aGLIFF Daily Dispatch #4: Antique

aGLIFF smartly programmed only one feature/short screening for the Centerpiece night: Dear Dad, Love Maria and Antique.

Vince Mascoli's short, Dear Dad, Love Maria, is a poignant animated imaging of a letter to a parent. This hand-drawn, semi-autobiographical short may last only five minutes, but it was powerful enough to win aGLIFF's nomination for the Iris Prize, the largest award for a gay and lesbian short film in the world -- valued at £25,000 (approximately $41,000). 

The theme of longing for connection and acceptance while determined to be true to oneself also fills Antique, a Korean live-action film based on a Japanese manga by Fumi Yoshinaga. A wealthy young man who hates cake, Jin-hyeok (Joo Ji-hoon), decides to open a bakery, and ends up hiring an a master patissier who proves to be not only a "Gay of Demonic Charm," but an old classmate. Seon-woo (Kim Jae-wook) has long forgotten a humiliation he suffered at the hands of Jin-hyeok, who hasn't. 

But Jin-hyeok has more than one memory haunting him, which becomes a major plot point as staff are added at the bakery, which becomes a sensation. A mix of comedy, drama, with a few dollops of fantasy sequences, Antique is a deceptively light film with some heavy themes that had the crowd sighing at times, both at the characters and at the sumptuous confections being created.

If I weren't so tired right now, I'd be enjoying Antique-inspired confections at the Centerpiece Film after-party. But I want to be rested up for tomorrow's Saturday Morning Cartoons program, which is free for kids and the adults who accompany them. And Sharon Gless will be in town supporting her film, Hannah Free. It's sure to be another full house.

aGLIFF runs through Sunday, September 13 at Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar. For up-to-date information, follow the fest on Twitter.