diff --git a/common/render_api.h b/common/render_api.h
index 8e9f23d8..0b7f672f 100644
--- a/common/render_api.h
+++ b/common/render_api.h
@@ -169,6 +169,8 @@ enum movie_parms_e
 	AVI_ENTNUM, // (int) entity number, -1 for no spatialization
 	AVI_VOLUME, // (int) volume from 0 to 255
 	AVI_ATTN, // (float) attenuation value
+	AVI_PAUSE, // no argument, pauses playback
+	AVI_RESUME, // no argument, resumes playback
 };
 
 struct movie_state_s;
diff --git a/engine/client/avi/avi_ffmpeg.c b/engine/client/avi/avi_ffmpeg.c
index b8b6fc2e..4772494d 100644
--- a/engine/client/avi/avi_ffmpeg.c
+++ b/engine/client/avi/avi_ffmpeg.c
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ struct movie_state_s
 	byte volume;
 	byte active : 1;
 	byte quiet  : 1;
+	byte paused : 1;
 };
 
 qboolean AVI_SetParm( movie_state_t *Avi, enum movie_parms_e parm, ... )
@@ -127,6 +128,12 @@ qboolean AVI_SetParm( movie_state_t *Avi, enum movie_parms_e parm, ... )
 			fval = va_arg( va, double );
 			Avi->attn = Q_max( 0.0f, fval );
 			break;
+		case AVI_PAUSE:
+			Avi->paused = true;
+			break;
+		case AVI_RESUME:
+			Avi->paused = false;
+			break;
 		default:
 			ret = false;
 		}
@@ -253,7 +260,7 @@ static void AVI_StreamAudio( movie_state_t *Avi )
 	int buffer_samples, file_samples, file_bytes;
 	rawchan_t *ch = NULL;
 
-	// keep the same semantics, when S_RAW_SOUND_SOUNDTRACK doesn't play if S_SetStream wasn't enabled
+	// keep the same semantics, when S_RAW_SOUND_SOUNDTRACK doesn't play if S_StartStreaming wasn't enabled
 	qboolean disable_stream = Avi->entnum == S_RAW_SOUND_SOUNDTRACK ? !s_listener.streaming : false;
 
 	if( !dma.initialized || disable_stream || s_listener.paused || !Avi->cached_audio )
@@ -354,6 +361,13 @@ qboolean AVI_Think( movie_state_t *Avi )
 	if( !Avi->first_time ) // always remember at which timestamp we started playing
 		Avi->first_time = curtime;
 
+	if( Avi->paused )
+	{
+		// FIXME: there might be a better way to do this
+		Avi->last_time = curtime;
+		return true;
+	}
+
 	Con_NPrintf( 1, "cached_audio_buf_len = %zu", Avi->cached_audio_buf_len );
 
 	while( 1 ) // try to get multiple decoded frames to keep up when we're running at low fps
@@ -380,7 +394,7 @@ qboolean AVI_Think( movie_state_t *Avi )
 			{
 				res = avcodec_send_packet( Avi->video_ctx, Avi->pkt );
 				if( res < 0 )
-					AVI_SpewAvError( Avi->quiet, "avcodec_send_packet (audio)", res );
+					AVI_SpewAvError( Avi->quiet, "avcodec_send_packet (video)", res );
 			}
 			av_packet_unref( Avi->pkt );
 		}