Find Your Friends

Treasured film festival highlights the spectrum of Austin's LGBTQ+ community

Austin’s longest-running LGBTQ+ film festival returns this August 23-27 with Prism 36, featuring the best in queer cinema. This year, aGLIFF (All Genders, Lifestyles, and Identities Film Festival) promises to entertain, enlighten, and bring the community together through more than 50 films.

Moviegoers can look forward to an entertaining, thought-provoking, and insightful lineup of films at the upcoming festival. With topics ranging from pursuing dreams, to confronting injustice, to getting away with murder, the diverse films showcased this year offer something for every taste. There's lots on the menu, from features to shorts: music, cultural examination, suspenseful intrigue, and more.

The theme "Find Your Friends at Prism 36" wraps all these ideas up in one package. Beyond inspiring individuals, the festival aims to foster a sense of connection among attendees. The LGBTQ+ community is vast, and there's no excuse to spend more time together like watching movies.

"I think we find community through the stories," explains Todd Hogan-Sanchez, aGLIFF's Board of Directors President.

This year's festival will honor Hollywood director Darren Stein as the Legacy Honoree. To celebrate his career in LGBTQ+ filmmaking, aGLIFF will showcase special retrospective screenings of two of his most beloved and iconic films: the dark comedy Jawbreaker and offbeat road trip movie Sparkler. It will also host a special 10th anniversary screening of Stein's G.B.F., a witty high school satire that pushed boundaries with its portrayal of gay teenagers.

"It’s an honor to have my films recognized by aGLIFF,” said Stein in a release. “The fact that they're screening ... Jawbreaker and Sparkler on 35mm film is a testament to how important the film-going experience is to them. It’s increasingly rare for festivals to screen actual film prints, and I’m grateful that was a priority for them."

A few significant films provide a backbone to the festival:

Opening Film: Glitter & Doom
Directed by Tom Gustafson and written by Cory Krueckberg. It stars Alex Diaz, Alan Cammish, Ming-Na Wen, Missi Pyle, Tig Notaro, Peppermint, Beth Malone, and Kate Pierson.
This whirlwind jukebox musical follows a young emo singer-songwriter and an impulsive circus performer as they pursue stardom and romance amidst the backdrop of a surreal, Baz Luhrmann-esque Mexico City. With cameos by the Indigo Girls, whose music serves as the soundtrack, this colorful opening night movie promises an explosion of music, dance, and love.
New To Texas: The Mattachine Family recently had its Texas premiere
Directed by Andy Vallentine and written by Danny Vallentine. It stars Nico Tortorella, Juan Pablo Di Pace, and Emily Hampshire.
The story follows a married gay couple, Thomas and Oscar, whose relationship is tested after their first foster child goes back to his biological mother. This leads Thomas and Oscar to realize they have very different views on what it means to create a family together.
Narrative Centerpiece: Our Son
The movie is directed and written by Bill Oliver along with writer Peter Nickowitz. It stars Luke Evans, Billy Porter, Robin Weigert, Andrew Rannells, Kate Burton, and Phylicia Rashad.
The story follows a gay couple, Nicky and Gabriel, who are going through a divorce. Nicky fights for custody of their 8-year-old adopted son, Owen, as he struggles to understand what it truly means to love someone unconditionally and be a father. This personal story examines the complexities of marriage, parenthood, and divorce.

According to Hogan-Sanchez, films like Our Son and The Mattachine Family provide important representation of diverse family structures and relationships. He explains that since aGLIFF is all about community, it has to highlight common ground, but also celebrating differences.

Photo courtesy of aGLIFF

Glitter & Doom, a jukebox musical, features the iconic music of the award winning Indigo Girls.

Attendees, he hopes, will "learn about how we evolved, and learn about the past" while also "work[ing] towards the future." To fortify that opportunity beyond passive watching, aGLIFF facilitates Q&A sessions with filmmakers and actors.

"For me being a queer man, it's important to have that connection," says Hogan-Sanchez. "What we hope at aGLIFF is that people can come together, and they can find people like them."

More information, including a full festival schedule, is available at agliff.org. Tickets can be purchased for each film individually ($15), and badges are available for the Darren Stein films and party ($45), or for the entire festival ($125).

LGBTQIA+film festivals agliff

New

Historic Austin museum will close for more than a year for restoration

Photo courtesy of the City of Austin

The Elisabet Ney Museum will close at the end of 2024 and reopen in mid-2026.

Every building needs some maintenance here or there, and the historic Elisabet Ney Museum needs some extra-special care. Formerly the art studio and residence of its namesake, it's been standing since 1892. It'll spend 2025 in relative solitude, as it undergoes renovation for a year and a half with no visitors allowed.

The museum will close to the public December 30, 2024, and open again in the summer of 2026 if all goes according to plan, a news release from the City of Austin shares. It'll be a quiet period compared to the 21,000 people visiting from around the world each year.

According to a museum overview on the city's website, Elisabet Ney, a European portrait sculptor, bought the property and called her new studio Formosa. She worked on sculptures depicting important Texans like Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston, and collected works of European contemporaries.

The building at 304 East 44th St. includes 3,700 square feet of museum space, which was converted by Ney's friends after her death in 1907. It retains its unique look that juxtaposes a Neo-Classical main studio from 1892 with a later addition from 1902 including a tower for her husband, Edmund, to write in. It is also on 2.5 acres of land, which has largely been restored to its natural state with native species.

A press release lists these tasks (verbatim) within the scope of the new work, referred to as the Capital Improvement Project (CIP):

Restoration of original exterior wood doors and windows
Upgrades and replacement of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system
Replacement of the exhibit and general lighting systems
Repairs to the roof, masonry, plumbing, and interior finishes.

There will also be work to do outside of the building. Workers will replace the pedestrian bridge across Waller Creek, stabilize a 20,000-square-foot portion of the bank, and make the grounds more accessible by adding new pathways.

Funding comes from several sources, according to a release: "the 2012 Bond, Proposition 14, the Parkland Dedication Fund, the Historic Preservation Fund, Partners in Preservation through the National Trust, and contributions from the Friends of the Elisabet Ney Museum."

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