Mariachi
Friday 5, Hyperreal Film Club
Two films built the modern Austin film scene. One, Slacker, natch. But without Robert Rodriguez taking the $7,225 he made from being a pharmaceutical industry guinea pig, and heading over the border to Ciudad Acuña with a borrowed Arriflex 16S to make the ultimate low-budget action flick, where would we be? No Troublemaker Studios, no Sin City or Spy Kids or Alita: Battle Angel; no one proving that Austin can make fun-filled blockbusters as well as arthouse gems. Check out the movie that started it all, presented by Hyperreal and Cine Las Americas as part of Hispanic Heritage Month. – Richard Whittaker
Yard Dog 30th Anniversary Show
Friday 5, Continental Club; Saturday 6, Yard Dog Gallery
Purveyor of arts from fine to pop, Yard Dog celebrates 30 years showcasing sensational artists with a – you’re not gonna believe this – showcase of sensational artists. The party starts kicking on Friday with a show at Continental Club featuring strumming from rockers Ice Cold Singles, the post-punk-influenced Wild Seeds, and Jon Langford & the Far Forlorn, who also make an appearance at Saturday night’s opening reception for the Dog’s anniversary group show. They join the live music lineup alongside Rico Bell and Deano Waco, while on the walls artists like Jane Reichle, Krissy Teegerstrom, and Mikki Itzigsohn (among many others) get featured. There’ll also be an Eric Bellis retrospective, a Yard-Dog-through-the-years slideshow, folk art in the new trailer out back, and probably new memories being made as year 31 looms in the not-so-distant future. – James Scott
Small Plates Choreographer Fest
Friday 5 – Saturday 6, Ground Floor Theatre
Beth McKee Elliott’s aim in starting this curated dance-centric festival back in 2012 was both to offer fellow choreographers and dancers performance opportunities as well as “merge artists with the unique culture of each host city.” These artists get a second crack at integrating Austin’s vibe into short-form dance works this weekend as the Elliott-started event returns. Assistant director Jennifer Williams hosts, and attendees will enjoy myriad dance styles and storytelling in a tapas-like feast of movement. – James Scott
Prime Timers: Morning Mahjong!
Friday 5, Howson Branch Library
The Chinese tile game mahjong is enjoying a recent surge in popularity, spurred along by social media apps like TikTok and Instagram, and has been played since the mid-1800s. Many of us play digital versions of the classic game, but for those who want to get their paws on some actual tiles, Austin Public Library has an ongoing board game series for older adults to get together and play IRL. Drop in from 10am to noon to try your hand at it, and check the library’s schedule for more board game meetups. – Kat McNevins
Bat Fest 2025
Saturday 6, Congress Bridge
Do you hear the flutter of nocturnal wings thundering through ye olde Austin Downtown? Well, that just means Bat Fest’s back. Created to educate Austinites on their winged cohabitors, aka bats, the family-friendly festival gathers on the bridge beneath which over 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats live. Hopefully they’re not too annoyed with the noise, as Bat Fest promises performances by Silversun Pickups, Waka Flocka Flame, RiFF RAFF, and many other musical artists alongside DJ sets and the Austin Bats Dance Team. Plus, a kids area, food and drink vendors, arts & craft booths, and a costume contest where the best bat looks win $100 and other prizes. – James Scott
Menstruation Frustration
Saturday 6, University Hills Branch Library
Did you know that certain city facilities, including the Austin Public Library system, offer free menstrual products? In an effort to spread the word, the University Hills Branch – located near MLK-183 – is offering free snacks, tea, and crafts, in addition to pads and tampons. Let’s face it: Having a period sucks and free stuff rocks, so you might as well take advantage, commiserate with your fellow menstruators, and maybe check out a book while you’re at it. – Carys Anderson
Art in the Park
Saturday 6, Mary Moore Searight District Park
Austinites are blessed with a wide variety of beautiful green spaces and parks, as well as a host of arts nonprofits that add more beauty to our world. Painting Pandas is one of those NPs, offering free art education and supplies to Austin kids since 2020. They’ll bring a crafty activity to the park from 10 to 11am so families can get their creative juices flowing while enjoying a lovely time outdoors. – Kat McNevins
Say Cheese: Cheese Making Class
Saturday 6, Pioneer Farms
I’m not saying between the rise of AI and the dismantling of democracy that society as we know it is on the precipice of collapse … but I’m not *not* saying it, y’know? Which makes now an excellent time to embrace some real early pioneer shit and learn the principles of making “1800s hard and soft cheeses” on-site at Pioneer Farms’ Jourdan Cabin, constructed in 1878. All materials provided – you just need to bring the DIY spirit of our ancestors (plus $70 for the class, purchased online in advance to reserve your space). Not feeling cheese? This living history park and museum has lots of fun classes to help you unleash your inner pioneer-slash-doomsday prepper. – Kimberley Jones
Oppenheimer
Saturday 6 – Sunday 7 & Wednesday 10, Alamo South Lamar
What can one say about Christopher Nolan’s greatest achievement, a history of the first half of the 20th century through the eyes and mind of a man that changed the world and was thrown to the curb for it? Cillian Murphy’s Oscar-winning performance as the father of the atomic bomb shines like the heart of a nuclear explosion, especially in his clashes with Robert Downey Jr. as his nemesis, Rear Admiral Lewis Strauss. Sexual politics burn as hot as the wartime conflict, and these screenings bring it all back to audiences in overwhelming 70mm. – Richard Whittaker
One Year in the Books
Saturday 6, Lynny’s
Austin Used Book Collective celebrates one spin around the sun with what they do best: a used book market. Dropping in at the stomping grounds of AUBC member Time Being Books, the whole secondhand lit crew (Idle Hands, Sleeper Books, J. Simon, and Rand Renfrow) as well as a few special guests (Mac Beso, Book Season, and Rad Comics ATX) set up a morning to early afternoon hot-spot for all paperback enjoyers. Spice up your secondhand purchase by snagging a snack from Lynny’s on-site truck, a free Tejas seltzer, or a book-inspired tattoo by Lucky Duckkie. – James Scott
Ian Shults: “Fotomat”
Through September 28, Wally Workman Gallery
Instant printing “fotomat” booths were sentries from a bygone era: a quick-and-dirty way to get photos, the immediacy of image preserved forever. Which makes sense when paired with Wally Workman’s Ian Shults exhibit, whose work has the vibe of something precious processed through grime. Cinematic stills of faces or bodies in motion grace each piece, figures crackling with energy, slashed through with asymmetrical lines or enhanced with specks and dots. They aren’t photorealistic, necessarily, but they get to the honest soul of a work – a quick processed view of something greater. Saturday’s opening reception marks a scant three weeks to view them in person. – Cat McCarrey
Katy McCarthy: “Chorion Song”
Through October 11, Ivester Contemporary
Motherhood is darker than the baby-needs aisle portrays it – more painted in various bodily fluids than pastel pinks and blues. Artist, filmmaker, and educator Katy McCarthy aims to capture that whimsical surreality of parenthood in her second solo exhibition with Ivester via photographs and video work. Utilizing miniature figurines and buildings as well as placenta harvested from the recent birth of her first child, McCarthy portrays what Ivester calls “the contradictions of motherhood: joy and fatigue, play and responsibility, the tender and the grotesque.” – James Scott
Peking Opera Blues
Saturday 6 – Sunday 7 & Wednesday 10, AFS Cinema
Austin Film Society and Austin Asian American Film Festival partner to present this newly restored edition of director Tsui Hark’s 10th film. Calling to mind the political theatre thrills of ol’ Willy Shakes’ Hamlet, Hark’s tribute to the actual Peking Opera follows three women who utilize their performances as a way to fight for what they care about. Actress Sally Yeh (also in Hark’s Shanghai Blues) received a Hong Kong Film Awards nomination for playing the born-into-opera Bai Niu, with other nominations also pinned to supporting actor Paul Chun, cinematographer Hang Sang Poon, film editor David Wu, the art direction team, and action choreographer Ching Siu-tung. – James Scott
“Dog Days” Closing Reception
Saturday 6, DORF Gallery
For its summer show “Dog Days,” DORF tasked 20 artists with depicting the deep, personal bond between man and dog. If you, like me, read that logline and think, “sign me up,” get to the South Lamar gallery on Saturday before the exhibition wraps for good. The closing reception features a performance by participating artist Katherine Vaughn – with her dog Saba, of course – which animates her sculptural installation with live play. The phrase “dog days” usually refers to our worst periods, but all pet owners know that any period spent with our pups is one of love, trust, and beauty. – Carys Anderson
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
Saturday 6 – Wednesday 10, Alamo Village, Slaughter Lane, Lakeline & Mueller
The Freddy franchise (Christian name The Nightmare on Elm Street series) is known for its strange sequel journey, particularly the second film’s decision to spring Robert Englund’s quippy creep on a totally new cast of characters. Third entry Dream Warriors snaps back to original Freddy flavor with returning final girl Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp), whose trauma has turned her toward a psych career. When her teen patients begin to suffer the same haunting dreams she faced back in Nightmare numero uno, Nancy must train the kids to use their dream powers against Freddy – or risk his slicers cutting their young lives short. – James Scott
Sounds of Africa With Elizabeth Kahura
Saturday 6, African American Cultural & Heritage Facility
For African Immigrant Heritage Month, Austin Public Library brings in one of Austin’s foremost experts to lead an engaging workshop on African music, dance, and instruments. Elizabeth Kahura, founder of the African Safari Program, was born in Kenya and now shares her cultural knowledge via storytelling, singing, and performance. At this workshop, learn all about music from different parts of Africa, and even create your own instrument. – Kat McNevins
The Breakfast Club
Saturday 6 & Monday 8 – Tuesday 9, Alamo Slaughter Lane & Mueller
Yeah, despite the name, I don’t recall anyone in this John Hughes classic ever eating, like, an egg-and-cheese or even a Lou Mitchell’s pancake. Instead, these teens feast on life lessons through their Saturday detention stay like “don’t judge someone before you get to know them” or “weird alt girls are only attractive AFTER a makeover.” Look, not every lesson learned by the Jock, the Princess, the Brain, the Criminal, and the Basket Case holds up some 40 years later, but the comforting rhythms of an Eighties teen dramedy smooth over any modern concerns. Just enjoy the nostalgia and the iconic Simple Minds’ needle drop. – James Scott
Happiness
Saturday 6 – Monday 8, AFS Cinema
Much media has been made about suburban malaise, that specific experience resulting from achieving the American dream. For most of us out here struggling, it may seem like the quaint complaint of those lucky enough to have time for existentialism. But Todd Solondz surgically removes the navel-gazing and replaces it with a horrific but sort of moving black comedy in this portrait of three sisters. Trish, ostensibly the success story, is a housewife married to a pedophilic psychiatrist. Said doctor’s depressive patient Philip Seymour Hoffman makes blue phone calls to second sister Helen, a glamorous poet, and third sister Joy is an aimless aspiring singer-songwriter (the heart of the bunch) bumbling through jobs and men. Solondz renders the normal as profoundly off in this uncomfortably hilarious comedy. – Lina Fisher
The Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival
Sunday 7, The Far Out Lounge & Stage
We’ve been torturing taste buds for 35 years now, so you think we’d be used to the heat. Yet we – and all y’all – sweat it out every year. Local and national heat makers converge to showcase new and classic tastes suitable for any palate at this hot-sauce celebration conjured up by us, the Chron crew. If your taste buds need a break, there’s food and beverages that live somewhat lower on the Scoville scale. Live music from Gran Moreno, West Texas Exiles, Los Desechos, and Mira Mira ensures that your ears aren’t jealous of all the attention your tongue is getting. Don’t forget to vote for your favorite spicy condiments, assuming the heat hasn’t gotten to your head. – James Renovitch
Lagers and Literature
Sunday 7, Meanwhile Brewing
My dream date, and he knows that: Lagers and Literature, where local authors, booksellers, and printmakers converge on the grounds of beer garden Meanwhile Brewing. Shop from vendors like the Little Gay Shop, Birdhouse Books, and Alienated Majesty; snag some baked goods or a live screenprinted book bag; and learn how to make a zine, write a poem, or design a bookmark at hands-on craft booths – then try Meanwhile’s new Bookworm Coffee Cream Ale, a collaboration with Austin Public Library. Donate to the event’s book drive, or drink the brewery’s Darlin’ Lager, to support the Inside Books Project, which sends free reading materials to incarcerated Texans. – Carys Anderson
Bottle Alley Theatre’s Goth Prom
Sunday 7, Hyperreal Film Club
Support your local punk theatre troupe and unleash your inner ghoul at Goth Prom. What a match made in heaven – er, hell. Bottle Alley’s celebrating their lucky 13th anniversary in style, with a prom to make your nightmares come true. Spooky tunes, creepy cocktails, and grimcore corsage-making transform bland teenage dream dances into a haunted hellscape that could inspire smiles from even the darkest of souls. Jessi of Gingerly Fire will be on hand to read tarot, and who knows – maybe she’ll find out who will be crowned goth royalty. – Cat McCarrey
Inspire Victorious: Possessed by Ecstasy of Gold
Sunday 7, Empire Control Room & Garage
Dost thine blood boil while ringside? Get ready for it to spill, then, because this Sunday’s card features smackdowns all across, including the Inspire debuts of Santana Jackson, Auzzy, and, in a tag-team with wrestler Josiah Jean, Jonny Lyons. Returning Inspire Pro Champ Devin Carter defends their title from Will Allday and Danny Orion in a three-way match; Maya World issues an open challenge for her Pure Prestige Championship belt; and reigning Twin Dragon Connection belt holders Project Wasteland go up against Jay Sky/Blackrose and the Born Haters for a tornado tag team title match. All this and more haunt the Empire atmosphere on September’s seventh day. – James Scott
Unboxing the Archives
Sunday 7, Austin History Center
Everyone is always saying that Austin was better back in the day. Well, the folks at the Austin History Center take “back in the day” to a whole other level with this new exhibit featuring images going back to way before you were born. [Editor’s note: Well, considering we have many older readers, that might not be true!] Take a tour of the organization’s new home at 800 Guadalupe if you aren’t too distracted by the food, treats, kids activities, and sounds from DJ Chorizo Funk and DJ Hunt. At the very least, all of these images and reminiscences will make you feel young regardless of your actual age. – James Renovitch
Want to see all of our listings broken down by day? Go to austinchronicle.com/calendar and see what’s happening now or in the coming week.
This article appears in The 35th Annual Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival.
