The 31st annual San Antonio Film Festival (SAFILM) says this year’s event will screen more movies at more venues than ever. The weeklong indie showcase, taking place July 22-27, will be a cinema buff’s dream with tons of screenings, panels, and special celebrity guests that highlight Alamo City’s growing entertainment industry.

According to a news release, this summer’s SAFILM will unfold at four venues. Three sites are in downtown: Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, the adjacent Radius Center, and the nearby Malu and Carlos Alvarez Theater at Texas Public Radio. A new venue, EVO Entertainment Schertz, has been added for film fans on the Northeast Side.

Founded in 1994, the festival has grown to become one of the largest in Central Texas. The six total screens will showcase more than 200 feature, short, documentary, student, local, and international films.

  Shaquille O'Neal will receive the Texas Yanaguana Award.  Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images for Icy Hot  

Festival highlights
The film festival will kick off July 22 with two feature movies and a block of short films with cast and crew in attendance. The Wasps, executive produced by Austin director Richard Linklater, is a bawdy satire adapted from an ancient Aristophanes play while drama The Compatriots explores a friendship between an undocumented immigrant facing deportation and his long-lost best friend. A Real Thrill, a block of thriller shorts such as Criminal Intentions, People Walk Dogs Late at Night in the Suburbs, and Ten of Swords, digs into America’s seedy underbelly.

On July 25, SAFILM will honor actor/producer Matthew Modine with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Tobin Center. Modine’s cinematic career spans more than 40 years, and includes roles in notable hits like Stanley Kubrick’s Vietnam War epic Full Metal Jacket, Vision Quest, Married to the Mob, And the Band Played On, and Stranger Things.

Modine has a breakneck schedule during the festival. The actor will co-host a screening of a documentary that he executively produced, delving into the emerging relationship between humanity and artificial intelligence. He will also join Full Metal Jacket co-star Sal Lopez for a panel, moderated by film producer Elizabeth Avellán, discussing the film’s lasting cultural impact.

The festival’s founder himself will be the subject of Rocha: The Adam Rocha Story, a documentary about his life and his impact on San Antonio and Texas’ film communities. The movie will screen July 23 at the Tobin Center.

The festival wraps up July 27 with a red carpet awards ceremony where NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal will receive the Texas Yanaguana Award, an honor given for individual contributions to film and the arts. The Kazaam star has deep connections to San Antonio from when his father was stationed at what is now Joint Base Fort Sam Houston. And he spent his teenage years honing his basketball skills at Cole High School, which he led to a state championship in 1989.

  Adam Rocha, the festival's founder, is the subject of a new documentary.Photo courtesy of San Antonio Film Festival.

A growing industry
Rocha says SAFILM is not only a fun way for movie fans to watch cinematic works created by established and up-and-coming local and Texas filmmakers, but a way to better connect members of Texas’ community of film and television show makers.

The Lone Star State film and TV community is bound to get a boost, Rocha says, thanks to newly passed legislation that will pump billions of dollars into incentives designed to lure more film and TV productions to Texas and inspire even more homegrown projects. In May, the Texas Senate passed Senate Bill 22, which among other things will set aside $300 million every two years for the next 10 years to buoy Texas’ moving picture industry.

Starting September 1, 2025, Texas Moving Image Industry Program, which makes available cash grants based on a percentage of the amount that an eligible production spends in Texas, will extend its maximum grant to 31%. The state incentives program is in addition to any local production incentives that might be offered by local cities and counties.

Rocha says these moves prove that Texas is serious about wanting to be a destination for companies that make movies, TV shows, commercials and other moving image productions. For San Antonio, that means more productions will choose the Alamo City for its unique locations, talented local crews, and the city’s own film incentives.

“This will bring in more film projects, which means more jobs and more money flowing into our local economy,” he says. “Productions will also be required to hire more Texas-based crew — going from 35 percent to 50 percent — creating real career opportunities for people right here in San Antonio.”

Rocha says, as a high school media teacher, this is an exciting time to be part of Texas’ film industry, especially for young and emerging artists.

“It means our students can look forward to real careers in media, right here at home. They won’t have to leave Texas to find work in film and television,” he says. “Instead of moving to places like Georgia, New Mexico, or California, they can stay and build their future here.”

Over the decades, San Antonio has hosted big Hollywood productions such as Selena, Miss Congeniality, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, Spy Kids, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, and the Yellowstone prequel 1923. Wings, the very first Best Picture Oscar winner, was even shot here.

“[W]ith state and city incentives that stack together — along with bonus programs for hiring veterans, filming at historic sites, and working with local partner — San Antonio becomes one of the most attractive cities in the country for film production,” Rocha says.

Festival details
For a full list of SAFILM screenings and special events, consult the online calendar. Individual day passes sell for $52.86 and a weekend badge, covering July 26-27, costs $104.83. Individual tickets will be available to the screenings, but preferential seating will be granted to VIP guests.

The VIP packages, sold at $146.40 to the public and $103.80 for students includes access to all festival events, panels, screenings, and meet-and-greets. Passholders also get access to a special VIP lounge.