Every year, the Austin Film Festival showcases a wide range of projects from all kinds of filmmakers. This year features “There’s a Klansman in the trunk,” a short film directed by recent radio-television-film graduate Xavier Ingram. The film, which screened on Oct. 26 at the Long Center, took home the Texas Short Film Award presented by Aduro Studios & Film and Shorthand Camera. 

“There’s a Klansman in the Trunk” follows a young Black man who, after surviving an attempted lynching, must choose between showing mercy or getting revenge. The film was directed as part of the radio-television-film program’s Production Thesis course, which allows students to spend a semester working on one project. Ingram said the film was inspired by wanting to see what would happen when Black people get the opportunity to survive a racially motivated attack after learning about the lynching of Michael Donald in 1981.

“When I saw that, it really resonated with me because both my parents were alive when that happened,” Ingram said. “It really made me want to tell this modern story of racism and looking at racial violence that takes place.”

Ingram said that being presented the  Texas Short Film award in front of big names in the film industry such as Kathleen Kennedy, Rachel Kondo and Rian Johnson felt like a surreal moment. 

“(It was) one of those moments where you realize afterward that you just accomplished one of your dreams,” Ingram said. “When you stand in front of your mirror and you give this acceptance speech, you’re like, ‘One day, I’ll win an award.’ For me, I got to experience that.” 

The film’s producer, radio-television-film alumnus Chris Wester, talked about the decision to make the film a comedy rather than a strict drama. Inspired by Blaxploitation films of the ‘70s, the film genre took a turn when their professor said the film was reading as a comedy rather than a drama.

“Xavier is a funny guy, and the dialogue that he had written was just inherently funny,” Wester said. “We were kind of riding the line for a little bit before we finally decided to bite the bullet and accept that this was a comedy.” 

He also talked about the decision to include clips of students being arrested during the spring 2024 on-campus protests.

“It was so on the nose for what we were trying to do about how minorities are … pushed into committing acts of violence to keep themselves safe,” Wester said. “Now we have the University calling state troopers on a group of students and arresting and enforcing violence on them.”

Josh Bowlin, the director of photography for the film, said that working with Ingram on previous projects helped create a sense of cohesion on set and during pre-production. Additionally, he mentioned Ingram’s ability to get people excited about being a part of  the project.

“He’s really good at being able to, throughout the entire process, inspire the cast and crew to be as passionate about the story as he is,” Bowlin said. “That’s what makes a good final product, when everybody … involved is trying their best because they really do care.”