Remembering Horton Foote

Screenwriter and Playwright Horton Foote, who passed away earlier this month, was actually AFF's very first Distinguished Screenwriter Award recipient in the early days of the festival and was a long time supporter and friend to the festival. In 2002, both he and Robert Duvall attended the festival for a special screening of Tender Mercies at the Paramount Theater. Here are two clips from the screenings Q&A - in the first, Mr. Foote discusses the origins of the film's script and in the second, he tells the story of how he and Robert Duvall met ...

Clip 1 - Tender Mercies
Clip 2 - how they met




On a personal note, I was lucky enough to drive with our Executive Director, Barbara Morgan, to pick up Horton Foote at his home in Wharton, TX and drive him back to Austin for this screening. While there, he showed us his amazing house and unique art collection. I was also lucky enough to hold his Oscar for To Kill a Mockingbird, which sat next to his other Oscar for Tender Mercies, his Emmy and his AFF award. It was quite an honor to spend that short amount of time with someone who had written two of my favorite films.