AFS Cinema Announces Grow Up, Tony Phillips Anniversary Halloween Screening

AFS Cinema will be getting ready for Halloween with a special 10th anniversary screening of an Austin original perfectly suited for the spooky season – Emily Hagins’ Grow Up, Tony Phillips.

The coming-of-age comedy screens Oct. 29 and stars Tony Vespe as the titular Tony Phillips, a Halloween-obsessed teen who takes the scary season a little too seriously. No, don't worry, he doesn't turn out to be an ax-wielding maniac, but he is having a tough time being the only kid in his class who still goes trick-or-treating. Vespe stars alongside Katie Folger (currently prepping her one-woman show Getting in Bed With the Pizza Man for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) as his best friend, Elle, and You're Next star AJ Bowen as Tony's disreputable uncle Pete.

The Kickstarter-funded movie was Hagins' fourth feature – a fact that's all the more amazing since she was only 20 when she directed it, having made her first film, Pathogen, when she was 12. It could easily be tripled billed with 2013's roleplaying satire Zero Charisma and Clay Liford's 2016 erotic fanfic comedy Slash, as all three embrace the nerdier side of Austin. The connections don't stop there, as Folger also starred in Zero Charisma alongside Sam Eidson (who also appears in Tony Phillips), while Arthur Dale (who played the younger version of Tony) was the lead in Liford's 2013 short version of Slash.

Plus, if you're really nerdy about the Austin film scene of the time, keep an eye out for appearances by many Austin film critics and reporters of the time, including Rod Paddock (Austin Chronicle, Slackerwood.com) and Scott Weinberg (Overhated), plus Spill.com alumni Brian Salisbury (Junkfood Cinema and Korey Coleman (Double Toasted).

The next few months of AFS programming are packed with locally connected films. Speaking of familiar faces from Austin's film-loving community, a pivotal figure in the early days of the Alamo Drafthouse and historian of fascinating corners of filmdom returns to town. Kier-La Janisse will be in attendance for a special screening on Sept. 20 of Monte Hellman's Cockfighter to celebrate the release of her new book, Cockfight: A Fable of Failure.

There'll also be the return of a South by Southwest favorite, Faders Up: The John Aielli Experience (Oct. 4-6), the new documentary by David Hartstein and Sam Wainwright Douglas about the local radio legend.

The beat goes on with a trio of special screenings of We Are Fugazi From Washington, D.C. (Oct. 23-30), a revolutionary look at the equally revolutionary hardcore pioneers, with the man who literally wrote the book on the band, co-curator Joe Gross, in attendance.

Meanwhile, experimental noizeniks the Invincible Czars wrap up their 49-city North American tour with a hometown performance of their live score of the original horror classic, 1922’s Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (Oct. 19).

Of course, this is only a quick glimpse into AFS Cinema's scheduling for the next few months. There'll also be an eight-film retrospective of the early works of documentarian Frederick Wiseman, from his 1968 breakout Law and Order to 1991's Aspen. Plus, don't hold back on buying tickets for To the Front, a mini-season focusing on women filmmakers in the Nineties indie explosion, with special screenings of Annette Haywood-Carter's Foxfire, Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. by Leslie Harris, and Susan Skoog's Whatever, with all three directors in attendance.

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AFS Cinema
6259 Middle Fiskville
More info and tickets at austinfilm.org/screenings/.