aGLIFF's PRISM 35 LGBTQ+ Film Festival lineup of 85+ features, documentaries and short films celebrate LGBTQ+ stories and our community. Join us in-person Aug. 24-28 at the Galaxy Theatres or catch our PRISM 35 Encoreonline from Aug. 29-Sept. 5.
aGLIFF members and badge holders can see full schedule and reserve seats nowHERE!
BLACK AS U R: Tonight's Centerpiece Film
Documentary Confronts Queerphobia in the African American community
One of the most impactful screenings of PRISM 35 comes from filmmaker Michael Rice, writer and director of tonight’s centerpiece film BLACK AS U R. Watch it: 7 p.m., Today, Friday, Aug. 26
About the Film
Rice, paired as a mentor to this year’s Queer Black Voices inductees, has a vision to bring the stories and art of the LGBTQ communities of color to the forefront of society. He uses this film to confront the African American community about queerphobia by amplifying the stories of queer Black people.
In the same week that protests erupted over the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, a young Black trans teenager named Iyanna Dior was viciously beaten in a Minneapolis convenience store parking lot just blocks away from the “Black Lives Matter” chants. Iyanna’s attackers were a mob of young black men and women screaming homophobic slurs.
BLACK AS U R poses this questions to Black America: Why do we as a people protest against racial injustice, but disregard the injustices experienced by black queer people? Rice takes the audience on a journey through the homophobia that characterizes many black spaces, both contemporarily and via an autobiographic look into his own upbringing in the south.
When her grandmother becomes seriously ill, Camila leaves behind her liberal public high school for a conservative, suffocating private institution that squashes her notions of women’s rights, resistance, and pro-choice activism. With no outlet, Camilla finds her fierce rebelious nature and falls in with a group of outsiders and an enticing set of possible experiences. She also finds love is the sassy popular girl looking to join the revolution with the bad kids. Brooding, confident and fiery, Camila is the rebellion this school has been waiting for. Watch it: 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27 Featured screening sponsor: Ally Medical Emergency Room Community Partner: Out Youth
Lemon Squeezy
Fresh off the heels of a crushing prom rejection, a gay teen finds comfort in the Holy Bible. Unfortunately, he also believes he’s bringing on the 10 plagues of Egypt. That’s what Director Kevin Hartford is bringing to A-Town and PRISM 35. Watch it: 9:15 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27 Featured screening sponsor: Prima Dora Gift Shop and Midtown Title. Community Partners: Consulate General of the Canada in Dallas and Other Worlds Film Festival.
How to Tell a Secret
Had a chance to visit with Dublin directors Anna Rodgers and Shaun Dunne. They are excited to share their film How to Tell a Secret, which uses the documentary form and art to try to dismantle the persistent stigma of living with HIV. The film, which honors iconic Thom McGinty, one of the first to speak openly in Ireland about having AIDS, is firmly rooted in the here and now featuring a cast of actors as well as ordinary people coming out on screen for the first time. Watch it: 4:15 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27
This screening and the filmmaker's appearance at the festival are made possible by the Consulate General of Ireland in Austin. Featured screening sponsor: KIND Clinic.
How Not to Date While Trans writer/director Nyala Moon was honored as one of the three recipients of aGLIFF's Queer Black Voices Fund grants.
QUEER BLACK VOICES WINNERS HONORED
Congratulations to aGLIFF’s 2022 Queer Black Voices filmmakers who were honored at a special dinner event Thursday night.
The Queer Black Voices Fund, which awards cash prizes and covers expenses related to screening their films at PRISM and aGLIFF’s year-round programming, was launched in 2020 in response to the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Javier Ambler and other incidents between police officers and African Americans. The intention is to elevate those voices that are often muted by racism.
The 2022 winners and their winning entries are:
Nyala Moon, writer and director of How Not to Date While Trans. The film is a brilliantly funny break-the-forth wall, dark comedy that follows the dating life of a Black trans woman, and the problematic men she meets along the way. Watch it: 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27
Charlene A. Carruthers, writer and director of The Funnel. Trina falls into an intimate recollection of her family’s history, and awakens in a world with people, sounds and possibilities she’s never known. An encounter with a familiar spirit opens her eyes and heart to a new gift. Watch it: 12:15 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 28
Odu Adamu, director and producer of Body Language. Men share candid conversations about body image and the body experience for Black gay, queer and same-gender loving men. It is an authentic dialogue about pain, heartache, healing and self-love. Watch it: 4:15 p.m. Friday, Aug. 26
Filmmaker Michael Rice (Black As U R) was the special guest for the evening. He will be mentoring the winners during the festival.
Lenore Shefman and Shefman Law set up the seed money to kick start the Queer Black Voices fund meant to ensure that queer Black filmmakers, directors, writers, and actors are represented as part of the aGLIFF programing every year.
Your donation in support of aGLIFF's Queer Black Voices Fund will be matched up to $5,000. We know what’s going on, and it serves us all to help these filmmakers share their stories.
