'Triumphs to the fact that we exist': Austin celebrates LGBTQ stories in film at aGLIFF

“It feels like it's revolutionary just to put on a festival right now in Texas,” says Bears Rebecca Fonté, artistic director of aGLIFF. “It feels a little bit like asking for trouble.”

She’s quick to add: “And I like to start trouble.”

The 36th edition of aGLIFF — the All Genders, Lifestyles, and Identities Film Festival, Austin’s annual celebration of LGBTQ stories in film — will light up local screens Aug. 23-27. (There also will be a virtual version of the fest from Aug. 28 to Sept. 4.)

As Fonté alludes, life is scary for queer people in this state. During the recent 88th Legislature, lawmakers introduced a barrage of anti-LGBTQ bills, several of which made it to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk, including a ban on health care for transgender youth and a measure targeting public performances by drag artists.

“The films in this festival are triumphs to the fact that we exist and have lives like everyone else,” Fonté says of this year’s aGLIFF programming. “I mean, one of the things that I saw over and over again were films about what it meant to be a family. And those are the same kind of films you would see at any other festival. It's just that it's coming from a queer perspective.”

Here’s what you need to know about aGLIFF 2023. All screenings will take place at Galaxy Theatres (6700 Middle Fiskville Road) unless otherwise noted.

This year’s aGLIFF honors a filmmaker of queer cult classics.

Writer and director Darren Stein will be honored at aGLIFF with a retrospective trio of cult classics: “Sparkler” (9:30 p.m. Aug. 25), “GBF” (7 p.m. Aug. 26, a 10th anniversary screening) and “Jawbreaker” (4:15 p.m. Aug. 27). Stein will appear for live Q&As after each film.

Fonté says that Stein understands outsiders and the hierarchy of high school, which shows up in a queer context in the comedy “GBF.” She met Stein 10 years ago when “GBF” premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and brought the movie to the Paramount Theatre in her former programming role with Austin Film Festival.

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Last year, Fonté ran into Stein again at Outfest in Los Angeles, and the idea for an anniversary screening of “GBF” was born. The fest added in “Jawbreaker” — “so mean-spirited, but in the best way,” Fonté says. The Rose McGowan-starring dark comedy has an ugly duckling narrative, she says, and “as a trans girl, I think that always appealed to me.”

Stein suggested putting his debut feature, “Sparkler,” in the mix, since he owns a 35mm print that will screen at aGLIFF. “Jawbreaker” also will screen in 35mm.

Indigo Girls, Billy Porter and more will bring LGBTQ stories to life.

This year’s opening film will be the Southwest premiere of “Glitter & Doom,” director Tom Gustafson’s romantic musical set to tunes by iconic queer act Indigo Girls, who also appear in cameos. “Glitter & Doom” will screen at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 23 at AFS Cinema, a venue change made to increase seating capacity, Fonté says.

On Aug. 25, aGLIFF will screen its two centerpiece selections: the documentary “Truth Be Told” at 7 p.m. and the narrative “Our Son” at 9:30 p.m. In “Truth Be Told,” director Nneka Onuorah charts the Black church’s relationship to its queer congregants — including Onuorah, a lesbian. Director Bill Oliver’s “Our Son,” meanwhile, stars Billy Porter and Luke Evans as a divorcing couple locked in a custody battle.

“There's only one film in this festival that is a really frightening film,” Fonté says, and that’s “In Bed” (4 p.m. Aug. 27), an Israeli film about a shooting at a Pride parade.

“It was like, I have to play this film, because I don't want to ignore the fact that we are living in a super dangerous world,” Fonté said. “But it's great that it's not American — it just says, ‘Look, this is universal.’”

Then there’s the documentary “1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture” (1:46 p.m. Aug. 27), which concerns nothing less than the origins of homophobia in the modern Christian church.

More: Truly Texan: How Austin drag queen Brigitte Bandit became the face of a movement

Throughout the schedule, film-goers will find movies that “give people a chance to see themselves on screen,” Fonté says.

She points out “Kenyatta: Do Not Wait Your Turn” (4:15 p.m. Aug. 26), a doc about Senate candidate and “poor, Black, and gay kid from North Philly” Malcolm Kenyatta. The film was executive produced by “Today” journalist Al Roker.

Fonté is particularly jazzed to show the Australian web series “All My Friends Are Racist” (6 p.m. Aug. 27). It’s about two Aboriginal influencers and the social friction among their social circle that the title implies.

More international highlights include “The Empress of Vancouver” (11:15 a.m. Aug. 26), a Canadian doc about trans icon and political activist Oliv Howe; French literary romance “Lie With Me” (1:30 p.m. Aug. 26); and Japanese drama “The Egoist” (4:15 p.m. Aug. 26).

The fest will close with the Texas premiere of filmmaker Andy Vallentine’s “The Mattachine Family” (7:45 p.m. Aug. 27), a drama starring Nico Tortorella, Juan Pablo Di Pace and Emily Hampshire and produced by Zach Braff.

All that, and more!

Hollywood’s writers and actors are on strike, and it’s the 500-pound elephant in any movie theater. AGLIFF has always been more about the stories than red carpets, Fonté says, and those labor actions won’t have too much of an effect on programming for the 2023 festival.

Also worth noting: This year, the fest’s Queer Black Voices Fund will celebrate its 2023 grant recipients with a ceremony on Aug. 24 in the Draylen Mason Music Studio at KMFA (41 Navasota St.). This year's recipients are Tina Colleen and Monick Monell, writers/directors of "I Identify As Me"; Isak Vaillancourt, director of "Collective Resistance"; and Malik Shamar Julien, writer/director of "And They Were Loved."

And yes, aGLIFF veterans, Fonté’s excellent annual playlist of queer music is back, with four preshows of music that will rotate through festival screenings.

Peruse the full aGLIFF lineup, buy badges ($125) and get more information about aGLIFF at agliff.org/prism.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin aGLIFF film fest celebrates LGBTQ stories on big screen