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, according to its AFS Grant page. 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 are 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 runs once a year, and AFS says the next one opens in summer 2027. Check austinfilm.org for dates and put it on the calendar. AFS's first-round readers have included former grant recipients, so some of the people reading your application have been where you are.