Austin Film Critics Association

Cole Dabney and Bobby McCurdy founded the Austin Film Critics Association in 2005. As students at Austin's Bowie High School the two had run a review site called Cole and Bobby...at the Movies!!, and Dabney went on to review films for INsite and Study Breaks magazines and for Fox 7 News, KTBC. Martin Thomas later recalled that he and Christopher Cox, hosts of the public-access review show The Reel Deal, were the first to sign on to Dabney's proposal.

Each December the members vote on the year's best films. Besides the usual Oscar-style categories, the AFCA gives a Robert R. "Bobby" McCurdy Memorial Breakthrough Artist Award, Best First Film, Best International Film, Best Ensemble and a Best Austin Film award. Early picks earned a contrarian reputation: Ellen Page beat Helen Mirren for best actress in 2006, and The Dark Knight beat Slumdog Millionaire in 2008. The group quotes Entertainment Weekly calling it "wildly contrarian."

Membership grew from single digits to more than 35 critics. They write for the Austin Chronicle, Cinapse, Double Toasted, Film School Rejects, One of Us, Fangoria, IndieWire, Junkfood Cinema and KOOP 91.7 FM, among others, and several members review on YouTube.

For its 20th anniversary the association created a Member Emeritus status for critics with 20 years of continuous membership. Marjorie Baumgarten of the Austin Chronicle, a founding member, was named the first in December 2025. In August 2026 the group added Christopher Cox of the One of Us network, Martin Thomas of Double Toasted and Eric Vespe, who wrote for Ain't It Cool News as Quint.

The Best Austin Film award for 2025 went to Richard Linklater's Blue Moon, which the AFCA celebrated with a January 2026 screening at the AFS Cinema. That same month, under president Jon Partridge and vice-president Richard Whittaker, the association publicly opposed the Alamo Drafthouse's plan to replace paper ordering with phones during screenings, citing distraction and piracy risk at press and festival screenings.