Austin and Central Texas: every independent screen a filmmaker can book.
Updated: Nov 3
Austin lost most of its locally owned screens in about eighteen months. Violet Crown sold to Evo Entertainment in October 2023, per the Austin Chronicle. Alamo Drafthouse went to Sony in 2024. The Paramount closed on June 16, 2026 for a restoration that runs close to a year. What is left in the city proper is a nonprofit with three screens, a volunteer-run microcinema, a 110-seat neighborhood house, a drive-in operator, a state museum, and the Stateside. That is the whole list, and it is a better list than most cities have.
This is the Austin and Central Texas edition of the statewide directory. Every entry was checked against the venue’s own website on September 4, 2026. Where a venue publishes rates, the link takes you to them; the numbers are not repeated here because they change and the page is the source. Where a detail is not on the venue’s site, it is not stated here either.
The rooms that program independent film.
AFS Cinema is the Austin Film Society’s nonprofit art house on North I-35: three screens. The original two seat 158 and 265, one running new releases and one running repertory, and the 169-seat John H. McCall Theater opened on October 24, 2026, per AFS’s announcement. The site says films from Texas filmmakers are frequently on its screens. There is no public submission page, so a programming ask goes through AFS’s general channels. The rental path is a separate door: Rent the AFS Cinema, rentals@austinfilm.org, with published rates on a three-hour minimum and the lowest tier on Mondays and Tuesdays. Two rules matter more than the rate. Rentals are DCP only, and the site says no other file type will be accepted. The DCP has to arrive at least five business days before your date, and you have to hold the screening rights. AFS also says plainly that not every inquiry can be accommodated and that it does not market third-party rentals on its own platforms. You bring the audience. A community campaign paid for that third screen, which I wrote about in August.
Hyperreal Film Club at 301 Chicon is a volunteer-run nonprofit microcinema that screens cult, genre, art house, and independent work Monday through Friday, with local shorts in the mix. It is the one room in Austin with a standing open call: short films go in through FilmFreeway year-round. The rules on that page are specific. Texas-based filmmakers get priority, films under fifteen minutes get priority, someone from the production has to be in the room, and no film that used AI will be accepted. Local groups also curate whole nights here, and the September calendar carries an Experimental Response Cinema local filmmakers’ showcase. If you want the room itself, the Rentals page says to book the clubhouse by email at hyperrealfilmclub@gmail.com. No rates are published.
Eastside Cinema at 1156 Hargrave is a 110-seat single screen inside the Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex, reopened in December 2023. Its own site lists local premieres first among the things it does, ahead of repertory and private parties. The Private Rentals page publishes a flat three-hour rate and takes inquiries at BSLMovieEvents@gmail.com. The site describes digital and streaming playback and does not mention DCP, so ask what you can hand them.
The rooms you can rent.
Stateside at the Paramount is the 305-seat State Theatre on Congress, run by the Austin Theatre Alliance, the nonprofit that also runs the Paramount next door. The Paramount is closed for restoration with no firm reopening date published; Axios and CBS Austin reported the closure as roughly eleven months from June 16, 2026. That makes the Stateside the only historic room on Congress for the next several months, and KUT has reported that the State gets its own renovation once the Paramount reopens. The Venue Rental page routes inquiries to the Paramount events team. No rates are published. The alliance runs 35mm prints in its summer classic series, so the capability exists; confirm which room has it before you promise a print.
The Bullock Texas State History Museum is a state agency, which is not what most people picture when they think of an art house, but its Theater Rentals page names private film screenings as a use for both rooms: the 329-seat IMAX with laser projection and the 190-seat Texas Spirit Theater. The base rate is not published. What is published is the shape of the deal: a 50 percent deposit, an evening window from 5:30 to midnight, daytime availability that depends on school groups and the film schedule, and a museum theater staffer in the room for the whole event. Inquiries go through the museum’s rental form or ContactUs@thestoryoftexas.com.
The Howard Theatre in Taylor is back after two years dark, in its own site’s words, and the Contact page invites inquiries for private theater rentals. It is an owner-run house and you should expect an owner-run answer, which usually means faster and more flexible than a form.
The Beltonian Theatre in Belton is under new owners, Joey and Katie Carlin per the theater’s own site, and has a fall 2026 classic slate posted. The Event Booking form lists private movie screenings as an event type, with a guest-count range that tops out at 100 plus. Bookings are first come, first served, and the site says a submitted form does not guarantee a date. Email is info@thebeltoniantheatre.com.
The Waco Hippodrome runs first-run and classic film alongside live music and comedy under the Turner brothers, who also operate the Arcadia in Temple. The Booking page is written for live acts and does not mention film screenings, so ask specifically about the cinema screen and what formats it plays.
The Arcadia Live in Kerrville is a 501(c)(3) that runs an Iconic Film Series of classics and lists film screenings by name on its Private Events page. Projection exists because the series does; the page details sound and lighting and says nothing about format, so that is your first question.
The LanTex Theater in Llano is city-owned, 400 seats, and rents on weekdays only, because weekends belong to its movie schedule and the Llano Country Opry. There is no email; the venue page gives a phone number. A December 2025 note on Cinema Treasures said the projector was down and the room was live-only. The site still advertises weekly movies. Confirm projection before you book a screening.
Drive-ins.
Blue Starlite Mini Urban Drive-In runs two Austin sites, a central lot off VFW Road and a downtown rooftop, with screens sized from a single car up to fifty. Private Rentals publishes Sunday-through-Thursday price ranges for every screen and takes inquiries by form or at will@bluestarliteaustin.com. The FAQ says to bring a DVD and they do the rest. DCP is not mentioned anywhere. For a filmmaker with a Blu-ray or a file, this is the most flexible outdoor option in the city. For a DCP-only film, it is not an option at all.
Doc’s Drive In Theatre in Buda has a theatre rentals page, an inquiry form that asks for your dates, your movie, and your headcount, and a warning that the calendar fills fast. No rates or formats are published. Email is docsdriveintheatre@gmail.com.
Stars & Stripes in New Braunfels also rents single screens; it is in the San Antonio edition.
Call before you count on it.
Southwest Theaters Lake Creek 7 publishes a low three-hour private-screening rate, but the booking page offers a current title or gaming over HDMI, and says nothing about bringing your own film. The company runs three theaters in Texas and Mississippi. Ask before you assume.
The CLIFTEX Theatre in Clifton, northwest of Waco, has shown movies since 1916 and is programmed monthly by the Bosque Film Society, whose screened list runs to classics. Neither site publishes a submission path; the society’s contact form is the door. The Museum of Human Achievement in Austin hosts screenings and its site could not be read for this list; the Uptown Theatre in Marble Falls could not be reached at all. Treat all three as a phone call.
The Barnhill Center in Brenham, a 321-seat restored theater with digital cinema projection that names independent film as a rental use, sits in the Houston edition because it is closer to Bryan than to here.
What changed, and what is gone.
Fredericksburg has no cinema; Fritztown closed in January 2023. The Corral in Wimberley is closed and its domain is dead. Violet Crown still programs art house film and is a fine place to see a movie; it is just not independent anymore, and neither is the Alamo, which still hosts local screenings through its programmers if you ask.
Twelve rooms, one open call, one DCP-only rental, and a lot of Blu-ray. If your film is finished and you are choosing between them, the answer is usually Hyperreal for a short, AFS for a feature with a DCP and an audience you can deliver, and Eastside for a premiere you want to control yourself.
If the film is not finished yet, that is the part we do. For filmmakers explains how, and if the honest answer is that you don’t need us, that is the answer you will get.
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