With a slogan like “Keep Austin Weird,” it’s no surprise that the city’s annual film fete was founded to celebrate cinema’s underdog: the screenwriter.

The Austin Film Festival has dedicated its 16-year existence to storytelling—its craft, its impact and its champions. Past attendees include Wes Anderson, the Coen Brothers and Sydney Pollack.

This year Ron Howard (Apollo 13), Steve Zaillian (Shindler’s List) and Mitch Hurwitz (Arrested Development) are driving a series of panels like “Should Movies Reflect the Real World?” and—what else—“The Art of Storytelling.”

And so the capitol kicks off the party tonight, with drinks, an encore Mad Men episode presented by writer Matthew Weiner, and “The Falcon and the Snowman,” one of the Zallian’s earliest and the writer’s only screening as this year’s Distinguished Screenwriter recipient.

Shorts, features and documentaries abound, hopefuls can glean advice from some greats and the Best in Show competitions are stiff.

An illegal immigrant is compromised when the boy she is caring for has an accident in Myna Se Va; teen moms turn urban farmers in Grown in Detroit; and, appropriately, the world of Texas’ oil culture is explored in Houston We Have a Problem.

Or, three square couples attempt an orgy; Hurwitz talks about his prematurely canceled comedy; Cormac McCarthy disciples flock to The Road. Will fans despair or rejoice at director John Hillcoat’s take on the writer’s haunting dystopia?

And only three weeks since the Yeah Yeah Yeahs stole the show at Austin City Limits. Paris, the City of Lights. Austin, the City of Festivals.