Film Screening: The Art of Making It
7P | Roof opens
7:30P | Conversation with cast member Chris Watts, Austin Film Society CEO Rebecca Campbell, and Chale Nafus
8P | Film Begins
9:30 | Q&A with Director and Producer Kelcey Edwards
Join us for a screening of The Art of Making It, a revealing look into what it means to be an artist in today’s world. The Art of Making It has been making its way across the documentary festival circuit and promises to be especially enlightening, thought-provoking, and enjoyable when seen in the open air, on the rooftop of the Jones Center downtown. Before the film there will be an introductory conversation between cast members Chris Watts and Cesar Garcia-Alvarez. Producer, director, and former Austinite Kelcey Edwards will be in attendance, for a brief Q&A following the screening.
Presented in collaboration with Austin Film Society and Women & Their Work.
Kelcey Edwards
An award-winning filmmaker, author and curator, Kelcey received an MFA from Stanford University in Documentary Film. Her short documentaries have screened at SXSW (Letter), Silverdocs AFI/Discovery Channel Film Festival (Gentle Creatures) and True/False (Ghost in the Material). Her producer credits include Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines (SXSW premiere, PBS Independent Lens broadcast) and Words of Witness (Berlin Film Festival premiere, Al Jazeera America broadcast). Kelcey has lectured at institutions such as Pratt, Barnard, The New School, and NYU Tisch, and is currently running Iron Gate East, an exhibition series based in the Hamptons and inspired by her pioneering gallery, Iron Gate Studios.
Chris Watts
Born in 1984 and raised in North Carolina, Chris is an artist who describes his mixed-media compositions as windows that blur the distinctions between objective reality and constructed representation. Chris was dismissed from the MFA program at Yale after completing a single year of studies. He moved to New York City, where he works as a multimedia artist and had his first solo show at Monica King Contemporary in Fall 2020.
Rebecca Campbell
Rebecca Campbell (she/her) is currently CEO of the Austin Film Society and has served in this capacity since 1998, developing and managing assets for Texas’ film ecosystem. Under her leadership, AFS delivers city and statewide economic impact by attracting renowned media productions, such as the currently airing CBS production, WALKER, to the Austin area. In addition to this, Rebecca has leveraged AFS to provide community access to moving-image skills and careers through educational programming and offers cultivation of world-class film culture here in central Texas through delivery of the AFS Cinema’s esteemed repertory programming. AFS is committed to supporting artists as the leading edge of civil society, and sets priorities through a lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Chale Nafus
Born in Dallas during World War II, Chale Nafus attended public schools, spent summers on his sister’s ranch in Comanche County in the 1950s, learned Spanish from junior high schoolmates, and dreamed of getting out of Dallas. After freshman year at SMU, two years working for Texas Instruments, receiving a B.A. in English from Arlington State College (UT Arlington), studying Mexican literature for a summer at La Universidad Autónoma de México, and finishing an M.A. in English/Film Studies from UT Austin, he began a long college teaching career at Texas Southmost College (Brownsville), La Universidad de Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, Borough of Manhattan Community College, Kingsborough Community College (Brooklyn), and finally Austin Community College (1973-1998). At the latter, he founded the Department of Radio-TV-Film, taught classes in film studies, for seven years served as Chair of Humanities (Northridge Campus), and produced/directed 80 episodes of the public access program Espíritu de Aztlán, about Chicano culture in Central Texas. Retiring in 1998, Chale spent 4 years traveling and writing before joining the staff of Austin Film Society as Director of Programming (2002-2015). He is now on advisory committees of Cine Las Americas and Indie Meme South Asian Film Festival and serves as a juror for various global film festivals via the MOZAIK Bridging the Borders Award. Nafus writes occasional film and arts articles for Sightlines Magazine.