Blog Latest News
Brother wins an award at the Bare Bones Film Festival
Brother won 2nd place in the Drama Shorts Category
The Bare Bones Film Festival
10.06.20
Brother wins Best Texas Short Film at the Deep in The Heart Film Festival
Brother wins Best Texas Short Film
Deep in The Heart Film Festival
10.06.20
The Pandemic Chronicles Screening as part of the Austin Film Festival
The Pandemic Chronicles will screen at this year's virtual film festival from October 22-29
The Austin Film Festival
10.06.20
Brother Screening at The International Black Film Festival
Brother will screen virtually from September 30th-October 4th
International Black Film Festival
09.29.20
Dear Bruh and Brother win the Curator’s Choice Award at the Walla Walla Movie Crush.
I found myself astonished by a moviemaker who contributed both a fictional short and a documentary that demand we witness America’s ugly truths.
Walla Walla Movie Crush Virtual Edition
09.26.20
Brother Screening at the Deep in The Heart Film Festival
Brother racks up four nominations at this year's Deep in The Heart Film Festival.
Deep in The Heart Film Festival Virtual Edition
09.26.20
AFS Announces 2020 Feature Grant Recipients
Fifteen films. Sixteen filmmakers. That's the roster of titles that will receive a total of $111,000 in cash and $15,000 in goods and services under the Austin Film Society's AFS Grants for 2020.
The Austin Chronicle
09.01.20
We finally found a preschool that embraced and challenged our Black toddler, and COVID hit.
Timeout was their punishment. The threat of expulsion was his.
The Dallas Morning News
09.01.20
Taft’s 2019 Artist-in-Residence: Independent Filmmaker Ya’Ke Smith
His residency at The Taft provides a unique opportunity to bring his vision to our region and respond to his newly branded artistic landscape — both physical and human.
Soapbox Cincinnati
08.14.20
Creating Art From the Soul | Ya’Ke Smith | TEDxUTA
Ya’Ke speaks on the inspirations for his films as well as the impact he hopes they will have on the viewer.
TED x UTA
08.16.20
Filmmaker Ya’Ke Smith weighs in on the times with ‘Pandemic Chronicles’ series
The shorts will serve to document a time when the world was askew.
The Dallas Morning News
08.16.20
Texas Filmmaker’s Short ‘Dear Bruh’ Aims To Give Voice To Murdered Black Men
Lays bare the way society places Black men and women in a box that’s all too often labeled “threat” rather than “opportunity.”
Texas Public Radio
08.16.20
Austin Filmmaker Ya’Ke Smith’s New Short, “Dear Bruh,” Honors Lives Lost to Police Violence
In a pleading voice-over, actors read a poem Smith wrote during the first wave of Black Lives Matter protests. “I ached, because I realized that when they killed you, they killed a piece of me too."
The Texas Monthly
08.16.20
Texas Filmmaker, Professor Discusses Racial Injustice, Being an Ally
Protests across the country over the death of George Floyd have sparked a call to action for reforms, but it’s also triggered a conversation about how white and non-black people can be better allies.
Spectrum News
08.16.20
‘The Beauty Black Communities Create in Order to Survive’
Vogue asked Black film academics from across the country about the movies we should be watching now and why.
Vouge Magazine
08.16.20
Want To Be A Good Ally? It’s About Listening.
And it helps to learn history too, “because this dehumanization of black people has been going on forever.”
The Texas Standard
08.16.20
Now Streaming in Austin: “dawn.”
There's a lot of discussion about the school-to-prison pipeline, but it's often forgotten that, once people are out of that pipe, they're just ejected with no support.
The Austin Chronicle
08.16.20
Dear Bruh: A Eulogy. A Baptism. A Call to Action.
The short film is an elegy born of our current moment, a moving reflection on love and loss, racism and history, suffering and endurance.
D. Magazine
08.16.20
Big Tree, Small Axe
D Magazine’s Peter Simek introduces Ya’Ke Smith’s urgent and arresting nine-minute film, Dear Bruh: A Eulogy. A Baptism. A Call to Action.
The Criterion Collection
08.16.20