Why 12 years, you ask? Well, because that’s how long it took to make the film. Richard Linklater’s delicate chronicle of a boy’s formative years took place during star Ellar Coltrane’s actual formative years in Austin. That the film is a document of that much time passing is not only a gimmick; it’s a genuine cinematic feat in which the real-life sauce of maturation that happens to the actors seeps into their performances. Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette play divorced parents of Coltrane’s Mason and his sister Olivia (played by Linklater’s daughter, Lorelei), who try in their own ways to shepherd the kids into adulthood. Time passes, everyone changes. There’s no use in saying much more than that before you see it. This screening is sure to be a special one, as the principal cast and director gather at AFS to catch up. – Lina Fisher
