Pan's Labyrinth

Jester King Brewery is screening Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth on Tuesday, September 22, at 8 PM. The screening is presented by Rocket Cinema to welcome the Autumnal Equinox, so it's a bit of a seasonal thing rather than just a random movie night.

If you haven't seen it, Pan's Labyrinth is a dark fable set in Francoist Spain. It follows 11-year-old Ofelia, whose cruel stepfather, Captain Vidal, has been sent to crush the resistance while her pregnant mother grows ill at home. Venturing alone into the forest, she meets strange and sometimes menacing creatures, among them a faun who sets her on a quest leading deep into a labyrinth. It's one of those films that works on two levels at once—the harsh reality of the war and the strange, unsettling world Ofelia discovers in the woods.

Del Toro has since turned that same imagination toward the classics, with adaptations of Frankenstein and Pinocchio, so this is a good place to see where that streak started. The film is as much about the atmosphere as it is the story, and it fits the mood of a brewery on the outskirts of town.

As for the venue, Jester King Brewery & Kitchen is a world-renowned maker of farmhouse ales and barrel-aged wild ales, located on a 165-acre ranch on the outskirts of Austin. Beyond the beer, they make wood-fired pizza and raise goats, leaning into a relaxed environment tied to time, place, and people. Their accolades include a GABF Bronze in 2022, a WBC award that same year, Best of Austin 2022, and the Austin Chronicle Best Brewery 2022. The screening starts at 8 PM on Tuesday, September 22, at 13187 Fitzhugh Rd, Austin, TX 78736.