aGLIFF

aGLIFF Polari 2012 Preview: Facing Mirrors

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Facing Mirrors

A dramatic film about transgender issues in Iran seems unlikely. A positively sympathetic Iranian film about a young woman desperately trying to secure gender reassignment seems impossible. And yet here is Facing Mirrors, made in Iran by a first-time feature director, Negar Azarbayjani, dealing with that very subject in a sensitive way almost unthinkable in an American film. The Austin Film Society is co-presenting a screening of Facing Mirrors as part of aGLIFF Polari on Thursday at 6:45 pm at Alamo Drafthouse Ritz.

Thanks to the 25th annual fest, we are reminded that global cinema presents a rich array of people so very different from the two-dimensional stereotypes shoved into our brains by "the news" or TV programs and movies. For at least 25 years, wonderful films have been coming from Iran, visually rich, humanistic, and profound, despite the socio-historical absurdities spouted by some of the leaders of that complex, ancient land. This 2011 feature is the most amazing recent one because of its subject matter and treatment.

At the heart of Facing Mirrors are two women. Rana is a young mother, forced to surreptitiously drive the family car as a gypsy cab to earn money while her husband is in prison for debts. The young couple had dreams of owning their own business, but an unscrupulous business partner stole the money and left Sadegh (and thereby his wife Rana) with a debt which might take 20 years to repay.

Preview: aGLIFF Polari 2012

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Polari

The Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival, rebranded "Polari" for its 25th year, takes place this week with screenings -- and parties -- in a number of downtown Austin venues.

The movies begin with the opening-night film at the Stateside Theater, continue Thursday at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz, include screenings at the Paramount on Friday night, and then finish at Stateside and Ritz on Saturday and Sunday ... not to mention a couple of shows at Violet Crown Cinema on Saturday. FYI, the Violet Crown shows require ticket purchase in advance.

So, where should you spend your time? Should you jump around downtown, or pick your favorite theater and stick to it? The aGLIFF Polari programming team puts in a lot of work to make the best selections, and you can almost guarantee the only way to lose this game is not to play.  If you'd like to take take a tour of the venues, here are some selections of note each night.

'Fourplay' Among aGLIFF 2012 Headliners

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Still from My Brother the Devil

On Wednesday, the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF) announced four films that will headline the October fest, now in its 25th year. The "centerpiece" will be former Austinite Kyle Henry's Fourplay, filmed with many local cast and crew members. Henry's work is a compilation of shorts, each a tale of sexual intimacy set in one of four cities (San Francisco, Tampa, Austin and Skokie, according to the film's official site). The San Francisco short screened at aGLIFF 2010; the Tampa short premiered at Cannes 2011 and later screened at Sundance (Debbie's post, Don's review).

The opening-night film will be Cloudburst, a drama about a lesbian couple (Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker) who escape their nursing home in the States in hopes of getting hitched in Canada. The fest will close with My Brother the Devil (pictured above). Sally El Hosaini's full-length debut depicts two brothers dealing with issues of identity, prejudice and sexuality in urban London. (trailer)

Big Love: AGLIFF and AIDS Services of Austin Celebrate 25 Years

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BIG LOVE event posterThe Dobie Theater and Events Space will be the site of great celebration this weekend. Both aGLIFF (Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival) and AIDS Services of Austin are celebrating 25 years in our fair city, and are throwing a fundraiser bash at the former campus arthouse theater. On Saturday, August 18 starting at 6 pm, the fun begins with a schedule of four films followed by a dance party at 9 pm.

The first film of the night starting at 6 pm is 1986's Parting Glances, one of Steve Buscemi's first films and the only film made by director Bill Sherwood, who died in 1990 from complications due to AIDS. This historic independent dramedy focuses on a gay couple soon to be separated when one of the men heads to Africa for two years. Buscemi plays ex-boyfriend Nick, living with AIDS.

Show Me Love, a Swedish drama from 1998 about two teenage girls who begin a tentative relationship, plays at 6:15 pm.

The documentary Vito will have its Austin premiere at 7:45 pm. The film, which aired on HBO earlier this summer, chronicles the life of Vito Russo, gay rights and AIDS activist and author of The Celluloid Closet. Jette saw this movie at Dallas International Film Festival in April and highly recommends it. View the trailer at the end of this post.

Another documentary also shows at 7:45 pm. 1990's Paris Is Burning reflects on the drag scene in 1980s NYC. 

The party afterwards features music from DJ Mouthfeel, along with complimentary drinks and treats. You can read more on the Facebook event page. Tickets start at $35 and the funds directly benefit aGLIFF and AIDS Services of Austin.

aGLIFF 2011: The Wrap-Up

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aGLIFF 24 is over and strangely I’m not experiencing my normal post-fest-depression.  I usually feel a little low after a film festival, after immersing myself in films and all the socializing between films. I think it’s because I not only ran into several old friends I haven’t seen in a long time, but I made even more new ones hanging out at the Subaru Lounge, which was a great place to hang out and chat, especially the first few nights during our brief respite from triple-digit heat.

By sheer coincidence I saw several intense films and programs. aGLIFF gambled on starting the festival with The Lulu Sessions, which was surprisingly as entertaining as it was illuminating. Closing-night film Cancerpants was a very different documentary despite a very similar subject; a woman’s very personal journey after a cancer diagnosis. The packed house included director Nevie Owens and some of the local musicians included on the soundtrack, and it was truly a communal experience to see the movie with that particular crowd. Actually there were two closing-night films, but how could I not go to the one with so many local connections.

aGLIFF 2011, Dispatch #6: Homelessness, Craigslist and the Comedy Stylings of Tom Lenk

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Cancerpants

The final day of aGLIFF was much like the days before it: moderate crowds, the usual broad mix of films and the continued comforting presence of Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann welcoming us to the festival before each screening.

I started the day with the My Queer Movie Competition shorts, a just slightly eclectic collection of 13 films in every conceivable style. Kudos to the aGLIFF programmers for presenting a shorts program with something for every taste, from David Goldstein and Jeff Keith's beautifully romantic Now & Forever to Eliane Lima's dark and striking (if somewhat impenetrable) Leonora to one of my favorites, Austinite Zach Green's hilarious The Green Family Elbow, about a family enduring anti-gay bullying although no one in the family is gay.

Another favorite short is Christopher Peak's Looking, a poignant documentary about men who use Craigslist to meet other men for secret sexual encounters. The five men interviewed in Looking are amazingly candid about their activities, telling us that such liaisons are very common, and many of the participants are married or have girlfriends. I also enjoyed Kate Lefoe's Under Pressure, an Australian import about two high-school girls who reveal their secret sexual desires while hiding from a shooter at their school.

aGLIFF 2011, Dispatch #5: Pounding Ground to Going Down

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Sean Paul Lockhart, Allison Lane, Richard Harmon, Chris Oakleaf, JT Tepnapa, Carlos Pedraza

I must start my coverage of my second half of aGLIFF by correcting a grievous omission in my coverage of the first half. Hollywood to Dollywood screened along with two notable shorts. The first of these was a mind-blowing three minutes of J-Pop music video meant to explore ideas of body image and gender identification. DOKKA DOKKA (Pounding Ground) is viewable on YouTube and worth a watch. The second of the two shorts was an intriguing and contemplative piece. Tu E Eu presented a couple's argument and breakup over the phone, but the conversation was repeated by different pairs of varying races and genders. As they argued about their parents' refusal to accept their choice of partner, viewers are left to reflect based on their own assumptions about the participants.

Moving on, the weekend encompassed the bulk of the festival. Because of traffic and Austin's new extended parking meter hours, I avoided Friday Night's activities at the Paramount which included the centerpiece film Mangus and a dance party on the Paramount stage. Saturday, however, kept me busy. My selections overlapped quite a bit with those Don covered in Dispatch #4, starting with Buffering.

aGLIFF 2011, Dispatch #4: I Am Holding Hands With a Longhorn

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Longhorns

aGLIFF was surprisingly uncrowded on Saturday. Not that this is a bad thing at all -- there were no long lines for most films, and I had no trouble finding a good seat in any of the five (yes -- five!) screenings I attended. And the crowds were as enthusiastic as ever. (I attribute much of the enthusiasm to the cheerful pre-show greetings from two well-known supporters of the LGBT community, Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann.)

My first screening of the day was I Am, a moving and intensely personal documentary that chronicles the LGBT community's struggles for acceptance in India. After an 11-year absence, director Sonali Gulati returns to Delhi to re-open her family home, which has been empty since her mother's death. Gulati regrets never coming out as a lesbian to her mother. While in India, she interviews other gay and lesbian Indians and their families about their experiences, and the resulting film is a painful reminder that homosexuality still is strongly condemned in many cultures.  I Am is a very well made and powerful movie that captures a rarely seen side of Indian society.

Next up was Buffering, a film that could not be more different from I Am. A farcical sex romp about a young gay British couple deeply in debt, Buffering reminds us how money -- specifically, lack thereof -- can inspire many people to do just about anything to pay their bills. Seb (Alex Anthony) and Aaron (Conner Mckenzy) lead a quiet life in English suburbia until monetary woes lead Aaron to film the couple's sexual encounters and launch a website featuring the films, all without telling Seb. When Seb discovers the ploy, he's horrified -- that is, until he sees the profit potential, and soon enough the two begin producing ever wilder (and more lucrative) videos.

aGLIFF 2011: Quick Snaps, the Majestic Bummy Version

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If you haven't been attending the 24th Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF), you're missing out. Mike and Don will have more dispatches soon, but in the meantime, check out some of the folks in attendance.

In the above photo, Skot Tulk, former Executive Director of aGLIFF; filmmaker Monte Patterson, director of the powerful short Caught; and aGLIFF programmer Frank Hai take a moment between the fun Mangus! screening and the Majestic Dance Party at the Paramount. 

aGLIFF 2011, Dispatch #3: We Speak Film

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We Speak FilmJames Loftus & Stephen MercerThe programming for this 24th year of aGLIFF offers a frequently dark and somber lineup of selections. Opening-night film The Lulu Sessions, covered by Jenn in Dispatch #1, was a sobering look at the final days of a terminal cancer patient. This was presented along with Communication, a 20-minute short that also dealt with the death of a loved one, as a youth contemplates the missed possibility of an almost-relationship with his former professor.

Though I was unable to attend the earlier screenings Thursday, they continued the morbid trend with So Hard to Forget, which includes the words "painful" and "bitter loss" in the synopsis. Meanwhile on the other screen, We Were Here documented the early days of AIDS with a movie that was described by one viewer as "devastating, but incredibly well done."

In the later time slot was Amphetamine, a Chinese romance complicated by drug addiction. However, I opted for something lighter and more frivolous, which turned out to be delightfully touching. Twin brothers/reality stars/actors Gary and Larry Lane document their love of Dolly Parton in Hollywood to Dollywood.

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