aGLIFF

aGLIFF 2014 Dispatch: 'Appropriate Behavior' for Closing Night

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Appropriate Behavior

The Sunday evening screening of the aGLIFF closing-night narrative film, Appropriate Behavior, was a great way to wrap up my time at the festival.

It’s no surprise that the movie was a hit at this year's Sundance Film Festival; it's a terrific debut feature from writer/director/star Desiree Akhavan. I'm generally not a fan of romantic comedies, but Appropriate Behavior is so thoroughly snarky -- and often so defiantly anti-romantic -- that it's a rom-com even a cynic could tolerate.

Akhavan stars as Shirin, a young Brooklynite who's something of a poster child for the angst of young adulthood. She's still smarting from a hard breakup with her ex-girlfriend, Maxine (Rebecca Henderson). She struggles to be part of her perfect Persian family and is afraid to tell her parents she's bisexual. And her filmmaking career exists only in theory; the closest she comes to making movies is teaching her art -- more like attempting to teach it -- to a class of hyperactive 6-year-olds.

aGLIFF 2014 Dispatch: 'Queens & Cowboys' and 'Regarding Susan Sontag'

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Queens & Cowboys

aGLIFF's lineup is heavy on documentaries, and on Saturday I saw two outstanding ones: Queens & Cowboys: A Straight Year on the Gay Rodeo and Regarding Susan Sontag.

Queens & Cowboys is an enlightening look at 2011 season of the International Gay Rodeo Association (IGRA), following a group of cowboys and cowgirls as they compete to qualify for the association's World Finals.

The most enlightening aspect of the film may be the way it portrays the gay rodeo circuit as, well, rodeo; the circuit emphasizes the sport more than the cultural politics. The men in drag and rainbow paraphernalia give the festivities their own personality, but they're a sideshow to the real business at hand: bull and bronc riding, calf roping and the usual assortment of bone-jarring competitions. Aside from allowing women to compete in all events, a gay rodeo is essentially the same as any other rodeo.

aGLIFF 2014 Dispatch: 'Invisible' and 'Eternity: The Movie'

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Eternity the Movie

My 2014 aGLIFF adventure continued Thursday night with two films that could not be more different: Invisible and Eternity: The Movie.

A dark and dour documentary about male sex workers in Providence, Rhode Island, Invisible is a reminder of why so many moviegoers avoid documentaries.  Not for its quality; it's competently made and tells a compelling story. But that story is one most people don't want to hear, a grim tale of tragic and mostly hopeless lives. Invisible is a window on a world many of us pretend doesn't exist.

Filmmaker Dio Traverso's documentary centers on Richard Holcomb, an activist and former sex worker whose mission is to improve male sex workers' lives and help them avoid contracting HIV/AIDS. Holcomb roams the gritty streets of Providence, handing out condoms and helping his clients find medical care, counseling, and whatever else they need to survive. He also lobbies the local and state governments to support long-term solutions to the sex workers' problems. (Not surprisingly, the government officials promise a lot but do very little to help.)

aGLIFF 2014 Dispatch: Short Films and BFFs

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After two successful sold-out screenings of opening night film Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine on Wednesday, aGLIFF continued Thursday with a full day of programming. 

Short films usually offer a fun way to dive into a festival (they let you explore a lot of ground in an hour and a half or so), so I decided to go the Dramatic Shorts Program #1 and the Comedy Shorts Program #1

The dramatic program included eight shorts from six different countries. Half focused on teens and pre-teens learning to navigate a world that's less than welcoming to their sexual orientation, while the other half showed that adults still struggle with internal and external factors in their relationships, as well.

aGLIFF 2014 Dispatch: Opening Night with 'Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine'

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Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine

Oh, what a difference a year can make, especially for aGLIFF.

The Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival has reclaimed its original name -- retiring its short-lived Polari moniker -- and moved back to its most successful venue, the newly reopened (and debatably improved) Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar. And while not all change is good, these changes certainly are; if the crowd at aGLIFF's opening night on Wednesday is any indication, the festival has regained much of its footing after a couple of sparsely attended years.

aGLIFF couldn't have chosen a better opening night film than Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine, a powerful and poignant documentary about the titular Wyoming college student who was tortured and murdered in 1998. Shepard's killers admitted killing him because he was gay, and his murder became one of America's most notorious hate crimes.

Get Ready for aGLIFF 2014 This Week

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agliffThe Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival (better known as aGLIFF) kicks off Wednesday night, and over 100 films from a variety of countries and genres will screen through Sunday. Most of the festival will take place at the recently remodeled Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar, and badges and individual passes are both still available.

The lineup is designed to showcase some of the most noteworthy LGBTQ films from the recent festival circuit and includes opening-night film Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine, Centerpiece Film Regarding Susan Sontag, narrative closing-night film Appropriate Behavior and a Friday night secret screening.

Whether you're a badgeholder who wants to catch as many movies as possible or a casual participant just planning to attend a screening or two, here are a few things to keep in mind.

  • Location: With the exception of the closing night films, which are at the Stateside Theatre, all other screenings will take place at the Alamo South Lamar. It still looks like a bit of a construction mess over there, but the new parking garage (accessible from Treadwell Street) is open. Get there early to allow time to navigate the situation -- it may take longer than you'd think to park and get inside.

aGLIFF and AFF Reveal Lineup Details

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the homesman still

The Austin Film Festival has announced its first wave of film screenings, including Centerpiece Film Black and White (directed by Mike Binder and starring Kevin Costner), documentary 21 Years: Richard Linklater, and Dawn Patrol, directed by AFF regular Daniel Petrie Jr. This initial list is a mix of world and regional premieres and provides glimpses of a diverse program; among other things, festivalgoers will have the chance to see a Texas-based political documentary, a pioneer drama with an all-star cast, and Benedict Cumberbatch playing the role of Alan Turing.

The writer-focused festival runs Oct. 23-30 and includes feature films, short films, film competitions and conference panels. See below for a list of the titles announced so far, and find out more about attending AFF here

If you're ready to get festival season started already, don't forget that the 27th Anniversary Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF) takes place in just a couple of weeks (Sept. 10-14) at the freshly remodeled Alamo South Lamar and the Stateside Theatre. This year's festival includes over 100 films and the theme is "We're not an Audience. We're a Community."

aGLIFF's opening-night film will be Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine and the centerpiece is Regarding Susan SontagThe program promises a diverse array of genres and subjects and also includes a secret screening of "one of the best-reviewed films of 2014" -- any guesses? Either way, this year's fest looks like a thoughtful and festive collection of films and events. Badge information and the full lineup are available here

Stay in touch for more festival updates, and read on for the festival-provided descriptions of the AFF films announced so far.

aGLIFF Announces Opening-Night Film, Is Crowdfunding Too

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aGLIFF logoFirst of all, in case you hadn't heard, it's called aGLIFF again. Polari is still the name of the nonprofit that organizes the annual Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival, but the film festival's traditional name has prevailed.

Now that I've established that, here's the news. aGLIFF has announced its opening-night film for this year's fest -- and the dates of the fest are news too, since they've changed. aGLIFF will run from September 10-14, 2014, at the newly-renovated Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar. (So now you know the theater has to be at least sort of ready by then.)

Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine will open the fest on Wednesday, September 10. The documentary focuses on the late Matthew Shepard's personal life, from friends' and family's point of view. Director Michele Josue and Shepard's parents will be there for a post-screening discussion. aGLIFF also announced three other films in the lineup -- I've included the descriptions at the end of this article.

In addition, the film festival is currently running an Indiegogo campaign to enhance this year's festival experience. The funds raised will help bring in more filmmakers and special guests. The goal is $7,500 but it's a "flexible funding" campaign, so aGLIFF can keep what's raised even if it's short of the goal. Perks include tickets to films and parties during the fest, all-access badges, and ads in the program. Give enough money and you can be on the shorts jury.

Polari 2013 Dispatch: A Quartet of Films

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In the Name OfThe best of the films I saw last weekend at Polari 2013 was on Saturday afternoon. Polish writer-director Malgorzata Szumowska explores the feelings of a gay priest working in a school for troubled youths in the poignant film In the Name Of.

Trapped by the requirements of his faith with nobody to whom he can turn for a human connection, Adam (Andrzej Chyra, who bears a strong resemblance to Daniel Craig) longs only for the comfort of human embrace. A good man who always has a positive influence on his charges, Adam never does anything wrong, though almost completely unfounded accusations repeatedly result in his transfer to other parishes.

Szumowska peels back the stoic exterior to reveal the depths of longing and loneliness suffered by a man striving to set the highest example of godliness and the tragic unfairness that can result from unfounded suspicions. In the Name Of is a moving bittersweet story that treated a delicate subject fairly but with tenderness.

While most of the Polari screenings were downtown, Friday night brought a detour to the Marchesa to take in a screening co-sponsored by the Austin Film Society.

Animals is a Spanish film by director Marçal Forés about a troubled teen dealing with feelings for a new classmate with a dark secret. In a failure of mood over substance, the film is beautiful to look at, with an attractive cast acting against the mountains of northern Spain but following an aimless story with little payoff.

Forés oversells the teen angst in an attempt to establish a feeling akin to Donnie Darko and then fails to follow up on numerous hints of deeper backstory to which he has alluded. There is no clear motivation in Animals for just about anything any of the characters do including -- and especially -- a tasteless display of school violence.  

Unfortunately, on Saturday I caught the most boring movie I have ever seen. Shot in Austin, Pit Stop -- directed by Yen Tan, who co-wrote with Dallas filmmaker David Lowery -- stars Bill Heck, Marcus DeAnda and Amy Seimetz in two stories of heartbroken men who converge when they meet for a sex date arranged online. Nothing ever happens to indicate why these two might be right for each other. They don't appear to have much in common, and neither displays any appreciable personality.

Polari 2013 Dispatch: 'Bwakaw' and 'Vagina Wolf '

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Bwakaw

The bond between people and their dogs has inspired many movies. Among the best of them is the Filipino import Bwakaw, a gentle and well-crafted film that was a great way to start Polari's final day. Only a handful of people attended the screening, but what else would we expect at 11 am on a stunning fall Sunday? For a film festival, the only thing worse than bad weather is perfect weather.

The Filipino entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2012 Academy Awards, Bwakaw is an insightful and touching story about growing old. The titular Bwakaw is a slightly scraggly pooch who belongs to Rene (Eddie Garcia), a grumpy gay septuagenarian who came out late in life and thinks Bwakaw is the only company he needs in his small Filipino town. The ailing Rene has decided it's too late in life for love or companionship and spends his days waiting for death; he's bequeathed his possessions to his handful of friends, bought a coffin and packed up most of his household.

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