aGLIFF announces the Queer Spectrum screening for April 2022 will feature Sweetheart, the debut feature from director Marley Morrison, on April 27 at the Galaxy Theatre.

Marley Morrison’s debut feature Sweetheart charts the relationship between two young women during a summer holiday. Chosen as the 2021 Audience Award winner at the Glasgow Film Festival, “Sweetheart” is a sharply observed coming-of-age story.

17-year-old AJ is not one of life’s shiny, happy people. A family holiday at a caravan park in Dorset is her idea of hell. A moody misfit, she dresses for concealment and lets everyone know that she would rather be anywhere else. Then she spies flirty, free-spirited lifeguard Isla who might just be the girl of her dreams. Can AJ dare to take a first step on the road to happiness?

Presented in partnership with Sandra Hucker Consulting and Life Grows Green Hemp-Derived Products.

aGLIFF presents Sweetheart on WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 2022 at the Galaxy Theatre at 6700 Middle Fiskville Road, Austin, Texas 78752, starting at 7 PM. Open to aGLIFF members and guests for free; individual tickets are $12 each (plus applicable service fees) and are available for purchase now at agliff.org/queer-spectrum.

The Guardian said “if you thought Ammonite was going to be this year’s only gay love story set in Dorset, think again”:

“The resulting spark is the kind of miracle that maybe really only happens in the movies, but it doesn’t stop this being a good-natured love story, doomed to flower and fade in the space of a single holiday, leaving behind the traditional coming-of-age realisation that friends and family are what’s important right now.

The Irish Times called it “One of the year’s best feature debuts.”:

“Morrison makes use of the bland coastal vistas to create a convincingly enclosed container against which AJ can bash her brains. … There is not a bad performance.”

LeftLion says “this coming of age story is well worth your time”:

“So, while the coming of age subgenre is perhaps overly saturated, Sweetheart manages to bring a new, niche approach to the game. With a sharp and intelligent script excellently delivered by a fantastic cast, this marks an outstanding success story for Morrison – and with his debut feature, no less. Sweeeet.”

On his last day alive, Jimmy will show his estranged brother, salt-of-the earth caretaker, sharp-witted death doula, a novice obituary writer, a cosmic being, and the guests at his FUNeral that sometimes the art of living just may be the art of dying. An exploration of what it means to have a “good death” and inspired by the life stories of 84-year-old lead actor James Carrozo, Moon Manor is the debut feature from female filmmaking duo KnifeRock, and marks the first original score by Coldplay producers The Dream Team.

Moon Manor debuts theatrically and streaming on-demand starting Friday, March 11, 2022.

Writer/Director Dania Bdeir’sWarsha is set in Lebanon, where construction workers are often underpaid, undocumented and overlooked Syrian immigrants. The film explores the story of a Syrian migrant worker who volunteers to take on one of the tallest and notoriously most dangerous cranes in Lebanon. Away from everyone’s eyes, he is able to live out his secret passion.

This film stars Khansa, a multi-disciplinary artist redefining masculinity in the Middle East.

Recently, Warsha was awarded the Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction at the Sunday International Film Festival.

“What first appears to be an everyday story about man’s quotidian existence set against the drudgery of a hazardous workplace transforms into a stunning, joyful journey of self discovery and self expression,” says Juror Penelope Barlett. “For its combination of jaw dropping aerial cinematography with an intense performance by the lead actor, The Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction goes to Warsha by Dania Bdeir.”

The film was also screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam and the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival

Screenings @ SXSW 2022

• Saturday, 12 March 2022 – Screening @ 11:15 AM CT, Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar B
• Sunday, 13 March 2022 – On-line Screening @ 9:00 AM CT
• Wednesday, 16 March 2022 – Screening @ 6:45 PM CT, Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar E