A Collaborative Film Project
 

In 1982, a synopsis and a first draft of the script 

became the inspiration for members of a fledgling

Austin film-making community to collaborate on

a film to be called: Manifest. 
 

Local talent and crew, along with Austin businesses,

institutions and local authorities, contributed in-kind

to the project with the dream of fostering film-making

as an art form in Austin.
 

The Manifest film shoot was carried out on weekends

to accommodate cast and crew who worked weekday 
jobs or attended school. Pre-production crew meetings,

casting calls, auditions and screen tests started in late

September of 1981. Initial shooting began the weekend

of January 16, 1982, with final scenes wrapping almost exactly a year later on January 15, 1983.
 

Myriad life events hindered the film’s post-production, 

completion and distribution. The untimely passing of

Leah Ann Riklin (1960-1992), a UT graduate and the

film’s producer and casting director, left behind a

profound void.