aGLIFF 2011, Dispatch #2: Caught with Kink Crusaders

Every year at aGLIFF I learn something and have a preconception blown away. This year it happened on the second night watching a film about the leatherman culture.

Kink Crusaders is a documentary about the International Mr. Leather contest. You can picture him, right? A bare-butt man in chaps, a codpiece and a leather cap. That stereotype may have a been prevalent when the contest began in the 1970s, but the wardrobe has evolved and so have the contestants. As Michael Skiff's documentary shows, the contenders are from all walks of life, including a 2008 IML semi-finalist confined to a wheelchair. And if that doesn't intrigue you, watch the last two minutes of the film to shatter even more preconceptions.

Fest attendees I talked with who saw Trigger instead were just as pleased with their choice.

I ended up seeing the "Suspense" shorts program, which included The Perfect Gentleman, Trailing Arbutus, The Armoire and Caught. Caught was a last-minute substitution due to a technical issue with another film, and it ended up being my favorite of the program, as it's both powerful and based on actual events. The directors of Trailing Arbutus, Patrick Conner and Hope Thompson, were in attendance; Thompson is pictured above with aGLIFF board members Kermit Johns and John Livingston.

Tomorrow the choices are just as difficult, with So Hard to Forget, about a professor in Brazil coping with the end of a long term relationship playing opposite the documentary We Were Here: Voices from the AIDS Years in San Francisco. As one programmer mentioned in conversation tonight, it's not "just another AIDS movie" but one that stands out as a well constructed documentary with riveting subjects. The later timeslot plays the May/December romance Amphetamine against the road trip documentary Hollywood to Dollywood.

aGLIFF runs through Sunday, September 11 at various locations in Austin.