In an effort to put to rest the debate over whether Austin has an actual gay and lesbian community, eight prominent LGBT organizations today announced the formation of the Pride Coalition. The unifying entity is, in many ways, largely an effort to eliminate some of the petty squabbling over resources and public attention that many of these groups often found themselves caught up in. It also hopes to better promote the various community volunteer efforts that take place throughout the year....

With three days left for the 20th annual Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF), the festival organizers have decided to offer up several free screenings to the public. "One of the issues we've talked a lot about this year is how to make the festival as inclusive and affordable as possible," said Lucas Schaefer, Executive Director of aGLIFF. "We want everyone who wants to attend to be able to attend as many of......

“Then wolves will live in peace with lambs. And leopards will lie down to rest with goats. Calves, lions and young bulls will eat together. And Reverends will profess their love for leather culture.” The above spin on a few verses from the Book of Isaiah pretty much sums up the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival’s stellar opening festivities. As expected, there was a strong sense of community that only increased throughout the......

The Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF) is all grown up in its 20th year and it shows in tonight’s kickoff festivities. Not only is the inaugural film—Call Me Troy—a world premiere, it is also the first documentary in the festival’s history to serve as an opening night film. The schedule continues to entice with another noteworthy first: the Sapphire MojitoMartini. You can down this “aGLIFF 20 Signature Cocktail” and chat up......

aGLIFF Aferparty Preview Midnight Opening Night Party featuring special guest Rev. Troy Perry, founder of MCC and star of the opening night film, Call Me Troy Friday, September 28th @ Austin City Hall 9pm-Midnight Centerpiece Film Afterparty Saturday, September 29 @ Club de Ville 10pm Art Party Thursday, October 4 @ Arthouse 10pm-Midnight Closing Night Party Saturday, October 6 @ AMoA Downtown 10pm-Midnight The annual Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF) is......

The 20th annual Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival is right around the corner. Under the guidance of new Executive Director Lucas Schaefer, this year's fest is shaping up nicely--and if you really hurry, you can still have your work included! Sort of! The aGLIFF trailer competition invites filmmakers to create an original three minute or less festival trailer that conveys aGLIFF's festival theme of diversity and inclusiveness, "We Speak Film." Winning films will......

As the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF) gears up for its 20th annual instantiation, they're looking for a few good folks to lend a hand. aGLIFF, the oldest and largest gay film festival in the Southwest, kicks off in late September. Volunteer positions open include: TRAILER COMPETITION VOLUNTEER Help define parameters, determine press outlets, manage entries and competition judging. Create pre-show using winning entries. 10-15 hours per week until mid-September. Experience......

As the oldest and biggest GLBT film fest in the Southwest, the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF) has been responsible for screening hundreds of independent films, many which would have otherwise stood little chance of seeing the light of day in Central Texas. As we've mentioned in the past, aGLIFF does much more than the annual fall fest; throughout the year, they sponsor and host a variety of one-off screenings, community outreach/education......

Sure--we already told you about our amazing Other Side Guide to the South by Southwest Film Festival. But we're posting again to let you know how excited we are about this thing! Not only can you effortlessly browse the huge list of amazing films playing at SXSW this year (by title, theatre, category or day), you can also rate movies, read and write reviews, keep a festival blog (maybe even a hilarious festival blog),......

Aside from being an accomplished documentary filmmaker (and Guggenheim, Rockefeller, NEA and AFI Fellowship award recipient), Third Ward TX director Andrew Garrison is also an associate professor at the University of Texas, and the founder of East Austin Stories, an ongoing student documentary program that focuses on East Austin neighborhoods. We recently had a chance to talk to Andrew about Third Ward, East Austin Stories and South by Southwest. Tell us a little bit about......

Since moving to Austin in the early 90s to attend film school at UT, Bryan Poyser has become a fixture in the local film scene. A co-founder of the Cinematexas Film Festival, Bryan has also spent time as a producer at SXSW Film, and is currently Director of Artist Services for the Austin Film Society. And on top of all that, he makes movies. With two shorts and two features under his belt (one of......

Two weeks ago saw the launch of Forward Austin, a new publication geared towards gay and lesbian professionals in the business community. Produced by the AGLCC (Austin Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce), the debut issue of Forward Austin can currently be found at Bookpeople, Progress Coffee, and a handful of other venues around town. We recently engaged AGLCC President Jimmy Flannigan in a brief interview about the fledgling magazine. Below and after the......

In our effort to help you sort through all of the excellent screenings at SXSW Film Festival, we've partnered up with Austin-based B-Side Entertainment, who create nifty online program guides for film festivals all around the world. Locally, they're responsible for the interactive schedules you might have encountered at Austin Film Festival, the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival, and Fantastic Fest. Here are just some of the things you do over at......

The Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF) is joining forces with Progress Coffee tonight to host a special screening of last year's My Gay Movie competition. As you might recall, aGLIFF invited amateur filmmakers from around the world to submit 10-minute shorts with a "queer sensibility." Out of hundreds of entries, a select few have been chosen to debut tonight, with various prizes to be given out: Hunter4Love -- Robert L. Camina --......

The Alamo Drafthouse Downtown is hosting a special event featuring everyone's favorite kitschy-yet-dependable food storage solution. The movie Tupperware! will be screened and an actual Tupperware party will take place in the theater. Proceeds from this event will benefit the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Fest. Tupperware!, directed by Laurie Kahn-Leavitt, "tells the remarkable story of Earl Silas Tupper, an ambitious but reclusive small-town inventor, and Brownie Wise, the self-taught sales-woman who built an......

Apart from their annual two-week-long fall spectacle, The Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF) also sponsors various projects and programs throughout the year, all aimed towards fostering the talents of our city's budding young filmmakers of the GLBT persuasion. This year, they've teamed up with Public Access Community Television (PACT) to create the My Gay Movie 2007 Challenge: novice filmmakers are encouraged to create 10-minute shorts with a "queer sensibility"; the best submissions......

Jean-Marc Vallée's award-winning C.R.A.Z.Y., recipient of accolades at film festivals around the world (Gijón, Toronto, Vancouver, Boulder), recently garnered yet another laurel: the low-budget indie comedy-drama was given the "Soundpost.com Feature Film Director Award" at the 19th Annual Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF), which continues through Sunday. It's fitting that Vallée, who uses both sound and music to extraordinary emotional effect, will be receiving a $130,000 grant from Soundpost.com. The prize money......

The Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF) kicked off this weekend with a full schedule of screenings and afterparties. You still have a week left to check it out! Photos by Emily Kinsolving on flickr......

The Austin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (aGLIFF) runs from Friday, September 29th through October 8th. Check out the films that will be screening tomorrow night, below the jump. [aGLIFF Official Site] aGLIFF 19: "Say What?" Friday, September 29 – Sunday, October 8, 2006 Regal’s Arbor Cinema (9828 Great Hills Trail) [map] Tickets Available Now Photo from Eating Out 2......

The Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF) is in dire need of a select few individuals to sit in the projector booths and watch the films while they screen in the theater. As far as we can tell, it's a simple enough gig: they'll provide you with a walkie talkie, and if a technical problem should arise, you merely need to dispatch someone to come fix it. Details: Shifts are 4-6 hours......

The 19th annual Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF) kicks off in exactly one week, and things are looking better than ever for the oldest and largest GLBT film fest in the Southwest. Nearly two decades ago, the festival began as a humble, five-film event over at the Dobie. This year, aGLIFF will screen an astounding 150 films from over 20 countries, with well over 10,000 attendees in total. Entitled "Say What?",......

FRIDAY [8] theatre • Salvage Vanguard Theater's The Intergalactic Nemesis at UT PAC's Hogg Memorial Auditorium music • Ghostland Observatory, Lions, and Crash Gallery at Trophys ($8, 10pm) ® film • Sinus Show: Xanadu at Alamo Downtown (7pm & 10pm, $12.50) film • Raiders of the Lost Ark at Paramount Theatre (9pm) books • Mark Wangrin presents Hook Em Horns: The Story of Texas Longhorn Football at BookPeople (7pm) ® music • Cruiserweight, Rory......

TUESDAY [5] film • TerrorStorm with Alex Jones Live at Alamo South (7pm) ® film • AFS Essential: Eva at Alamo Downtown (7pm) ® film • Elevator to the Gallows at Paramount Theatre (7:15pm) film • Waking Life at Rounders Pizzeria (8pm, Free) ® film • Last House on the Left at Spider House (8pm, Free) film • Quai Des Ofevres at Paramount Theatre (9:05pm) ® film • Dark Side of the Rainbow :......

Less than two months away, the Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF) is now hosting a trailer contest. Every year, aGLIFF solicits the talent of a select number of filmmakers to create unique trailers to be run before each screening. All styles and genres are acceptable, as long as they're relevant to this year's theme: Say What? More info, from their site: To be considered for the contest, filmmakers must adhere to the......

aGLIFF, or the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival, tonight hosts the latest in its 2006 Filmmaker Series, which presents works by up-and-coming queer filmmakers and donates any proceeds from ticket sales to support their future projects. Austin-based auteur Alpha's first effort, a documentary short piece entitled What Can 2 Girls Do Together?, debunked common misconceptions that straight males hold about lesbians and earned her a reputation as a guerrilla filmmaker. Since then, she's......

We like beer and nachos with our movies. Even more, we like a double feature. It also makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside to support The Alamo Downtown while drinking beer, eating nachos and watching a double feature. Veritable screaming and writhing ecstasy comes from supporting indie filmmakers while drinking beer, eating nachos and, yes, you guessed it--watching Dear Pillow and Kissing On The Mouth in a special engagement this Thursday, June 15th......

Gay and Lesbian Pride Month continues this weekend with the Texas Pride Festival at Waterloo Park. The annual outdoor celebration brings together a bevy of artists, performers, local merchants and restaurants for an all-day celebration. The schedule of bands appears below: Noon: Manager's Choice 1pm: Lisa Richards ~ 2006 Kerrville New Folk Finalist 2pm: Lisa Rogers/Purly Gates ~ 2006 Kerrville New Folk Finalist 3pm: Flamin' Desire 4pm: Kit Holmes 5pm: Omar Lopez ~ 2006......

The 19th Annual Austin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (aGLIFF) is less than half a year away, and they're currently looking for submissions of LGBT films and videos, including features, shorts, documentaries and animations ("especially encouraged" are applications from "women, people of color, and southwest regional filmmakers"). They're also actively looking for volunteers to help out with putting it all together, whether your area of expertise is in PR, Film Programming, Web Apps Development, or......

For the second year in a row, Austin has been named the #2 American city in the annual rankings of the "best places to live, work and make movies," according to industry magazine MovieMaker. It's also the sixth consecutive year that our town has been in the top ten. Praising the powerhouse Austin Film Commission for its dedication to "bringing exciting new programs and initiatives, ... from the smallest detail to the biggest," MovieMaker......

Tomorrow night, the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF) hosts the 5th Annual My Gay Movie (MGM) screening and awards ceremony, intended to give recognition to up-and-coming filmmakers across the country - with an emphasis on those in Austin, naturally. Last year's award categories still crack us up: · Best exploitation of household pets · Best impersonation of character from Gone With the Wind · Best lesson on accessorizing · Best product......