Austin Film Society to Open New John H. McCall Theater with Screenings of ‘Paper Tiger,’ 4K Restorations

Exclusive: James Gray and AFS founder Richard Linklater will attend the final day of opening weekend.

The new John H. McCall Theater, a third screen at the Austin Film Society‘s AFS Cinema, will open its doors on October 24, kicking off a weekend-long event that will bring James Gray‘s crime thriller “Paper Tiger” to the Texas venue. IndieWire shares the exclusive details below.

Martin Scorsese’s “The Color of Money” (1986), Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette” (2006), and the 1995 fashion documentary “Unzipped” will also screen in new 4K restorations through the theater’s first weekend. On October 27, the theater will host a premiere of Neon’s “Paper Tiger,” along with a discussion between writer/director Gray and AFS founder and artistic director Richard Linklater.

“The McCall Theater will allow us to expand our programming and better serve the filmmakers, festivals, and audiences who have made the theater their home,” said Linklater. “It’s another step in the same journey we began four decades ago: creating a place where great films are discovered, filmmakers are supported, and a community gathers around the shared experience of cinema.”

The McCall will seat 169 people and feature 4K digital laser projection and 7.1 surround sound. AFS credits the additional third screen to a donation by Amy McCall, the wife of the late John McCall, who died in 2021. The McCalls had previously gifted a donation to AFS in 2016 that provided funds for the organization to renovate and reopen the shuttered Marchesa Theater as AFS Cinema. Celebrated by AFS as a decades-long supporter of the Texas film industry, John McCall was inducted into its Texas Film Hall of Fame in 2018.

AFS was first founded in 1985 by a then-twentysomething Linklater. The organization opened the repertory and first-run arthouse AFS Cinema in 2017, giving it its first permanent screening home. The venue had featured two screens and an event space until the addition of the McCall. Along with AFS Cinema, the organization also operates Austin Studios, a 20-acre facility for local productions, as well as Austin Public, a space for media professionals to train and collaborate.

“Paper Tiger” opens in theaters for the rest of the country starting November 13.