In the age of streaming and the decline of theatres, the movie viewing experience can feel more isolating than ever, but there’s still plenty of community to be found in front of a screen’s glow if you know where to look. Austin’s Hyperreal Film Club has been proving that for the past 10 years, forming a tight-knit bond with the city’s growing community of dedicated film lovers.
If you walked into their brick-and-mortar theatre on Chicon Street for last month’s Fusebox-presented Hack the Planet event, you would’ve seen the space completely transformed into Cyberdelia, the cyberpunk, graffiti-filled clubhouse from the film Hackers.
“It was like a computer threw up onto a physical space,” said film programmer and rentals manager Louise Ho.
Vendors sold vintage clothing, artists spray-painted shirts, and everyone shared in their adoration for the 1995 cult classic. This sort of bustling, community-centered energy is the norm for nights spent at Hyperreal and it’s what first drew in John Garcia, their current venue manager, when he attended a 2021 Hotel Vegas screening of the campy Vegas in Space.
“I saw a bunch of volunteers putting up chairs, kind of setting the scene,” Garcia said. “Then watching the movie and seeing a presentation and a short film beforehand – it was just inspiring.”
Founded in 2016 by three artistically inclined childhood friends – Jenni Kaye, David McMichael, and Tanner Hadfield – the trio set out to create a consistent meeting and mingling space. “From the beginning it was an exercise in building community,” Hadfield said.
The co-founders didn’t initially set out to create a film club. The idea took shape when McMichael wandered into an exhibition space on Congress Avenue run by the local nonprofit Co-Lab Projects. “They had been thinking about doing a movie night, and so we said that we could do that,” Hadfield said.
From there, they moved throughout Austin, hosting various pop-up screenings often in intimate spaces like friends’ living rooms or backyards, as well as art galleries, restaurants, and hotels. The films they programmed were often demanding, attention-grabbing films that sparked conversation, like Prince of Darkness or The Holy Mountain. Each feature was preceded by a short film from a local filmmaker, ranging from high-gloss festival selections to no-budget first-time efforts.
“We want to bring people together to celebrate folks who have made something,” McMichael said. “It’s fucking hard to make anything and we know that.”
In 2021, Hyperreal found a reliable space and time at Hotel Vegas on Monday nights, blasting loud movies to counter the bar noise, and creating an intermission that gave the audience a break from the uncomfortable folding chairs in addition to a further chance to socialize.
The team at Hyperreal decided they needed to look at moving into a forever home for the club: something more comfortable, versatile, and capable of hosting several screenings a week. In 2024, they moved into their current 60-seat, two-story East Austin home, thanks in large part to a Kickstarter campaign that raised over $60,000.
“It was a big, dark warehouse that was kind of like a black box we could do whatever in,” Ho said.
Carpentry-inclined volunteers transformed the large, dark warehouse into a functional movie theatre, building a spinning VHS installation, a projection booth, and a wooden bar from scratch. Garcia sourced seats – much more comfortable than folding chairs – from a shut-down theatre in his hometown of Lockhart.
Now hosting screenings every weekday, the nonprofit relies on an expanded team of volunteers and funding from sliding scale ticket purchases, monthly memberships, and grants to keep things running. With the added stability, Hyperreal has expanded into more elaborate and immersive programming, while still always trying to stay true to their “cinema for the people” ethos.
“They really give a lot of freedom for us to kind of pitch projects that we’re passionate about,” said film programmer Ziah Grace – who you may have seen turn himself into a human piñata for a screening of Jackass last year.
Grace helped start the club’s film journal, giving writers a way to break into the world of film criticism for the first time.
Ho runs the Carabiner Club, a Sapphic singles night and one of a multitude of specialized series at Hyperreal. In April they screened Bottoms, with a performance by drag queen Karabiner during intermission and a self-defense demonstration from Queer MMA. Ho also oversees weekend venue rentals where birthday parties and indie film festivals get to temporarily make the space their home.
“Seeing all the different kinds of communities that have been able to have a space to celebrate their work and hang out with each other has been really awesome,” she said.
“It’s really heartwarming to see other people love Hyperreal just as much as we do, and want to take care of it and see it through to its next iteration,” Kaye said. “It’s something that we have given now 10 years of our own blood, sweat, tears, laughter, muscles, everything to.”
For many, Hyperreal offers community during moments of isolation, and they learn that they aren’t the only ones who find solace in the campy, surreal humor of My Boyfriend’s Back, feel a blanket of nostalgia when immersed in the world of Hackers, or can’t seem to look away from the strange world of an Apichatpong Weerasethakul film.
“I [hear] all the time people talking how they have been lonely for so long, and looking for something to do, and looking for community,” Ho said. “They love movies and they’ve been watching them alone in their house.”
For Garcia, Hyperreal transformed going to the movies from a transactional, isolating experience into something meaningful.
“Any movie that I’ve seen [at Hyperreal], any event that I’ve been a part of, seems to find a way into my heart,” he said. “It’s shown me how to really enjoy the art of cinema instead of consuming it.”
Hyperreal says they have no plans to sell themselves or expand into a chain – just to keep building on the community-based foundation they’ve been assembling for the past decade, supported by a team of dedicated volunteers and an ever-growing audience of cinephiles looking for something more than a movie.
“People want to make friends. People want to still create here. And if that means we have to keep Hyperreal alive for 10 more years to help facilitate those connections, I’m more than happy to do that,” Kaye said.
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This article appears in May 15 • 2026.