aGLIFF Announces Lineup

The fall festival season kicks off this September with an eclectic program of films.

Opening the fest is the Texas premiere of Fourth Man Out, a comedy about a small-town car mechanic who comes out to his friends on his 24th birthday. Andrew Nackman's debut feature stars Chord Overstreet (Glee) and Kate Flannery (The Office). Also of note are films from a couple of European arthouse heavy hitters. French enfant terrible François Ozon's new film The New Girlfriend, based on a Ruth Rendall short story about a woman dealing with the death of her best friend. Peter Greenaway's Eisenstein in Guanajuato concerns the influential Soviet filmmaker's travels through Mexico, a significant experience that had a major effect on his later films. Rounding out the fest, closing night film The State of Marriage is a documentary about how legal pioneer Mary Bonauto partnered with small-town Vermont lawyers Beth Robinson and Susan Murray in a two-decade long struggle that built the foundation for the entire marriage equality movement. In his second year programming, Program Director Jim Brunzell said in a press release, “We’ll have over 35 visiting filmmakers and screen over 70 films this season. Many films will be making their world, U.S., Southwest, and Texas premieres at aGLIFF.”

The 28th annual Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival will be held Sept. 10-13, at the Alamo South Lamar. For badges, tickets, and more info, visit www.agliff.org. Full lineup below.

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Opening Night Film

Fourth Man Out / U.S.A. (Dir. Andrew Nackman) Southwest Premiere
It's Adam’s 24th birthday, and he feels that this is the perfect opportunity to come clean and reveal his secret: He’s gay to his three best guy friends. Lighthearted and unexpectedly subversive, this is a refreshingly unique take on coming out of the blue-collar closet. Thursday, Sept. 10, 7 & 7:30pm

Centerpiece Film

The New Girlfriend / France (Dir. François Ozon) - Southwest Premiere

Acclaimed French director François Ozon employs elements of other great auteurs – the vibrant colors and soaring score of Sirk, the shifting psychological grounds of Hitchcock and the gender-based subversiveness of Almodóvar – blending them into a concoction all his own, when a husband’s wife dies and turns to her best friend to help him during his grief and his unexpected secret.

Closing Night Film

The State of Marriage / U.S.A. (Dir. Jeff Kaufman) - Southwest Premiere
The untold story of how legal pioneer Mary Bonauto partnered with small-town Vermont lawyers Beth Robinson and Susan Murray in a two-decade long struggle that built the foundation for the entire marriage equality movement. Sunday, Sept. 13, 5:15pm

Narrative Films in Competition

Bright Night (Nachtelle) / Germany (Dir. Florian Gottschick) - Southwest Premiere

It could have been an idyllic summer weekend in the countryside: Anna and boyfriend Stefan meet her ex and his new partner Marc. But old guilt and differing thoughts on relationship upset the tranquillity and create an atmospheric balancing act between a mystery film and an erotic chamber drama.

Jason & Shirley / U.S.A. (Dir. Stephen Winter) - Southwest Premiere

In his newest experimental feature, Stephen Winter “Chocolate Babies” fictionalizes the infamous 12-hour film shoot that resulted in Shirley Clarke's trailblazing work of cinéma vérité, Portrait of Jason (1967).

That’s Not Us / U.S.A. (Dir. William C. Sullivan) - Southwest Premiere

Through each of the three couples - one gay, one lesbian, and one straight - “That’s Not Us” explores sex and relationships with a fresh perspective, finding that while sexuality and gender may vary, the struggles to keep love alive do not.

The Surface / U.S.A. (Dir. Michael Saul) - Southwest Premiere

When Evan finds an 8mm movie camera at a yard sale the owner offers to teach Evan how to use it if he comes back the following week. Upon returning, Evan meets the man’s 43-year-old son, Peter.  They strike up a conversation, and their youthful flirtations and tenderness are uncomplicated and pure.

Two 4 One / Canada (Dir. Maureen Bradley) - Southwest Premiere

Two 4 One is a bittersweet comedic drama with a transgender hero in an unimaginable predicament. Oddball couple Adam and Miriam have a pivotal and ill-advised one night stand that sees them both wind up pregnant.

Documentary Films in Competition

Deep Run / U.S.A. (Dir. Hillevi Loven) - Southwest Premiere

Executive produced by LGBTQ supporter Susan Sarandon and shot by first-time filmmaker Hillevi Loven, Deep Run is a powerful verité portrait of trans life in rural North Carolina.

Desert Migration / U.S.A. (Dir. Daniel F. Cardone) - Southwest Premiere

A meditation on the life of long-term HIV/AIDS survivors who have migrated to form a unique community in the beautiful but harsh landscape of Palm Springs, California.

From This Day Forward / U.S.A. (Dir. Sharon Shattuck) - Texas Premiere

When director Sharon Shattuck's father came out as transgender and changed her name to Trisha, Sharon was in the awkward throes of middle school. Her father’s transition to female was difficult for her straight-identified mother, Marcia, to accept, but her parents stayed together.

Game Face / Belgium (Dir. Michiel Thomas) - Austin Premiere

Game Face tells the parallel story of Fallon Fox, MMA’s first transgender pro fighter, and Terrence Clemens, a college basketball player in Oklahoma who happens to be gay. The film follows both athletes during their coming-out process, and sheds light on the obstacles LGBTQ sports players deal with throughout their careers.

Reel in the Closet / U.S.A. (Dir. Stu Maddux) - Southwest Premiere

Reel In The Closet transports us into LGBTQ life of the past through rare home movies of the people who lived it. Many of the moving images in this film are shown for the first time. Many more wait to be discovered in people’s closets but are being thrown out-sometimes on purpose.

Narrative Films

All About E / Australia (Dir. Louise Wadley) - Texas Premiere

E, a sexy DJ, is neither Spanish nor out, passing off girlfriend Trish as her lodger to her traditional Lebanese parents. When E betrays her dream of becoming a professional musician by making a deal with the sociopathic nightclub owner, her carefully-crafted illusions fall apart.

Cut Snake / Australia (Dir. Tony Ayres) - Austin Premiere

Ex-con Sparra is trying go straight in Seventies Melbourne courtesy of hard work and the love of a good woman. When his former cellmate Pommie darkens his doorway, Sparra scrambles to keep his sordid – and secret – past buried. Delivering all of the intrigue and involved plotting associated with neo-noirs but delighting in subverting our expectations, Ayres likewise finds surprising angles to the romantic triangle that serves as his thriller’s dramatic foundation.

Eisenstein in Guanajuato / Netherlands (Dir. Peter Greenaway) - Austin Premiere

In his dazzling and giddy glitter-bomb of a film, the always inventive British-born director Peter Greenaway (The Cook, The Thief. His Wife and Her Lover, The Draughtsman’s Contract) imagines what might have happened to the great Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein during a pivotal period of artistic and sexual awakening while sojourning in Mexico in 1931 to shoot a film he nearly couldn’t finish.

Guidance / Canada (Dir. Pat Mills) - Texas Premiere

This unconventional and quirky redemption comedy proves that everyone deserves a second chance - even an aging former child star with a penchant for booze and bad decisions masquerading as a high school guidance counselor.

How to Win at Checkers (Every Time) / Thailand (Dir. Josh Kim) - Texas Premiere

Based on the stories from the bestselling book Sightseeing by Rattawut Lapcharoensap, the film is set in the economic fringes of Bangkok and examines the joys and challenges of growing up in contemporary Thailand through the lens of an uneven love story between two young men.

Liz in September / Venezuela (Dir. Fina Torres) - Austin Premiere

Based on Jane Chamber's classic lesbian play, Last Summer at Bluefish Cove. Every year, Liz, a hardcore party girl and womanizer, celebrates her birthday with her friends at a Caribbean beach retreat. When a young woman outsider arrives, Liz's friends dare her to seduce her.

Nasty Baby / U.S.A. (Dir. Sebastian Silva) - Austin Premiere

Winner of the 2015 Teddy Award for Best Feature at the Berlin Int’l Film Festival, the film follows Brooklyn artist Freddy (writer/director, Sebastian Silva) and his boyfriend, Mo (Tunde Adebimpe from TV on the Radio), who have recruited their best friend, Polly (Kristen Wiig), to help them have a baby or conceiving a child via artificial insemination. When the three begin to be harassed by the Bishop, a mentally ill neighborhood man, an escalating series of incidents threaten to derail the comfortable lives these people have built for themselves.

S&M Sally / U.S.A. (Dir. Michelle Ehlen) - Austin Premiere

When Jamie finds out her girlfriend Jill has spent time exploring BDSM, her insecurities about falling behind in the bedroom push her to propose that they start going to underground clubs. A provocative and hilarious ride, S&M Sally details the unexpected journey that happens when your insecurities push you outside of your comfort zone, leading you down a path for which there is no going back.

The Summer of Sangaile / Lithuania (Dir. Alanté Kavaïté) - Austin Premiere

Winner of the World Cinema Directing Award at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. Seventeen-year-old Sangaile is fascinated by stunt planes. At a summer aeronautical show near her parents’ lakeside villa, she meets Auste—a local girl who, unlike Sangaile, lives her life to the fullest with creativity and bravery. As the two girls grow closer, Sangaile allows Auste to discover her most intimate secret, and finds in her teenage love the only person who truly encourages her to fly.

While You Weren’t Looking / South Africa (Dir. Catherine Stewart) - Texas Premiere

The complex political and racial climate of South Africa is beautifully encapsulated in this lesbian drama depicting the tension between liberal bourgeois ideals and working-class realities.

You’re Killing Me / U.S.A. (Dir. Jim Hansen) - Southwest Premiere

An intriguing mix of horror, camp and romantic comedy, You're Killing Me demonstrates what happens when narcissistic, wannabe Internet star George meets Joe, a monotone serial killer. This horror-comedy also features Mindy Cohn (The Facts of Life), comedian Drew Droege, Funny or Die’s Bryan Safi and Matthew Wilkes (Gayby).

Documentary Films

Drag Becomes Him: The Jinkx Monsoon FIlm / U.S.A. (Dir. Alex Berry) - Southwest Premiere

Drag Becomes Him provides an intimate glimpse inside the life of internationally acclaimed drag performer Jinkx Monsoon. This raw and affectionate film follows the passionate pursuits that transformed a working-class boy in a struggling family to an illustrious performer on a global stage.

Formerly Known As / U.S.A. (Dir. Janet Jensen) - World Premiere

Formerly Known As follows a trans activist, an ASL student, and a divorced parent as they navigate their transitions from female to male with the support of the queer community in Austin, TX.

The Guy with the Knife / Canada (Dir. Alison Armstrong) - Austin Premiere

Filmed over eight years, The Guy With the Knife traces the history of the friendship between prominent gay rights activist Ray Hill and a convicted "gay bash" murderer, set against the backdrop of gay rights, victims’ rights, and prisoners’ rights, in the harsh Texas justice system.

Seed Money: The Chuck Holmes Story / U.S.A. (Dir. Michael Stabile) - Austin Premiere

Seed Money is the story of Chuck Holmes, a San Francisco pornographer turned philanthropist. Holmes helped shaped and create gay identity in the years after Stonewall, and became a founder of gay advocacy groups like the Human Rights Campaign and the LGBT Victory Fund, only to find later in life that while his money was welcome in philanthropic circles, he wasn't.

The Royal Road / U.S.A. (Dir. Jenni Olson) - Texas Premiere

A cinematic essay in defense of remembering, The Royal Road offers up a primer on the Spanish colonization of California and the Mexican American War alongside intimate reflections on nostalgia, butch identity, the pursuit of unavailable women and Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo – all against a contemplative backdrop of 16mm urban California landscapes, and featuring a voiceover cameo by Tony Kushner.

Special Screenings

Brokeback Mountain / U.S.A. (Dir. Ang Lee) (10th Anniversary screening)

Winner of three Academy Awards including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, Brokeback Mountain is one of the great American love stories between two cowboys and their lives over 20 years.

Secret Screening
That is all we can say for now.

The Year We Thought About Love / U.S.A. (Dir. Ellen Brodsky) - Texas Premiere (Free Family Feature)

What happens when LGBTQ youth of color band together and dare to be 'out' onstage about their lives and their loves? The cast of True Colors: OUT Youth Theater transforms their struggles into performance for social change. With wit, candor, and attitude, the troupe captivates audiences surprised to hear such stories in school settings.

Narrative Shorts in Competition

An Afternoon (En Eftermiddag) / Denmark (Dir. Søren Green) - Southwest Premiere

Young Mathias is in love with Frederik, but is he ready to make his move?

Chance / U.K. (Dir. Jake Graf) - Texas Premiere

After losing his life-long partner, Trevor finds little to live for until a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger.

Notes From There / U.S.A. (Dir. Ann Prim) - Southwest Premiere

Entering a world of dance, Pepca is distraught over the recent immigration arrest of her lover Martine.

Pretty Boy / U.S.A. (Dir. Cameron Thrower) - Southwest Premiere

Sean struggles with his sexuality through bullying at school and his own father’s attempt to cure him with a female prostitute.

Tremulo / Mexico (Dir.Roberto Fiesco) - Texas Premiere

Carlos goes from sweeping the barber shop floor to dancing with a rugged stranger as the two spend an unforgettable night together.

Documentary Shorts in Competition

11 Life Lessons from an Awesome Old Dyke / U.S.A. (Dir. Allison Khoury) - Southwest Premiere

The trials, tribulations, and titillations of a badass named Dorothy.

Kaspar X – If I had a Soul / Hong Kong (Dir. Kaspar Wan) - World Premiere

A woman struggles to be reborn as a transman in conservative Hong Kong.

Masculins / Canada (Dir. Stephanie Young) - Texas Premiere

A portrait of three women who each have distinct masculine identities and embody different transformations.

QORDS Camp / U.S.A. (Dir. Rick Dillwood & Carrie Hart) - Southwest Premiere

A short documentary about QORDS, a Southern summer camp that builds queer community through music.

Queer Habits / U.S.A. (Dir. Drew Denny) - Texas Premiere

How an order of drag queen nuns saved the Russian River and turned homophobes into heroes.

Narrative Shorts

Better Man / U.S.A. (Dir. Amelia Mathews) - Texas Premiere

When a friendly game turns romantic, Eli is forced to choose between who he was and who he might become.

EXPOSÉ / Netherlands (Dir. Ronja Jansz) - Texas Premiere

When Caitlin, a bored housewife, uncovers a flamboyant pair of knickers in her husband’s laundry, she attempts to figure out who he really is.

Falling Angels (Som Engle Vi Falder) / Denmark (Dir. Maria Winther Olsen) - Austin Premiere

Julia, the daughter of a priest, falls in love with the beautiful Barbra amidst scenes of forbidden romance and choral arrangements.

A Flash / Ireland (Dir. Niall Cutler) - Texas Premiere

Two boy band-loving girls stumble upon a scandalous secret in a hall closet after sneaking into a sold-out concert.

Furious Saint Jack & Otter, Alone / U.S.A. (Dir. Ethan Roberts) - Texas Premiere

A lonely young man rhythmically narrates his leap from isolation to ecstasy when he meets a beautiful stranger in a bar.

The Future Perfect / Canada (Dir. Nick Citton) - Southwest Premiere

A time traveler defies his initial orders and compromises a future he cannot forget.

Health Class / Canada (Dir. Brad McDermott) - Texas Premiere

Trevor discusses his shortcoming with the public sexual education system with his previous health teacher.

Heavenly Peace / U.S.A. (Dir. Andreas Wessel-Therhorn) – Texas Premiere

A bickering gay couple receives some unexpected, otherworldly aid for Christmas.

I Do (Aceito) / Brazil (Dir. Felipe Cabral)

A man prepares to propose to his long-term boyfriend and runs into some unforeseen hurdles.

Jayson Bend: Queen and Country / UK (Dir. Matt Carter) – Southwest Premiere

Playfully campy, Jayson Bend attempts to foil international sabotage in this parody of the classic James Bond films.

My Personal Art History / U.S.A. (Dir. Neil Needleman) - Texas Premiere

A poignant and pith love (or perhaps a love-in-waiting) story set amongst a backdrop of classic nude female paintings.

Pick Up / U.S.A. (Dir. Joshua Alan Rodgers) - Texas Premiere

Jesse Ritter embarks on a life changing journey after confessing a secret to an unsuspecting passenger.

Pipe Dream / U.S.A. (Dir. Yudho Aditya) - Texas Premiere

Peter seeks the help of his two fathers after an embarrassing accident with under-endowment issues and a certain pump.

Reflection / U.S.A. (Dir. Hazuki Aikawa) - Texas Premiere

A mother’s enduring influence over her queer-identified child is tested by conservatively minded friends and neighbors

Safe Word / U.S.A. (Dir. Todd Lillethun) - Texas Premiere

Two gay males’ kinky exploration turns hilariously on its head when fiction and reality start to blur.

Tom in America / Brazil (Dir. Flavio Alves) - Texas Premiere

A provocative Tom of Finland triggers an elderly man’s desires impeding his fifty-year anniversary with his wife.

Tomorrow / U.S.A. (Dir. Leandro Tadashi) - Texas Premiere

A young man implores the help of his best bud for wingman duty but must confront some deeper emotions.

YOU. ME. BATHROOM. SEX. NOW. (TÚ. YO. BAÑO. SEXO. AHORA.) / U.S.A. (Dir. Francisco Lupini) - Texas Premiere

A comedy about a man who tries to forget about love in the wrong place and time.

Documentary Shorts

Been Too Long at the FAIR / U.S.A. (Dir. Charles Lum & Todd Verow) - Southwest Premiere

A tribute to the Fair theatre in Jackson Heights, Queens, one of the oldest running gay porno theatres in New York City.

Brave Spaces: Perspectives on Faith and LGBT Justice / U.S.A. (Dir. Marc Smolowitz) - Texas Premiere

Interviews and perspectives examining the conditions of intersectional justice from 20 leading faith and community leaders.

First Clue / U.S.A. (Dir. Susan Sullivan) - Texas Premiere

What was your first clue that you identified as LGBT? This collection of female-riddled stories explores just that.

M4M: Seeks Love / U.S.A. (Dir. Barton Girdwood) - Texas Premiere

A moving demonstration of an elderly gay male who has never found love but is reaching for it in new ways.

The Making of a Ketubah Artist / U.S.A. (Dir. Debbie Coutant) - Southwest Premiere

One woman’s art soon becomes more personal as she united with her partner in a traditional Jewish ceremony.

Tant Pis: Chapter One / France (Dir. Bruna Rodrigues) - U.S. Premiere

Three Brazilian students travel to France and attempt to find their own unique personas in the LGBT community.

We Do / U.S.A. (Dir. Rebecca Rice) - World Premiere

What does it mean for LGBT couples to finally possess full marriage rights? And why does it matter? “We Do” reveals the stories of three LGBT couples (one living in Austin, Texas), and their journeys for legal recognition of their relationships and the impact that the pursuit of marriage equality has on their lives.

Young Man at the Bar Masturbating with Rage and Nerve / Mexico (Dir. Julián Hernández) - Texas Premiere

Jonathan goes through a personal voyage as he goes from the singular gay male in a small town to a professional dancer.