Planners
Austin Pride Week 2019
While many celebrate pride during Pride Month in June, Austin has hosted its Pride events later in the summer since 2011. The Austin Gay & Lesbian Pride Foundation, the organizers of Austin PRIDE, announced in January that this year’s celebration will be held on Saturday, August 10, 2019, and as in the past, you can expect a week of events — both official and unofficial — leading up to the Austin PRIDE festival and parade.
In response to the recent mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Austin Pride announced that it has stepped up security at this weekend’s Austin Pride 2019 Celebration during both the festival and parade:
Security Statement in behalf of Austin Pride:
The shootings from this weekend are nothing short of heartbreaking. The mass murders of our people is criminal and change and justice must occur quickly. Our Ohio and El Paso neighbors follow in a long legacy of terror within our own borders and we cannot continue in this manner. No other country experiences this. We must change the system that has created a climate of living in constant fear and the resulting despair of these increasingly common incidents.
Austin Pride is a 10 day celebration of people, individuality, and freedom. In light of this weekends’ mass shootings, we’d like to inform our attendees and volunteers that safety is always paramount. We a have heavy security presence through drones, plain-clothed and uniformed police, sheriff, and SWAT forces at our annual Pride Parade and heavy security at our festival, where weapons are strictly prohibited. This is the standard yearly, which comes as an infringement of rights to some, and an overwhelming presence of protection to others. This year we will be increasing measures as safety is paramount and in a climate of armed terror, we are cutting no corners.
To those who lost a loved one this weekend, we hold you deeply in our hearts and we will support action and change, we will march on the front lines with you. That’s what freedom and unity are and we cannot let terror win. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
We’ve put together our annual Austin Pride Planner to help you plan your week and get the most out of everything that is going on. This guide is an active document and will be updated regularly as new events are added to the calendar leading up to pride week. You are encouraged to bookmark this page and check back for updates.
This is an active post and is updated. It also features a curated list of events. For a complete list of upcoming events, check out our community calendar.
PRIDE vs. pride. Not all the events listed in this guide are ‘official’ Austin PRIDE events. Many ‘pride’ events have no connection to the Austin Gay & Lesbian Pride Foundation. Some are stand-alone events by allied businesses showing their support for the LGBTQ+ community and many are regular weekly/monthly events with a special pride theme in honor of the week. This guide is intended as a resource to show locals and visitors alike, all that Austin has to offer. To help differentiate between official and unofficial events, any reference to ‘official’ Austin PRIDE events include the Austin PRIDE logo in their header and use ‘PRIDE’ (in all caps). For the most up-to-date listing of official events, visit the Austin PRIDE website at www.austinpride.org.
If you don’t see an event listed, email details to info@therepubliq.com or submit your event online.
SATURDAY // 03 AUGUST 2019
SUNDAY // 04 AUGUST 2019
MONDAY // 05 AUGUST 2019
TUESDAY // 06 AUGUST 2019
WEDNESDAY // 07 AUGUST 2019
THURSDAY // 08 AUGUST 2019
FRIDAY // 09 AUGUST 2019
SATURDAY // AUGUST 10, 2019
Austin PRIDE Festival
The Austin Gay & Lesbian Pride Foundation presents the 28th annual Austin Pride Festival at Edward Rendon Sr. Park at Festival Beach in Town Lake Metropolitan Park (a/k/a Fiesta Gardens) featuring entertainment, games and activities, drinks, food, family zone, and 140+ booths featuring local non-profits organizations and businesses. Fiesta Gardens (Edward Rendon Sr. Park at Festival Beach in Town Lake Metropolitan Park), 2101 Jesse E. Segovia St., Austin TX 78702. Saturday, August 10, 2019, 11 AM – 6 PM CDT. All ages. General admission: Adults $20-$150, children ages 7-17 $10, children 6 & under FREE.
Parking around Fiesta Gardens is ALWAYS an issue. Give yourself some extra time to find a spot and if you park in the surrounding neighborhood, don’t block someone’s driveway. If you plan to park downtown and then catch a ride over to the Festival, remember to feed your meter. Attendees are strongly encouraged to use alternatives: carpool, carshare services, bike or walk via the Hike and Bike Trail or use Capital Metro. Capital Metro’s #21/Exposition and #22/Chicon routes pick-up and drop-off at the stop at Holly & Robert R. Martinez, Jr. streets, 3 blocks from Fiesta Gardens. Both routes have stops in the Warehouse District and near the MetroRail’s Downtown Station and MetroRapid stops.
If the admission fee is too much for your budget, consider signing up to be a volunteer. Austin PRIDE needs about 200+ volunteers to help the festival and parade run smoothly and volunteers receive free admission to the festival.
Austin PRIDE Parade
The main event, the Austin Pride Parade is by far the largest event of Pride Week(end). Last year featured well over 100 contingents in the parade with over 400,000 attendees downtown for the event. If your organization would like to be part the of the Austin Pride Parade, you can register online. Downtown Austin. Saturday, August 10, 2019, 8 – 10 PM CDT. All ages. FREE; $35 for VIP seating.
SUNDAY // 11 AUGUST 2019
The All Genders, Lifestyles, and Identities Film Festival (aGLIFF) announced the official selections for the film festival’s 32nd edition. Entertaining documentaries bookend this year’s aGLIFF with David Charles Rodrigues’ GAY CHORUS DEEP SOUTH opening the film festival, and Nick Zeig-Owens’ TRIXIE MATTEL: MOVING PARTS, chosen as the Closing Night selection. aGLIFF, Austin’s longest running film festival, will showcase 28 feature-length films (15 narrative, 13 documentary), and 56 short films (50 narrative, 6 documentary), offer 28 Southwest premieres among its official selections, celebrate the careers of 3 beloved honorees (previously announced), bring back some favorites for encore screenings, and surprise Austin with another highly anticipated Secret Screening. aGLIFF screens exclusively at Alamo Drafthouse Lamar (1120 S. Lamar Blvd.) in Austin, Texas on August 22-25.
aGLIFF Artistic Director Jim Brunzell, said, “aGLIFF has always had a strong ‘familial’ quality to it, with filmmakers making films that address subjects and issues we all deal with, or touch emotions that reach everyone – not just those under the LGBTQ+ umbrella. This year’s edition once again exemplifies that feeling, and our honoree lineup highlights the quality of the filmmakers we have been fortunate to have at aGLIFF, as well as simply enjoy and appreciate their work on the big screen. This is a film festival where the filmmakers – from features to shorts, narrative to docs, and everything in between – truly support each other and seem to return year-after-year to touch base and screen new works for the film-going and the filmmaking community here in Austin and Texas.”
With the members of Austin’s Gay Men’s Chorus in attendance, Rodrigues’ GAY CHORUS DEEP SOUTH will open aGLIFF on Thursday, August 22. The film follows the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus’s tour of American Deep South churches and concert halls against the backdrop of the 2016 election aftermath and continued attacks on the rights of LGBTQ+. Along the way, they tackle complex issues, including gender expectations, disparity within the community for POC individuals, and the challenges faced by transgender people. And, in the process, the choir even learns to reconsider some of their preconceived notions about life in the South.
Zeig-Owens’ TRIXIE MATTEL: MOVING PARTS will serve as the Closing Night selection on Sunday, August 25. The film profiles the drag superstar, shining a spotlight on her unique makeup, her country folk musical talents, her comedy web series UNHhhh, and her two memorable runs on RuPaul’s Drag Race. The film follows the performer/personality after her win on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, as she begins a tour to promote her new album and to engage with friends. As her star rises, the world around her becomes heightened and intense, with fans clamoring for her attention while her comedic partner suffers from a mental health breakdown. Director Nick Zeig-Owens will be in attendance and participate in a post-screening Q&A.
Previously announced, LGBTQ+ film and television veterans Rose Troche and Jim Fall will both receive aGLIFF’s Tribute Award, joining Lisa Donato, who will be honored as this year’s aGLIFF Breakthrough Award recipient. Fall will be presented with his Tribute Award prior to a 20th Anniversary screening of TRICK on Saturday, August 24, and Troche will receive her Tribute Award prior to a 25th Anniversary screening of GO FISH, on Sunday, August 25. aGLIFF will also present a rare screening of Troche’s film, BEDROOMS AND HALLWAYS (1998). Donato’s aGLIFF Breakthrough Award presentation will take place on Friday, August 23. The presentation will feature select screenings of her short films, including FOXY TROT, THE NEWS TODAY, SPUNKLE, and THERE YOU ARE, as well as select clips from SIGNATURE MOVE, which she co-wrote, and her upcoming feature directorial debut GOSSAMER FOLDS.
This year’s Narrative Feature Film Competition will include; Santiago Loza’s BRIEF STORY FROM THE GREEN PLANET, about a transgender woman, reeling from the grief of losing the woman who raised her, her grandmother, finds out her former caretaker had been hiding an extraterrestrial being in her basement for many years; Lisa Zi Ziang’s directorial debut, A DOG BARKING AT THE MOON, about a Chinese family struggling to cope with the secret of a father’s barely-hidden homosexuality; Swarnavel Eswaran’s CATAMARAN (KATTUMARUM) which revolves around the Tsunami-affected lives of a middle-aged man, who is now taking care of his orphaned niece Anandhi, who, while trying to arrange a groom for his niece, discovers she is a lesbian; Cedric Le Gallo, and Maxime Govare’s THE SHINY SHRIMPS, which follows the learning curve of a champion Olympic swimmer, who is forced to become the reluctant coach a flamboyant and outrageous water polo team in training for the Gay Games in Croatia after publicly utter a homophobic slur; James Sweeney’s STRAIGHT UP, about a (probably) gay man and a straight woman trying to become a couple following his string of dating failures; and Neelu Bhuman’s TRANSFINITE, a sci-fi omnibus feature film composed of seven standalone magical realistic short stories where supernatural trans and queer people from various cultures use their powers to protect, love, teach, fight and thrive.
The Documentary Competition includes; Megan Rossman’s THE ARCHIVETTES, about the women who co-founded the Lesbian Herstory Archives, the world’s largest collection of materials by and about lesbians; Michael Barnette’s CHANGING THE GAME, which follows the lives of three transgender high school athletes, each of who lives in different parts of the US, and who are on different parts of their athletic and transition journeys; Caroline Berler’s DYKES, CAMERA, ACTION!, which takes a look at the history of lesbian filmmaking and lesbian depictions onscreen; Daniel Karslake’s FOR THEY KNOW NOW WHAT THEY DO, which examines the efforts by politicians and religious conservatives to retract the human rights of America’s LGBTQ citizens under the guise of religious freedom by looking at four American families caught in the crosshairs of scripture, sexuality, and identity; Gabrielle Zilkha’s QUEERING THE SCRIPT, a sparkling celebration of queer fangirls and the shows they love; Jeanie Finlay’s SEAHORSE, about a transgender man with aspirations of fatherhood, who decides to pursue biological paternity by carrying his child to term himself; and Isabelle Dupuis, and Timothy Geraghty’s THE UNICORN, which is a feature length documentary about outsider musician Peter Grudzien, the one-man musical force behind The Unicorn, possibly the first gay country album.
Additional highlights include aGLIFF encores of Tracy Frazier’s BECOMING LESLIE, the hit SXSW documentary about a cross-dressing, homeless man named Leslie Cochran, one of the most beloved yet polarizing cult figures of Austin, Texas, and Alex Thompson’s SAINT FRANCES, about a woman who becomes a reluctant nanny to the daughter of lesbian parents. The film was a winner of SXSW’s 2019 Audience Award & a Special Jury Recognition for “Breakthrough Voice.” Brad Michael Elmore’s BIT stars Supergirl’s Natalie Maines as a trans teen being seduced by an alluring group of glamorous vampires – with Maines scheduled to attend aGLIFF. Also of note – this year’s Secret Screening selection – a perennial aGLIFF hit, has confirmed the attendance of the film’s director and special guests.
Film festival passes are on-sale now. VIP badges are $300, Film badges start at $125, and Student passes are $50. Individual Tickets are $12-$30. For more information aGLIFF, go to http://agliff.org. To purchase passes or tickets, go to: http://agliff.org/badgesandtickets/
THURSDAY // AUGUST 22, 2019
GAY CHORUS DEEP SOUTH
OPENING NIGHT SELECTION
Director: David Charles Rodrigues
Country: USA, Running Time: 98 min
In the wake of the 2016 election and a series of attacks against LGBTQ+ liberties in the American south, the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus decides that their best weapon against hatred is their music. GAY CHORUS DEEP SOUTH documents their tour of American Deep South churches and concert halls and plays like a beautiful song of love and tolerance for trying times. Along the way, they tackle complex LGBTQ+ issues, including gender expectations, disparity within the community for POC individuals, and the challenges faced by transgender people. And, in the process, the choir even learns to reconsider some of their preconceived notions about life in the South. Featuring touching music and beautiful cinematography, GAY CHORUS DEEP SOUTH is the perfect booster shot of hope, optimism, and understanding. Thursday, August 22, 2019. 6:30 PM
LATE NIGHT & SEXY SHORTS
Get ready to cover your eyes, hold onto your arm rest and sink into your chair as these eight gory, terrifying and steamy stories will surely have you thinking about whether we’re heading into certain doom or into ecstasy. Thursday, August 22, 2019. 9:45 PM. Encore screening on Friday, August 23, 2019. 9:30 PM.
DOCKING
Director: Trevor Anderson
Country: Canada, Running Time: 5 min
Trevor reflects on his fear of dating.
TOUCHSCREEN
Southwest Premiere
Director: Arthur Halpern
Country: USA, Running Time: 15 min
After an unusual online encounter, a lonely man is challenged to step out from behind his computer screen and shatter long-lived inhibitions to claim the touch of another human being.
CLEANSE
World Premiere
Director: Maggie Burger
Country: USA, Running Time: 12 min
A lonely Pranic healer – a form of energy healing – continues to push her body and her spiritual health to the brink when she is confronted with an especially horrific and spiritually-trying healing session.
THE SUMMER HOUSE
Southwest Premiere
Director: Luke Willis
Country: USA, Running Time: 14 min
After many years away, Greg returns to his family’s secluded vacation house with his boyfriend only to be tormented by the ghost of his homophobic father.
CATCALLS
Texas Premiere
Director: Kate Dolan
Country: Ireland, Running Time: 8 min
A sexual predator gets his comeuppance when he picks the wrong girls to mess with.
JEREMIAH
Austin Premiere
Director: Kenya Gillespie
Country: USA, Running Time: 9 min
An Asian-American high school football player is forced to confront his deepest fears after a strange encounter with a mysterious figure.
CONVERSION THERAPIST
U.S. Premiere
Director: Bears Rebecca Fonte
Country: USA, Running Time: 20 min
A pansexual, polyamorous trio kidnap a ‘pray-the-gay-away’ evangelical conversion therapist and torture him until he sees the light.
KIKO’S SAINTS
Texas Premiere
Director: Manuel Marmier
Country: France, Running Time: 26 min
Kiko, a Japanese illustrator on assignment in France, gets suddenly overwhelmed by a strange inspiration, while she realizes she’s been spying on a gay couple on the beach next to the chapel where she’s working. Obsessed by such a vision, she will spy on those men and draw them secretly. This will slowly push her towards an encounter that will change her life and breaks her social rules.
FRIDAY // AUGUST 23, 2019
DRAMATIC SHORTS
These five dramatic shorts will open your eyes of acceptance, compassion and grief as these short films showcase impactful and heartbreaking stories. Friday, August 23, 2019. 1 PM. Encore screening on Saturday, August 24, 2019. 3:45 PM.
PONYBOI
Southwest Premiere
Directors: River Gallo, Sade Clacken Joseph
Country: USA, Running Time: 21 min
On Valentine’s Day, Ponyboi, an Intersex sex worker, looks for love and a way out of his seedy life in New Jersey. Through a magical encounter with the man of his dreams, Ponyboi discovers his worth.
INVOLUNTARY ACTIVIST
Southwest Premiere
Director: Mikael Bundsen
Country: UK, Running Time: 20 min
A teacher is forced to choose between betraying his family or his values when his older sister asks him to step back into the closet for a single night.
MASKS
Director: Mahaliyah Ayla O
Country: USA, Running Time: 22 min
A closeted medical student risks being outed to her family the same evening a masked gunman opens fire at a gay nightclub.
SKIN
Director: Audrey Rosenberg
Country: USA, Running Time: 16 min
A queer teenager struggling with the onset of puberty discovers a living cave that presents them with a new skin and a chance to explore their identity.
MILLER & SON
Southwest Premiere
Director: Asher Jelinsky
Country: USA, Running Time: 21 min
A transwoman mechanic lives between running her family’s auto shop during the day and expressing her femininity at night, until an unforeseen event threatens the balance of her compartmentalized life.
THE UNICORN
Directors: Isabelle Dupuis, Timothy Geraghty
Country: USA, Running Time: 92 min
THE UNICORN is a feature length documentary about outsider musician Peter Grudzien, the one-man musical force behind The Unicorn, possibly the first gay country album. But country doesn’t begin to describe the dizzying range of music included on this 1974 album. Peter composed, performed and recorded The Unicorn entirely in his childhood home in Queens, NY. He sold the 500 pressed copies out of a suitcase on the streets of New York. “The Unicorn” also follows Peter as he navigates mental illness and the chaos of his family to ultimately find refuge in the creative world of music. “The Unicorn” won Best International Competition at the prestigious Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI) earlier, this year. Friday, August 23, 2019. 1:30 PM.
A DOG BARKING AT THE MOON
Director: Lisa Zi Ziang
Countries: China/Spain, Running Time: 107 min
In this emotional debut, writer/director Lisa Zi Ziang explores different points in the lives of a Chinese family as they struggle to cope with the secret of a father’s barely-hidden homosexuality, a mother’s indoctrination into a cult, and a daughter’s resentment towards both her parents. As the non-linear story comes together, each character becomes more difficult to understand as new information recasts events in both the past and present in different lights. A Golden Teddy Jury Award-winner at this year’s Berlin Film Festival about cultural taboo, heteronormativity, and the emotionally difficult bonds held in family, this feature offers compassion to each character to depict a family in constant crisis because of the expectations of others. Friday, August 23, 2019. 2 PM.
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, but these five stories will capture, break, and open your heart, bringing us closer to understanding these world issues. Friday, August 23, 2019. 3:45 PM. Encore screening on Sunday, August 25, 2019. 10:30 AM.
A GREAT RIDE
Texas Premiere
Director: Deborah Craig
Country: USA, Running Time: 33 min
“A Great Ride” is a documentary about older lesbians aging with dynamism and zest for life. When they were younger, these women forged a social movement to come out as true to themselves. Now they are pioneers once again as they face the next daunting challenge: growing old, which can come with frailty, loneliness, and the death of dear friends. In this group portrait, these women are courageous role models for aging, which they do with determination, engagement, an independent and irreverent spirit and a heartening delight in living.
HAVE WE MET BEFORE?
Southwest Premiere
Director: Oliver Mason
Country: UK, Running Time: 12 min
“Have We Met Before?” is a docudrama about how gay men have met over the ages. These slices of social history highlight the universal and timeless need for sex and intimacy.
MACK WRESTLES
Directors: Taylor Hess, Erin Sanger
Country: USA, Running Time: 26 min
The sport is brutal enough. There are the demands for strength and speed and stamina, the hours bathed in sweat, the knowledge that your opponent wants to wipe the mat with you. Those were the very reasons, though, that Mack Beggs loved wrestling—it gave him a sense of purpose and a sense of self. “Mack Wrestles” takes the audience behind the scenes as this gifted athlete from Euless, Texas, struggles against the outside forces that stigmatize transgender athletes. Despite all the turmoil, this poignant film makes one thing perfectly clear: If life were a wrestling match, the referee would be raising Mack’s arm at the end.
VERASPHERE: A LOVE STORY IN COSTUME
Southwest Premiere
Director: Robert James
Country: USA, Running Time: 20 min
Two men, both diagnosed with AIDS and with little hope of a future, come together in the mid 1990’s to create art in the form of elaborate and outrageous costumes. For David and Michael what starts out as an intimate art project rapidly grows into a large and diverse tribe, all centered around one day of costumed celebration in the SF Pride Parade. “Verasphere” brings the viewer inside the lives of David and Michael in an examination of the creation that gave them something to live for.
SAINT FRANCES
Director: Alex Thompson
Country: USA, Running Time: 98 min
After her decision to end an unwanted pregnancy, 34-year-old Bridget reluctantly agrees to nanny the bright and rambunctious Frances, forming an unexpected bond with her and her affluent lesbian parents, Maya and Annie. Unaccustomed to the emotional flexibility required to be part of someone else’s family, Bridget learns to make peace with her precocious new charge as she becomes embroiled in a growing tension between the two moms. Winner of SXSW’s 2019 Audience Award & a Special Jury Recognition for “Breakthrough Voice,” aGLIFF is delighted to bring SAINT FRANCES back for an encore screening. Friday, August 23, 2019. 4 PM.
SEAHORSE
Director: Jeanie Finlay
Country: UK, Running Time: 89 min
When Freddy, a transgender man with aspirations of fatherhood, decides to pursue biological paternity by carrying his child to term himself, he is faced with several unique obstacles. During his journey to parenthood, he has to come to grip with how he defines himself, how society views biological childbirth for transgender people, and how the loved ones in his life have their own hang ups with their views on parenthood and gender roles. This touching and nuanced documentary by director Jeanie Finlay (“Game of Thrones: The Last Watch”) tackles head-on the frustrations, the anxiety, and ultimately, the joy that Freddy experiences on the road to conceiving and giving birth to his child. Friday, August 23, 2019. 4:30 PM.
QUEERING THE SCRIPT
Director: Gabrielle Zilkha
Country: Canada, Running Time: 90 min
“I learned about myself through this show. I saw myself in this character,” explains an enthusiastic fan in QUEERING THE SCRIPT, a sparkling celebration of queer fangirls and the shows they love. Queerness on television has moved from subtext in series such as “Xena: Warrior Princess,” to all-out multi season relationships between women, as seen on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Lost Girl,” and “Carmilla.” But things still aren’t perfect. In 2016, a record number of queer women died on fictional shows, which broke the hearts of queer fans and launched a successful fight for better, more diverse LGTBQ2S+ representation. Stars such as Ilene Chaiken, Stephanie Beatriz, Lucy Lawless and Angelica Ross join with the voices of numerous kickass fangirls in this fast-paced history of queer women’s representation of contemporary television. Friday, August 23, 2019. 6:30 PM.
INTERNATIONAL SHORTS
These seven films in this program are from across the globe, but they all point to a common theme of conflicting loyalties. These are stories of being conflicted, caught in the middle and torn between. Friday, August 23, 2019. 6:45 PM. Encore screening on Sunday, August 25, 2019. 5:45 PM.
BACCHUS
Texas Premiere
Director: Rikke Alma Krogshave Planeta
Country: Denmark, Running Time: 5 min
Alex, a young woman bored with modern life, is lured by Bacchus into a colorful and mysterious world to explore her deepest desires.
LISTEN
Texas Premiere
Director: Jake Graf
Country: UK, Running Time: 4 min
Featuring young trans actors in trans roles, ‘Listen’ honestly and frankly depicts some of the myriad struggles experienced daily by trans children and teenagers, giving a much needed voice to this often maligned section of the community.
TREACLE
Austin Premiere
Director: Rosie Westhoff
Country: UK, Running Time: 18 min
“Treacle” is the story of two friends, Belle, and Jessie, who go on a weekend away to help Jessie get over a recent breakup. Road tripping through California, we follow them over the course of 24 hours as Belle convinces Jessie to not cancel the trip she’d originally planned to go on with her ex. Lines begin to blur between them when the always heterosexual Jessie in her drunken, post-breakup loneliness kisses bisexual Belle. “Treacle” aims to give a voice to the ‘B’ in ‘LGBT.’
OF ASKA (UR ASKA)
North American Premiere
Director: Myra Sofia Hild
Country: Denmark, Running Time: 7 min
Two women live happily together, until one starts to transform, disturbing their usual dynamic. The one left unchanged has to decide how far their love goes.
VERTICAL LINES
Texas Premiere
Director: Kyle Reaume
Country: Canada, Running Time: 14 min
Dave and Andrew reach a new level of closeness in their relationship when they share their personal experiences with self-harm.
DELIVERY BOY
Southwest Premiere
Director: Hugo Kenzo
Country: Hong Kong, Running Time: 15 min
Local delivery boy Chunho falls in love after delivering dumplings to Eric, an American lawyer living in Hong Kong. Their love for food and cheesy 70s music brings them together, but the class difference between them eventually gets in the way.
CLOTHES & BLOW
Texas Premiere
Director: Sam Peter Jackson
Country: UK, Running Time: 23 min
In this sharply written and touching comedy, an American voiceover artist in London (David Menkin, “Florence Foster Jenkins“) finds himself questioning his life of hookups and emotional avoidance when he receives an unexpected visit from his mother (the marvelous Nancy Baldwin, “Mamma Mia!“).
Lisa Donato Breakthrough Artist Award Presentation
Film screenings in this screening, “The News Today,” “Foxy Trot,” “There You Are,” and short clips from “Behind the Drag Short Doc” followed by an extended Q & A with Artistic Director, Jim Brunzell. aGLIFF will present the Breakthrough Award to Lisa Donato following the entire presentation. Friday, August 23, 2019. 7 PM.
STRAIGHT UP
Southwest Premiere
Director: James Sweeney
Country: USA, Running Time: 95 min
Meet Todd. Favorite film: LEGALLY BLONDE. Strong opinions about decorative pillows. Dislikes bodily fluids. Currently experiencing a sexual identity crisis. Having still not met his soul mate while dating men and fearing he’ll spend his life alone, Todd throws himself into the heterosexual dating pool. Enter Rory. Aspiring actress. Hates cats. Biting wit and a great vocabulary. An intellectual match made in heaven! But can a (probably) gay man and a straight woman add up to a truly happy couple? Quick-witted (and with even quicker dialogue) and with an excellent cast that includes How to Get Away with Murder’s Katie Findlay as Rory, Tracie Thoms (Rent), Randall Park (Fresh Off the Boat), Betsy Brandt (Breaking Bad), and Brendan Scannell (Bonding), “Straight Up” channels the spirit of a Nora Ephron romantic comedy while shaking up the genre’s tropes and staples in the process. Friday, August 23, 2019. 9 PM.
LATE NIGHT & SEXY SHORTS (ENCORE)
Get ready to cover your eyes, hold onto your arm rest and sink into your chair as these eight gory, terrifying and steamy stories will surely have you thinking about whether we’re heading into certain doom or into ecstasy. Friday, August 23, 2019. 9:30 PM.
SATURDAY // AUGUST 24, 2019
TAKE A CHANCE ON ME SHORTS
Want some variety in your life? We thought we would spice things up and throw a collection of shorts films together and give you a little bit from each of our shorts program. So thanks for “taking a chance” on these shorts. Saturday, August 24, 2019. 10 AM.
STEPDADDY
Director: Lisa Steen
Country: USA, Running Time: 8 min
Patricia goes to Wyatt’s house for dinner. They eat soggy spaghetti and she gets too drunk. She asks him for a personal favor, he deals her a personal blow. Her dad comes over later in the night.
MISDIRECTION
Austin Premiere
Director: Carly Usdin
Country: USA, Running Time: 13 min
Camila is your average college freshman with obsessive-compulsive disorder and a big, gay crush on her roommate. After both situations come to a head in a near car crash, Cam is stuck trying to find a distraction. A chance encounter with a street magician teaches her to channel her misguided energy into a new hobby, and to open her heart to new possibilities.
ANGEL & OPAL
Southwest Premiere
Director: Jack Truman
Country: USA, Running Time: 6 min
“Angel & Opal” is about two burlesque legends talking about the golden years of burlesque. Burlesque legends Satan’s Angel and Opal Dockery share memories from their dancing days in the 60’s and ’70’s. A hilarious, eye-opening, shocking underground short film, “Angel & Opal” opens the audience’s eyes to a lost era.
TENTATRICE
North American Premiere
Directors: Kristen Boisnier, Rachel Casassus, Léa Peiranod, Joana Sacco, Marine Sailard, Bertrand Sanabria, Marion Torcheux
Country: France, Running Time: 5 min
During the Roaring Twenties of Chicago, Myrtille is desperately attracted to the Cabaret’s Singer. One night, the power of a peculiar perfume gives her a chance to step out of the shadows…
MOMSTER
Southwest Premiere
Director: Drew Denny
Country: USA, Running Time: 10 min
When Angel’s long lost mother, one of America’s Most Wanted bank robbers, shows up on her birthday, Angel thinks her wishes have come true – until reality hits. Starring Amanda Plummer and Brianna Hildebrand.
AUSENCIA (ENGLISH)
Austin Premiere
Director: Victor Alex Perez
Country: USA, Running Time: 4 min
A young Venezuelan is conflicted with telling his mom the truth about his life.
DRESS UP LIKE MRS. DOUBTFIRE
Southwest Premiere
Director: Will Zang
Country: USA, Running Time: 12 min
A throwback look of 1993 film “Mrs. Doubtfire” and its cultural impact to drag culture in Hollywood films.
MORE THAN HE KNOWS
Southwest Premiere
Director: Chris McNeany
Country: USA, Running Time: 13 min
When a happily married couple go on a routine staycation, the wife demonstrates that she knows her husband better than he knows himself.
NEXT LEVEL SHIT
Southwest Premiere
Director: Gary Jaffe
Country: USA, Running Time: 11 min
Taylor (Ben Baur) prepares obsessively for the perfect third date with dreamboat Chris (Daniel K. Isaac), but his efforts backfire, sending the relationship spiraling to a whole new level of intimacy.
CHANGING THE GAME
Director: Michael Barnette
Country: UK, Running Time: 90 min
Following the lives of three transgender high school athletes, each of who lives in different parts of the US, and who are on different parts of their athletic and transition journeys, CHANGING THE GAME explores the challenges faced and perseverance demonstrated by trans athletes. In a world that forces them to push harder than their cisgender teammates and opponents to overcome discriminatory policies and verbally abusive spectators, these athletes show their courage and their resilience every time they step on to the field. Saturday, August 24, 2019. 10:30 AM.
SONG LANG
Texas Premiere
Director: Leon Le
Country: Vietnam, Running Time: 101 min
Set in 1980s Saigon, “Song Lang” is a gritty underworld noir hiding a tender, romantic heart. At the film’s core is the unlikely bond that develops between hunky, brooding Dung (Lien Binh Phat), a tough debt collector for a ruthless loan shark, and Linh Phung (V-pop star Isaac), a charismatic young opera singer from a struggling cai luong (traditional Vietnamese opera) troupe. The two meet when Dung comes to forcefully collect a debt from the opera troupe. But when their paths cross again, a friendship — and then more — develops, awakening surprising, tender feelings in both men. Their story soon scales operatic heights. With his first feature film, director Leon Le has delivered a rich drama: a smoldering relationship between two apparent opposites, equally uncompromising, set against the backdrop of a gorgeous, fading art form. “Song Lang” has garnered 21 awards from film festivals worldwide, including Lien Binh Phat’s Gemstone award for rising star at Tokyo International Film Festival 2018 and Frameline’s 2019 Narrative Feature Audience Award. Saturday, August 24, 2019. 11 AM.
TRICK (1999) 20th Anniversary
Director: Jim Fall
Country: USA, Running Time: 89 min
TRICK follows the misadventures of two young gay men, trying to find a place to hook-up, one night in 1990’s Manhattan. It’s lust at first sight when Gabriel (Christian Campbell), an aspiring Broadway musical writer, meets Mark (John Paul Pitoc), a sexy go-go dancer. After picking each other up on the subway, the duo spends the rest of the night trying to be alone, only to have their plans thwarted at every turn. There’s Gabriel’s annoying best friend Katherine (Tori Spelling), his selfish roommate Rich (Brad Beyer), the piano-bar crooner Perry (Steve Hayes), and a jealous drag queen (Clinton Leupp as Miss Coco Peru). Although they encounter several mishaps in a wild night that leaves the pair physically unsatisfied, when the sun rises, so does the possibility of a budding relationship. Saturday, August 24, 2019. 12:30 PM.
THE ARCHIVETTES
Southwest Premiere
Director: Megan Rossman
Country: USA, Running Time: 60 min
“Our history was disappearing as quickly as we were making it.” With that realization, Deborah Edel and Joan Nestle co-founded the Lesbian Herstory Archives, the world’s largest collection of materials by and about lesbians. For more than 40 years, through many of the major milestones in LGBTQ+ history, the all-volunteer organization has literally rescued history from the trash. Now the co-founders are in their mid-70s, and the group faces a number of challenges: A transfer of leadership. The rise of digital technology. A renewed call to activism in a politically charged moment. THE ARCHIVETTES is a documentary film that explores how this group came together to combat lesbian invisibility and create “a place that says yes.” Saturday, August 24, 2019. 1:15 PM.
DYKES, CAMERA, ACTION!
Director: Caroline Berler
Country: Canada, Running Time: 60 min
Lesbians didn’t always get to see themselves on screen. But between Stonewall, the feminist movement, and the experimental cinema of the 1970s, they built visibility, and transformed the social imagination about queerness. Filmmakers Barbara Hammer, Su Friedrich, Rose Troche, Cheryl Dunye, Yoruba Richen, Desiree Akhavan, Vicky Du, film critic B. Ruby Rich, Jenni Olson, and others share moving and often hilarious stories from their lives and discuss how they’ve expressed queer identity through film. DYKES, CAMERA, ACTION! is a history of queer cinema from the women who made it happen. Screening with “The Archivettes”.
TRANSFINITE
Southwest Premiere
Director: Neelu Bhuman
Countries: India/UK/USA, Running Time: 70 min
TRANSFINITE is a sci-fi omnibus feature film composed of seven standalone magical realistic short stories where supernatural trans and queer people from various cultures use their powers to protect, love, teach, fight and thrive. Saturday, August 24, 2019. 1:30 PM.
VITA & VIRGINIA
Texas Premiere
Director: Chanya Button
Countries: Ireland/UK, Running Time: 110 min
Set amidst the bohemian high society of 1920s England, VITA & VIRGINIA tells the scintillating true story of a literary love affair that fueled the imagination of one of the 20th century’s most celebrated writers. Vita Sackville-West (Gemma Arterton) is the brash, aristocratic wife of a diplomat who refuses to be constrained by her marriage, defiantly courting scandal through her affairs with women. When she meets the brilliant but troubled Virginia Woolf (Elizabeth Debicki), she is immediately attracted to the famed novelist’s eccentric genius and enigmatic allure. So begins an intense, passionate relationship marked by all-consuming desire, intellectual gamesmanship, and destructive jealousy that will leave both women profoundly transformed and inspire the writing of one of Woolf’s greatest works. Saturday, August 24, 2019. 3:15 PM.
BREAST FRIENDS
Director: Eleanor Rogers
Country: Ireland, Running Time: 18 min
(Screens prior to VITA & VIRGINIA)
DRAMATIC SHORTS (ENCORE)
These five dramatic shorts will open your eyes of acceptance, compassion and grief as these short films showcase impactful and heartbreaking stories. Saturday, August 24, 2019. 3:45 PM.
TONGUES UNTIED (1989) 30th anniversary
Director: Marlon T. Riggs
Country: USA, Running Time: 55 min
The seminal documentary on Black gay life, Emmy Award-winning director Marlon T. Riggs’ 1989 TONGUES UNTIED uses poetry, personal testimony, rap and performance (featuring poet Essex Hemphill and others), to describe the homophobia and racism that confront Black gay men. The stories are fierce examples of homophobia and racism: the man refused entry to a gay bar because of his color; the college student left bleeding on the sidewalk after a gay-bashing; the loneliness and isolation of the drag queen. Yet they also affirm the black gay male experience: protest marches, smoky bars, “snap diva,” humorous “musicology” and Vogue dancers. Saturday, August 24, 2019. 4 PM.
BURN THE HOUSE DOWN
Southwest Premiere
Directors: Giselle Bailey, Nneka Onuorah
Country: France, Running Time: 44 min
Produced by Vice Media, BURN DOWN THE HOUSE documents the lead up to the next great Kiddy Smile (Let a Bitch Know, Be Honest) concert, with diverse, opinionated, and passionate members of Paris’ tight-knit ballroom community reflecting on issues of race, queer identity, immigrant culture, visibility, and free expression in contemporary France. The success of ballroom and figures like Smile, Ninja, Algerian lesbian Habibitch, and Afro Trap DJ Lazy Flow proves that conquering of the social labels previously used to limit them is part of the path to fierce embrace of their own fabulous power. Screening with “Tongues Untied”.
BECOMING LESLIE
Director: Tracy Frazier
Country: USA, Running Time: 84 min
BECOMING LESLIE chronicles life on the streets as seen through the eyes of a cross-dressing, homeless man named Leslie Cochran, one of the most beloved yet polarizing cult figures of Austin, Texas. Told with unapologetic humor, Leslie’s bizarre meteoric rise to iconic status is starkly contrasted with living life on his own terms in a changing world. After selling out screenings at this year’s SXSW, aGLIFF is proud to bring the return of BECOMING LESLIE back for an encore screening. (Please note, the 2019 Awards Ceremony will take place before the screening.) Saturday, August 24, 2019. 6:15 PM.
COMEDY SHORTS
Film can remind us that the most rewarding smiles and laughter come from our time with that special someone, longtime relationships and life experiences. These eight comedic films share laughs with our family, best friends, that special someone, perfect strangers, and a couple no nonsense Nuns and zombies. Saturday, August 24, 2019. 6:30 PM. + Encore screening on Sunday, August 25, 2019. 3:15 PM.
MICHAEL & MICHAEL ARE GAY: DINNER WITH STRAIGHTS
Southwest Premiere
Directors: Annika Kurnick, Ian Alda
Country: USA, Running Time: 9 min
Two sex-positive, same-named husbands battle a parade of never-ending insecurities while trying to make their marriage work in a not-quite-post-equality world.
GIRLS WEEKEND
Texas Premiere
Director: Kyra Sedgwick
Country: USA, Running Time: 11 min
“Girls Weekend” centers around a painfully awkward—and then surprisingly touching—reunion between an estranged lesbian and her not-so-accepting family back home starring Ali Liebegott (who also wrote the short), Amy Landecker, and Linda Lavin.
SWEATER
Southwest Premiere
Director: Nick Borenstein
Country: USA, Running Time: 5 min
Corey’s day couldn’t be worse. Then he gets a free coffee.
SACREES NONNES
Texas Premiere
Directors: Anissa Baddiaf, Edwige Bellin Du Coteau, Lucie Fillon, Perrine Lemonnier, Zacharia Mekideche, Léa Mouraud, Armelle Roy
Country: France, Running Time: 5 min
Two eccentric nuns arrive late at the Holy Mass and get expelled from the service. While doing a cleaning chore as punishment, they accidentally break a valuable liturgical object. Full of regrets, they try everything to repair their mistake, but nothing goes as expected.
MATT & DAN: ZOMBIE EX
Southwest Premiere
Director: Will Gordh
Country: Canada, Running Time: 5 min
Luke, a badass survivor in a post-apocalyptic zombie-filled world, searches for supplies for his camp at a warehouse across town. But things get complicated when Luke runs into a hungry zombie bent on eating his brains, who also just so happens to be an ex boyfriend.
I KNOW HER
Southwest Premiere
Director: Fawzia Mizra
Country: USA, Running Time: 3 min
In the afterglow of a seemingly fated hookup, two women realize that perhaps they have a little too much in common.
ENGAGED
Southwest Premiere
Director: David Scala
Country: USA, Running Time: 17 min
“Engaged” is an LGBTQ+ comedic drama that follows Darren (Daniel K. Isaac, “Billions”), who keeps trying – and failing – to propose to his boyfriend Elliot (Ryan Jamaal Swain “”Pose”). When their relationship is put into an uncomfortable spotlight during a friend’s outrageous engagement party, Darren realizes he actually might be self-sabotaging himself due to unresolved insecurities about his sexuality.
THESE THEMS
Southwest Premiere
Director: Jett Garrison
Country: USA, Running Time: 30 min
“These Thems” is a seven episode, fully narrative digital series following the lives of four queer friends in NYC. (aGLIFF will be screening the first three episodes.)
END OF THE CENTURY
Texas Premiere
Director: Lucio Castro
Country: Argentina, Running Time: 84 min
In his assured feature debut, director Lucio Castro uses a brief encounter between two men, Javi and Ocho, as they begin to explore the nature of sex within a complicated relationship. Shifting forward and backward in time, this narrative slowly unfolds to reveal itself to be a portrait of a relationship that looks very different with each change and the ways relationships can evolve over time. Sexy and emotionally revealing, END OF THE CENTURY questions the structures around relationships and intimacy that LGBTQ+ people have been taught, while always maintaining a focus on the connection between these Javi and Ocho as they keep finding each other in Barcelona, decades apart. Saturday, August 24, 2019. 6:45 PM.
THE SHINY SHRIMPS
Southwest Premiere
Directors: Cedric Le Gallo, Maxime Govare
Country: France, Running Time: 100 min
When champion Olympic swimmer, Matthias utters a homophobic slur on national television, he is forced to become the reluctant coach of the Shiny Shrimps, a flamboyant and outrageous water polo team in training for the Gay Games in Croatia. Part road-trip saga, part inspirational sports movie, and part celebration of athletes who come in all levels of fabulosity, this dizzy and fizzy comedy reminds us that we’re all in the same pool, just trying to stay afloat. Saturday, August 24, 2019. 9 PM.
BEDROOMS & HALLWAYS (1998)
ROSE TROCHE TRIBUTE
Director: Rose Troche
Country: UK, Running Time: 92 min
A lonely young gay man joins a self-help group after a friend urges him to improve his social life. There he meets an Irishman who has just come out of a long-term relationship, and they discover that the Irishman’s ex-partner was the high school love of the lonely man. The two men soon find themselves drawn to one another. Written by Robert Farrar, the film stars Kevin McKidd, James Purefoy, Tom Hollander, Julie Graham, Simon Callow and Hugo Weaving. Saturday, August 24, 2019. 9:15 PM.
BIT
Southwest Premiere
Director: Brad Michael Elmore
Country: USA, Running Time: 90 min
As soon as she graduates from her small-town high school, trans teen Laurel (Nicole Maines) immediately sets her sights on Los Angeles. She meets a mysterious group of girls — vampires, looking to recruit her into their glamorous, alluring world, where they have complete agency over their lives. But as Laurel becomes entrenched in their ways, she begins to doubt whether she’s ready to become one of them. A pulsing soundtrack, impossibly cool style, sharp wit, and a little camp breathe life into this fresh take on blood-thirsty ladies of the night. Saturday, August 24, 2019. 9:30 PM.
SUNDAY // AUGUST 25, 2019
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS (ENCORE)
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, but these five stories will capture, break, and open your heart, bringing us closer to understanding these world issues. Sunday, August 25, 2019. 10:30 AM.
FAMILY/YOUTH SHORTS
This family and youth focused shorts programs bring together some of the best youth oriented films featuring three Austin based short films including two made by aGLIFF Student Filmmaking camp Queer Youth Media Project. These ten films find children and teens searching for love and discovery new found feelings are stories with so many heart emojis to follow Sunday, August 25, 2019. 11 AM.
OUT OF IT
Southwest Premiere
Director: Katy Erin
Country: USA, Running Time: 10 min
Charley’s struggling to tell her best friend Annie about her new relationship, but she may get a practice run when she drives her home from dental surgery.
EGGHEAD & TWINKIE
World Premiere
Director: Sarah Holland
Country: USA, Running Time: 9 min
Egghead is in love with his best friend, Twinkie. Twinkie is a closeted lesbian. And tonight, she is coming out to her conservative parents in the most casual way possible.
DISENGAGEMENT
World Premiere
Director: Queer Youth Media Project
Country: USA, Running Time: 4 min
Two marriages, the same problems, the same avoidance, the same end.
OUT: A SELF PORTRAIT
Southwest Premiere
Director: Danny Curley
Country: USA, Running Time: 5 min
Through the exploration of movies and music videos, the filmmaker allows the audience to observe his internal struggles of self-hatred and insecurity with the process of coming to terms with his sexuality.
BLACK BUTTERFLY
Directors: Wide Angle Youth Media Video Team
Country: USA, Running Time: 5 min
High school students portray the layers of Black LGBTQ+ identity in a film that advocates for acceptance from their community.
THIS IS A TEENAGE LOVE LETTER
Southwest Premiere
Director: Tessa Hill
Country: Canada, Running Time: 7 min
A young woman writes a letter to her past, to love, and to what the future might hold.
THE ONE YOU NEVER FORGET
Director: Morgan Jon Fox
Country: USA, Running Time: 8 min
Carey, a 14 year old African American boy, nervously prepares for his first dance as his parents reminisce about their own. When Carey’s mother (Tasha Smith, “Empire”) tasks Carey’s father (Malik Whitfield, ”The Temptations”) with getting a picture of Carey and his date (Owen D Stone, “Cobra Kai”), a moment of tension rises as Carey become elusive and tries to thwart his father’s objective. When his father finally sees that Carey’s date is a boy, he has to process everything quickly, and still act in time to get the picture he promised to Carey’s mother.
THE SERENADE
Director: Adelina Anthony
Country: USA, Running Time: 11 min
Two parents struggle with their beloved Mexican musical tradition when their son requests a love song for another boy.
I’M G—-
World Premiere
Director: Queer Youth Media Project
Country: USA, Running Time: 4 min
A student has chosen today to tell his best friend about himself, if only he could make it through the day.
BUBBLE
Southwest Premiere
Director: Alyssa Lerner
Country: USA, Running Time: 18 min
While her world crumbles from the 2008 financial crisis, a Filipina teenager is determined to avoid two unstoppable forces: her family’s home foreclosure and her creeping realization that she’s gay.
GO FISH (1994) 25th anniversary
ROSE TROCHE TRIBUTE AWARD
Director: Rose Troche
Country: USA, Running Time: 84 min
Shot in tactile black-and-white, Rose Troche’s sweet and sexy low-budget indie smash stars Guinevere Turner as Max, a Chicago student who comes out of a long dry spell to chance on a date with Ely (V.S. Brodie), who, as it turns out, isn’t exactly on the market. Along with sustaining the suspense of when and where these two will finally tumble into bed, Troche crafts a comedy of manners which knowingly documents the mating rituals of the queer world. Sunday, August 25, 2019. 11:30 AM.
A BRIEF STORY FROM THE GREEN PLANET
Director: Santiago Loza
Countries: Argentina/Germany/Brazil/Spain, Running Time: 74 min
Tania, a transgender woman, reeling from the grief of losing the woman who raised her, her grandmother, finds out her former caretaker had been hiding an extraterrestrial being in her basement for many years. Tania and her friends begin a journey across Argentina to return the being to the place where Tania’s grandmother believed the entity landed. As the group travels, their world and emotional states become increasingly heightened and more unrealistic with little explanation. Directed by Santiago Loza, one of the most interesting aspects of Brief Story is the way science-fiction and magical realism blend to focus on emotional growth amongst trans and queer identity. This feature won the Teddy Award for Best LGBTQ-themed feature at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival. Fantastical and gorgeous, this work is sure to spark conversation about the types of narratives and stories we can tell with and about LGBTQ+ characters. Sunday, August 25, 2019. 1:15 PM.
FOR THEY KNOW NOW WHAT THEY DO
Director: Daniel Karslake
Countries: Germany/USA, Running Time: 90 min
When the Supreme Court legalized marriage equality across the nation in 2015, many assumed that the fight for LGBTQ rights was won. But politicians and religious conservatives launched a state-by-state campaign to retract the human rights of America’s LGBTQ citizens under the guise of religious freedom. Introducing four American families caught in the crosshairs of scripture, sexuality, and identity, this documentary weaves together clips from the national news and the church pulpit, alongside family photos and intimate testimonies to show the undeniable connection between the personal and the political. These individual experiences of rejection and validation, tragedy and triumph include Ryan Robertson, who was encouraged by his Christian family to attend conversion therapy; Sarah McBride, the transgender student body president who went on to work at the White House; Vico Báez Febo, whose Catholic grandmother locked him out of the house when a neighbor outed him; and Elliot Porcher, a young trans man who endured self-harm before his parents’ acceptance enabled him to come to terms with his gender. Sunday, August 25, 2019. 1:30 PM.
SID & JUDY
Southwest Premiere
Director: Stephen Kijak
Country: USA, Running Time:100 min
When Judy Garland met Sid Luft, she was at a career crossroads, having just left MGM after decades under contract. Professionally, he steered her to the Palladium, to their acclaimed remake of A STAR IS BORN, and to her legendary CBS variety show. Offstage, their tempestuous romance changed them both forever. With fascinating archival material and rousing footage of stellar Garland vocal performances, acclaimed documentarian Stephen Kijak captures the ups and downs of Sid and Judy’s singular story. Sunday, August 25, 2019. 2 PM.
COMEDY SHORTS (ENCORE)
Film can remind us that the most rewarding smiles and laughter come from our time with that special someone, longtime relationships and life experiences. These eight comedic films share laughs with our family, best friends, that special someone, perfect strangers, and a couple no nonsense Nuns and zombies. Sunday, August 25, 2019. 3:15 PM.
THIS IS NOT BERLIN
Director: Hari Sama
Country: Mexico, Running Time: 112 min
Mexico City. Seventeen-year-old Carlos doesn’t fit in anywhere: not in his family nor with the friends he has chosen in school. But everything changes when he is invited to a mythical nightclub where he discovers the underground nightlife scene: post punk, sexual liberty, and drugs that challenges the relationship with his best friend Gera and lets him find his passion for art. Sunday, August 25, 2019. 3:45 PM.
TRIXIE MATTEL: MOVING PARTS
CLOSING NIGHT SELECTION
Director: Nick Zeig-Owens
Country: USA, Running Time: 90 min
Her unique makeup, her sincere country folk musical talents, her hilarious comedy web series ‘UNHhhh,’ and her two memorable runs on RuPaul’s Drag Race: all of these things shape Trixie Mattel into the drag superstar that she is today. Following her win on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, Trixie begins a tour to promote her new album and to engage with friends. As her star rises, the world around her becomes heightened and intense, with fans clamoring for her attention while her comedic partner suffers from a mental health breakdown. The true charm of Trixie Mattel lies in watching such a buoyant yet surprisingly grounded performer navigate the strange world of drag entertainment with a smile on her face and a song in her heart. Sunday, August 25, 2019. 4:30 PM.
INTERNATIONAL SHORTS (ENCORE)
These seven films in this program are from across the globe, but they all point to a common theme of conflicting loyalties. These are stories of being conflicted, caught in the middle and torn between. Sunday, August 25, 2019. 5:45 PM.
CATAMARAN (KATTUMARAM)
Director: Swarnavel Eswaran
Country: India, Running Time: 72 min
CATAMARAN revolves around the Tsunami-affected lives of the middle-aged Singaram, who is now taking care of his orphaned niece Anandhi, who is a teacher, and nephew Mani, who are the children of his elder and younger sisters, respectively. As the fisherman Singaram works hard to provide for his family, he also tries to arrange a groom for his niece, who rejects the many alliances he suggests. Once on an impulse, when he proposes to his niece, she is shocked. Singaram soon comes to know that she is in love with a fellow female teacher, Kavita. As Singaram comes to terms with his niece’s sexual orientation, he is ostracized by his community because of her sexual transgression. The patriarchal Singaram’s ego is deflated, and he empathizes with the plight of the village barber, the transwoman Alankaram. Sunday, August 25, 2019. 6:30 PM.
BEFORE YOU KNOW IT
Director: Hannah Pearl Utt
Country: USA, Running Time: 98 min
In this quirky Sundance favorite, director Hannah Pearl Utt (who also co-wrote and stars) infuses tenderness and complex emotion into the absurd misadventures of Rachel and Jackie, sisters living a dysfunctional life in New York City. If only Rachel didn’t have to take care of her extended family living above their small theater in Greenwich Village, maybe she could finally take a woman out on a second date. Between attempting to stage her playwright father Mel’s potential comeback production and constantly monitoring actress/hot mess Jackie, not to mention keeping an eye on Jackie’s precocious 12-year-old daughter Dodge. Sunday, August 25, 2019. 7:15 PM.
QueerBomb was born ten years ago, from the need seen by many within the LGBTQIA+ community to create a free, all-inclusive, all-ages, corporate-free, and sponsorship-free event to “celebrate each and every member of our community and encourage all to embrace the manifold ways we contribute to building a beautiful and diverse society” during the month of Stonewall.
Now, on the first Saturday in June, QueerBomb kicks off a summer of pride with an explosion of celebration starting with a rally in East Austin at Fair Market which turns in to a procession through Austin’s 6th Street Entertainment District and ends up at the after party back at Fair Market.
The Rally
QueerBomb kicks off with a rally at Fair Market. Unlike a typical pride festival, you don’t have to by a ticket and you won’t see any corporate representation. The groups represented are all local non-profit organizations and none of them were charged for their space.
Something else you won’t find at QueerBomb is a headliner or out-of-town entertainment. The rally lasts about an hour and a half and features speakers, primarily from marginalized segments of the LGBTQIA+ community: trans*, QPOC, Latinx, sex workers, etc. Previous QueerBombs have also featured local entertainers.
There is an accessible/ramp entrance in the alley directly behind Fair Market off of Waller Street for mobility impaired attendees. This ramp leads directly into the yard with a reserved space at the highest point of the yard directly at the end of the entrance ramp.
ASL interpreters are also available during the rally.
The Procession
The highlight of QueerBomb is the procession. With a typical pride parade, you have floats with spectators on the sidelines. With QueerBomb, everyone is the parade.
Once the rally is over at 8:30 PM SHARP, the crowd pours out of Fair Market on to the streets and marches down the ‘straightest’ street in Austin. The procession doesn’t close down the streets, so Austin Police will escort the procession and hold traffic at intersections until it passes. The procession heads up 6th Street before turning on Brazos, then back down 7th Street before heading back to Fair Market for the after-party. Note: While the rally and procession are all-ages, the after-party is usually 18+.
Pedicabs are available at both the front and accessible/ramp entrances for mobility impaired participants who want to take part in the procession. The pedicabbers are donating their services, so be sure to show some appreciation and thank them for their time.
Fundraisers
Just because it’s a free event, doesn’t mean that it’s free to produce. With no corporate sponsorship or tickets sales to cover the costs, QueerBomb hosts a GoFundMe campaign as well as several fundraisers leading up to the event itself to cover the $16K it costs to host the event.