On this episode of the AFS Viewfinders podcast, we visit with the team behind the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA)—founders Joe Ziemba and Sebastian del Castillo, and Director of Business Affairs Alicia Coombs. Now in its 10th year, the Austin-based non-profit was formed to preserve the legacy of genre movies, the more obscure the better. Specializing in horror, sleaze, action, and independent regional filmmaking, as well as international genre cinema with an emphasis on films from Hong Kong, AGFA has quickly become one of the most sought-after archives in the world. The archive counts among its board members and advisors Alamo Drafthouse founders Tim and Karrie League, filmmakers Nicolas Winding Refn and Paul Thomas Anderson, film fans, and Austin area film programmers including AFS's Lars Nilsen. Housing over 6,000 film prints—some of which are the only copies in existence—a 4K film scanner, and theatrical and home video distribution arms, AGFA will never rest until genre movies rule the world.
In this conversation, Lars Nilsen talks with Joe, Sebastian, and Alicia about going on ten years strong, how it all got started in a cluttered projection room of the Drafthouse Village, and current projects like the newly released films of Sarah Jacobson, Queen of the '90s Underground Cinema.
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