The 2018 Louisiana Film Prize includes filmmakers from 20 film finalists competing for a $50,000 grand prize. Well, that competitive spirit could also be found on the red carpet as everyone turned out for the Shreveport photographers and video crews looking to catch the next big winner(s) at this year’s fest!
On Saturday, September 8, the All Genders, Lifestyles, and Identities Film Festival (aGLIFF) announced the competition award winners for the 31st edition of the film festival at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema – South Lamar. Naoko Ogigami’s CLOSE-KNIT took home the award for Best Narrative Feature, and Melissa Haizlip’s MR. SOUL! was named Best Documentary Feature. Sunday evening, it was announced that Ondi Timoner’s MAPPLETHORPE’s was the Audience Award winner for Narrative Film, with Haizlip adding to her aGLIFF trophy collection by earning the Audience Award, as well.
The All Genders, Lifestyles, and Identities Film Festival (aGLIFF) announced the official selections for the film festival’s 31st edition. Screening exclusively at Alamo Drafthouse Lamar (1120 S. Lamar Blvd.) in Austin, Texas on September 6-9, aGLIFF will open with the previously announced CALL HER GANDA, directed by PJ RAVAL, with Ondi Timoner’s MAPPLETHORPE, starring Matt Smith, set to make its Texas Premiere as the Closing Night selection.
The All Genders, Lifestyles, and Identities Film Festival (aGLIFF) announced that PJ Raval’s timely documentary CALL HER GANDA will be the Opening Night selection for the 31st edition of the film festival (formerly known as the Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival). Also announced was the creation of aGLIFF’s Tribute Award. The recipient of the inaugural aGLIFF Tribute Award will be filmmaker Yen Tan, a stalwart on the Austin indie filmmaking scene.
The Closing Night red carpet for the Austin Gay & Lesbian Film Festival featured the filmmaking teams behind BROTHERLY LOVE and SOMETHING LIKE SUMMER and a handful of other filmmakers in addition to the belles of that night’s Ball – the Co-Director of BECKS, Elizabeth Rohrbaugh and the woman that starred as the film’s title character, Lena Hall. Once again, everyone had a great time with the photos and the interviews and aGLIFF closed out their 30th edition of the fest with a lot of fun.
For the first time in my decade-long film fest career, I sent out a media alert asking press to cover a red carpet, yet wouldn’t tell them who the “guest of honor” was, since the filmmaker was the writer and director of the Austin Gay & Lesbian Film Festival’s Secret Screening. But there was a lot of “new” to be had, since aGLIFF wasn’t accustomed to doing the red carpet thing the way Wildworks PR does it. So, everything was shiny and new and a lot of fun as we gave the filmmakers their rock star moments on aGLIFF’s red carpet for the very first time…
Damon Cardasis’s SATURDAY CHURCH took home the award for Best Narrative Feature, and Arshad Khan’s ABU was named Best Documentary Feature. The following day, it was announced that Dome Karukoski’s TOM OF FINLAND (Narrative), and Rebecca Adler’s locally-produced documentary TRANS YOUTH won the festival’s Audience Awards.
aGLIFF Program Director Jim Brunzell, said, “Working non-stop for the past eight months, attending various film festivals, doing endless research and watching countless films, celebrating this year’s aGLIFF’s anniversary, we’ve worked extremely hard in making sure we’re delivering something a little extra for our dedicated members, patrons, and film fans. This being our 30th year, this has made us happily dig a little deeper to create some special moments for everyone – whether they have come to aGLIFF for years now, or they are just discovering us after all this time.
