Josh Frank always knew that Austin needed a drive-in theater. A visionary thought, maybe, but even he never saw 2020 coming.
A little more than a decade ago, Frank took over a vacant building on East Cesar Chavez Street. He says that the area, increasingly gentrified, looked much different at the time. The building’s neighbors were piñata stores, a church and taco landmark Juan in a Million. Frank’s six-year anniversary with then-girlfriend Jess was coming up. He painted a screen on an outside wall, put a projector on top of the car, brought some speakers from eBay and drove her into the alleyway for a movie night.
Austin 360
Cine Las Americas International Film Festival returns to Austin this summer for a five-day celebration of movies centering Latinx people around the world and Indigenous people of the Americas. Last week, organizers dropped the feature film lineup.
The festival previously announced that its 23rd edition would feature a combination of in-person and online film events. It ll get a big kickoff on June 9, as Mariem Pérez Riera’s documentary Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It opens up the fest with a screening under the stars at Meanwhile Brewing Co. in Southeast Austin. The film, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival, tells the story of the legendary performer s career.