aGLIFF Will 'Howl' with James Franco This Year
Everyone's been talking about Fantastic Fest, but the first film festival of September is as dear to my heart as the one that ends the month. Last year was my first aGLIFF, and it will not be my last. The Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF) recently announced its opening-night, centerpiece and closing-night films, as well as the parties. The email announcement promised a wide range of films from "Ticked Off Trannies to The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister" and with that tease, here are details on the three films we know, and the parties associated with them: Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls, BearCity and Howl.
Last year's fest was a lot of fun, with a great staff, fun films and wonderful guests. The program was full of interesting, provocative, and enjoyable movies that had a much broader scope than I'd expected in a niche festival. Even with a power outage delaying films on the weekend, Sharon Gless (Hannah Free at the fest, currently in Burn Notice on TV) entertained crowds until the films could start again, and then wowed the crowds with an absolutely delightful Q&A. After such good memories of aGLIFF22, I'm really looking forward to seeing what GLIFF23 brings us this September.
The Opening Night film is the New Zealand production Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls. In two words, yodeling lesbians. Kiwi Yodeling Lesbians, no less. The official tagline for this documentary about Jools and Lynda Topp is even better: "A profile of the world's only comedic, singing, dancing, lesbian twin sisters." I suspect there will be much to talk about at the opening-night party at Annies. The Closing Night Party at AFF was there last year, and it was fun and the food delish.
The Centerpiece film is Howl. Hot off of his impressive performance as Scott Smith in Milk, James Franco takes on the role of Allen Ginsburg in the docu-drama about the obscenity trial over the titular poem. Directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman previously worked together on the film adaptation of The Celluloid Closet. The cast includes Jon Hamm, Mary-Louise Parker, Jeff Daniels, Alessandro Nivola and David Strathairn and with that much talent on the screen, you probably want to get your all-access badge and still get in line early to see this Sundance selection.
The after-party, which said badge will get you into, is at Frank and has "special surprise guests." Let me be clear in saying I do not know the identify of any of these guests, and no one at aGLIFF has given me any hints, but James Franco has come to Austin to support a film before (The Ape at AFF 2005 to be specific). I'm just saying. Well, speculating. Looking at that cast and crew, I'd be happy with any of them.
And last but not least, the closing-night film is director Douglas Langway's new feature, BearCity. As the name implies, this is the story of a group of friends who are gearing up for a big party weekend. It's described as taking a cue from the Sex and the City (TV series, not the movies, folks), with Tyler being out of the closet -- except his secret desire for bears. Fred introduces Tyler to bear culture, including Fred's "husbear" Brent (Stephen Guarino, The Big Gay Sketch Show) and a cast of characters (and glambears). I'm pretty sure it's going to be high energy like last year's The Big Gay Musical. And in honor of that, there is an all-day Beer Bash & BBQ at Cheer Up Charlie's, which I hadn't heard of before, but they had me at barbecue.
aGLIFF runs from September 7-12 at the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar. Memberships and badges may be purchased at the fest website, and there are links for volunteers to work the fest and to house filmmakers as well. aGLIFF is a popular festival so I highly recommend badges over individual tickets.