The All Genders, Lifestyles, and Identities Film Festival (aGLIFF) today 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/
The 2019 aGLIFF official selections:
OPENING NIGHT SELECTION
GAY CHORUS DEEP SOUTH
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.
CLOSING NIGHT SELECTION
TRIXIE MATTEL: MOVING PARTS
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.
NARRATIVE FILM COMPETITION
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
DOCUMENTARY FILM COMPETITION
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
RETROSPECTIVE AND ANNIVERSARY FILMS
BEDROOMS & HALLWAYS (1998)
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.
GO FISH (1994) 25th anniversary
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.
TOUNGES 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.
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.
Lisa Donato Breakthrough Artist Award Presentation
FOXY TROT (2018)
Director: Lisa Donato
Country: USA, Running Time: 15 min
THE NEWS TODAY (2017)
Director: Lisa Donato
Country: USA, Running Time: 12 min
SPUNKLE (2016)
Director: Lisa Donato
Country: USA, Running Time: 13 min
THERE YOU ARE (2019)
Director: Lisa Donato
Country: USA, Running Time: 17 min
aGLIFF ENCORES
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.)
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.
ADDITIONAL NARRATIVE FILMS
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.
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.
END OF THE CENTURY
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.
THIS IS NOT BERLIN
Director: Hari Sama
Country: Mexico, Running Time: 112 min
1986. 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.
VITA & VIRGINIA
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.
ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILMS
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.
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.
SHORTS PROGRAMS
DRAMATIC SHORTS
(TRT: 100 min)
INVOLUNTARY ACTIVIST Southwest Premiere
Director: Mikael Bundsen
Country: UK, Running Time: 20 min
MASKS
Director: Mahaliyah Ayla O
Country: USA, Running Time: 22 min
MILLER & SON Southwest Premiere
Director: Asher Jelinsky
Country: USA, Running Time: 21 min
PONYBOI Southwest Premiere
Directors: River Gallo, Sade Clacken Joseph
Country: USA, Running Time: 21 min
SKIN
Director: Audrey Rosenberg
Country: USA, Running Time: 16 min
COMEDY SHORTS
(TRT: 85 min)
ENGAGED Southwest Premiere
Director: David Scala
Country: USA, Running Time: 17 min
GIRLS WEEKEND
Director: Kyra Sedgwick
Country: USA, Running Time: 11 min
I KNOW HER Southwest Premiere
Director: Fawzia Mizra
Country: USA, Running Time: 3 min
MATT & DAN: ZOMBIE EX Southwest Premiere
Director: Will Gordh
Country: Canada, Running Time: 5 min
MICHAEL & MICHAEL ARE GAY: DINNER WITH STRAIGHTS
Directors: Annika Kurnick, Ian Alda Southwest Premiere
Country: USA, Running Time: 9 min
SACREES NONNES
Directors: Anissa Baddiaf, Edwige Bellin Du Coteau, Lucie Fillon, Perrine Lemonnier, Zacharia Mekideche, Léa Mouraud, Armelle Roy
Country: France, Running Time: 5 min
SWEATER Southwest Premiere
Director: Nick Borenstein
Country: USA, Running Time: 5 min
THESE THEMS Southwest Premiere
Director: Jett Garrison
Country: USA, Running Time: 30 min
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS
(TRT: 91 min)
A GREAT RIDE
Director: Deborah Craig
Country: USA, Running Time: 33 min
HAVE WE MET BEFORE?
Director: Oliver Mason
Country: UK, Running Time: 12 min
MACK WRESTLES
Directors: Taylor Hess, Erin Sanger
Country: USA, Running Time: 26 min
VERASPHERE: A LOVE STORY IN COSTUME
Director: Robert James Southwest Premiere
Country: USA, Running Time: 20 min
FAMILY/YOUTH SHORTS
(TRT: 83 min)
BLACK BUTTERFLY
Directors: Wide Angle Youth Media Video Team
Country: USA, Running Time: 5 min
BUBBLE Southwest Premiere
Director: Alyssa Lerner
Country: USA, Running Time: 18 min
EGGHEAD & TWINKIE World Premiere
Director: Sarah Holland
Country: USA, Running Time: 9 min
THE ONE YOU NEVER FORGET
Director: Morgan Jon Fox
Country: USA, Running Time: 8 min
OUT: A SELF PORTRAIT Southwest Premiere
Director: Danny Curley
Country: USA, Running Time: 5 min
OUT OF IT Southwest Premiere
Director: Katy Erin
Country: USA, Running Time: 10 min
DISENGAGEMENT World Premiere
Director: Queer Youth Media Project
Country: USA, Running Time: 4 min
I’M G—- World Premiere
Director: Queer Youth Media Project
Country: USA, Running Time: 4 min
THE SERENADE
Director: Adelina Anthony
Country: USA, Running Time: 11 min
THIS IS A TEENAGE LOVE LETTER Southwest Premiere
Director: Tessa Hill
Country: Canada, Running Time: 7 min
INTERNATIONAL SHORTS
(TRT: 86 min)
BACCHUS
Director: Rikke Alma Krogshave Planeta
Country: Denmark, Running Time: 5 min
CLOTHES & BLOW
Director: Sam Peter Jackson
Country: UK, Running Time: 23 min
DELIVERY BOY
Director: Hugo Kenzo
Country: Hong Kong, Running Time: 15 min
LISTEN
Director: Jake Graf
Country: UK, Running Time: 4 min
OF ASKA (UR ASKA) North American Premiere
Director: Myra Sofia Hild
Country: Denmark, Running Time: 7 min
TREACLE
Director: Rosie Westhoff
Country: UK, Running Time: 18 min
VERTICAL LINES
Director: Kyle Reaume
Country: Canada, Running Time: 14 min
LATE NIGHT & SEXY SHORTS
(TRT: 109 min)
CATCALLS
Director: Kate Dolan
Country: Ireland, Running Time: 8 min
CLEANSE World Premiere
Director: Maggie Burger
Country: USA, Running Time: 12 min
CONVERSION THERAPIST U.S. Premiere
Director: Bears Rebecca Fonte
Country: USA, Running Time: 20 min
DOCKING
Director: Trevor Anderson
Country: Canada, Running Time: 5 min
JEREMIAH
Director: Kenya Gillespie
Country: USA, Running Time: 9 min
KIKO’S SAINTS
Director: Manuel Marmier
Country: France, Running Time: 26 min
THE SUMMER HOUSE Southwest Premiere
Director: Luke Willis
Country: USA, Running Time: 14 min
TOUCHSCREEN Southwest Premiere
Director: Arthur Halpern
Country: USA, Running Time: 15 min
TAKE A CHANCE ON ME SHORTS
(TRT: 82 min)
ANGEL & OPAL Southwest Premiere
Director: Jack Truman
Country: USA, Running Time: 6 min
AUSENCIA (ENGLISH)
Director: Victor Alex Perez
Country: USA, Running Time: 4 min
DRESS UP LIKE MRS. DOUBTFIRE Southwest Premiere
Director: Will Zang
Country: USA, Running Time: 12 min
MISDIRECTION
Director: Carly Usdin
Country: USA, Running Time: 13 min
MOMSTER Southwest Premiere
Director: Drew Denny
Country: USA, Running Time: 10 min
MORE THAN HE KNOWS Southwest Premiere
Director: Chris McNeany
Country: USA, Running Time: 13 min
NEXT LEVEL SHIT Southwest Premiere
Director: Gary Jaffe
Country: USA, Running Time: 11 min
STEPDADDY
Director: Lisa Steen
Country: USA, Running Time: 8 min
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
SHORTS SCREENING PRIOR TO FEATURES
BIRTHDAY GIRL
Director: Jim Fall
Country: USA, Running Time: 6 min
BREAST FRIENDS
Director: Eleanor Rogers
Country: Ireland, Running Time: 18 min
(Screens prior to VITA & VIRGINIA)
