Rebel with a Clause

Rebel With a Clause screens at AFS Cinema on Wednesday, September 30, at 7 PM. It's a documentary about Ellen Jovin, a grammar teacher who one autumn day set up a folding table on a Manhattan sidewalk with a sign that read 'Grammar Table.' Passersby started stopping by to ask questions, tell stories, and file complaints about the way people use language, and Jovin and her filmmaker husband, Brandt Johnson, decided to take the table on the road. They visited all 50 states while Johnson filmed the grammar action along the way.

Austin makes an appearance in the film, with the filmmakers promoting it on screen. The documentary runs 1 hour and 26 minutes. The screening is hosted at AFS Cinema, the Austin Film Society's two-screen nonprofit art house: one screen shows new releases, international narratives, documentaries, and independent films, while the other runs a repertory program of film movements, director retrospectives, restorations, and classics, with frequent screenings by Texas filmmakers.

There's more to the night than just the film. Ellen Jovin and Brandt Johnson will be at the Grammar Table in the lobby starting at 6 PM, an hour before the screening begins. After the show, they'll stick around for a Q&A and a book signing, so you can talk to them in person. Tickets are $14 for AFS members and $16 for non-members.