If you love booze and cinema, well, have we got a deal for you. Cine Las Americas, Austin's own multicultural, non-profit media arts center, will be holding Chicha 56, a combo happy hour and after party fundraiser to benefit this year's programming. The event comes a mere 56 days before the Cine Las Americas International Film Festival kicks off....

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......

FRIDAY [20] benefit/music • Ashera-Blare-A IV with All In the Golden Afternoon, The Heirs, The Minderchucks, and The Otters at Club DeVille beer/party • Black Star Co-op's Craft Beer Celebration with Pong, Opposite Day, The Second Line Social, and fine craft beer from around the country at Fiesta Gardens (8pm-Midnight, $10) comedy • Punchline, open mic stand up comedy at ColdTowne Theater (10pm) dance • Room, part of Refraction Arts' Fuse Box Festival at The......

EL VIOLÍN | THE VIOLIN (Mexico) Paramount Theater, 7 PM "Pure and emotive cinema that shakes you with its honesty" – Guillermo del Toro Cine Las Americas is honored to present Francisco Vargas Quevedo’s award winning drama El Violin at the historic Paramount Theater in downtown Austin. El Violin won the Knight Grand Jury Prize for Ibero-American Cinema at the Miami International Film Festival in 2007, where it was called “a perfect film, perfectly......

As we mentioned earlier today, we're very excited about the return of the Cine Las Americas International Film Festival, for which we're media sponsors this year. Today we're giving away a pair of tickets to tonight's opening night screening of Francisco Vargas Quevedo’s award-winning drama, El Violín. Another lucky winner will score a CinePass, which will grant him/her access to all festival screenings, plus the parties. You can enter your name for both contests......

THURSDAY [19] benefit/music • Do512 and Direct Events co-host a benefit for Groundwork Music with Tammany Hall, The Boxing Lesson at La Zona Rosa (RSVP for Free Entry, $5 Cover Otherwise) books • "The Art of Travel and Travel Writing" with Lonely Planet writer Alex Hershey and Stephanie Elizondo Griest at Intellectual Property (5:00pm) books • The Texas Monthly Author Series presents Ian Rankin at BookPeople (7:00pm) film • Movies in the Park: "Talladega......

It's opening night! Tonight at 7pm, Austin's historic Paramount Theatre will host the opening of the Cine Las Americas International Film Festival. Now in its 10th year, the festival has expanded to an eight-day program, featuring a wide range of Narrative Features, Documentary Features, Shorts, and Youth Films from 20 countries (including Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Germany, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico, Spain, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela......

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),......

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 --......

Cine Las Americas is hosting a special screening of the critically acclaimed Letters from the Other Side. The documentary on Mexican immigration was directed by Austinite Heather Courtney. The free screening at the George Washington Carver Museum is open to the public and will feature a Q&A with women featured in the film, with a reception to follow. Beyond just a screening, the evening is a celebration of sorts, as the women from the......

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......

Considered the “great film” of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, an early indicator of its Oscar potential, Babel is a film which shares notable characteristics with recent successful indies capable of garnering the full attention of Hollywood. Looking like Syriana in its scope, feeling like an international version of Crash, Babel is the interweaving of stories about people in crisis – their crises arising from misunderstandings and failed communication – culminating in a......

In the 1970's, famed director Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man) walked from Munich to Paris in the hopes that the prolonged journey would keep a dying friend alive. So novice filmmaker Linus Phillips has decided that his life will be made meaningful by emulating the act in an attempt to meet Mr. Herzog. Phillips' journey is a two-month walk from Seattle to Los Angeles, along which he meets various ruffians and eccentrics on the highway.......

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 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?",......

A recent post about a rally in support of immigration rights inspired several impassioned comments from you. Therefore, we imagine the documentary Letters from the Other Side will be of great interest to all who care about this pressing socio-political concern. The new PBS documentary, which features deeply personal stories of Mexican families torn apart as husbands, fathers, sons and brothers travel to the United States to find work, will be screened at KLRU studios......

Even though we are way way past school age, we still get a little melancholy at the close of summer. Fortunately, our friends across the -ist network know that the shenanigans don't need to end just because the big yellow buses are back on the roads. So, grab your sunscreen and your favorite hangover cure, as we take a tour of end of summer fun from -ist cities all over the damn place. SFist Tourist......

If it weren't for our life as an -ist, we're not sure we'd ever leave our apartment. Fortunately, to fully -ist, one must seek out the new, the fresh, and the unknown. Brand new, or just new to us, that's what we're all about this week. Phillyist keeps it fresh by getting a new motto, learning to prioritize, and taking in an experimental indie rock show. Torontoist does their first post in franglais, gets ready......

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......

The ninth annual Cine Las Americas International Film Festival kicks off next Wednesday, offering a wide assortment of programming from countries in North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean. The full film schedule, listed after the jump, includes music documentaries ("Si Sos Brujo," "Mestre Humberto"), classic Cuban Revolution films ("Soy Cuba," "I Am Cuba: The Siberian Mammoth"), first endeavors by Latin American directors ("El Norte: Entre el Infinito y la Nada," "Cama Adentro"), and......