Austin’s oldest film festival and the premiere LGBTQ+ film fest of the Southwest, aGLIFF, announces the features program selection for the 37th annual festival PRISM 37, which will take place in person August 21–25, 2024, in Austin, TX. The annual event will be celebrated throughout the vibrant city of Austin with screenings, events, Q&As, and more. Full festival information can be found at agliff.org/prism-37.
This year’s lineup boasts over twenty feature films from eight countries, including four U.S. premieres, two retrospective screenings, and a World Premiere for the festival’s closing night. Notably, PRISM 37 will also feature the hometown debut of Rent Free, directed by Austin filmmaker Fernando Andrés, on its opening night (August 21st).
On Friday, moviegoers are invited to don their favorite sports jerseys for dueling sports-themed Centerpiece Narratives: Riley, directed by Benjamin Howard, explores the clashing emotions and pent-up passions of a beloved high school football star, while Rivière, a French film by Hugues Hariche, follows a determined 17-year-old girl on her journey to become a professional hockey player, experiencing new friendships and first love along the way.
Saturday will be “Retro Day,” where guests are encouraged to dress in attire from past decades as they enjoy a nostalgic day of films. The retrospective screenings include the 20th Anniversary showing of Saved! with director Brian Dannelly in attendance, and the 45th Anniversary screening of Fascination, Jean Rollin’s French horror film. Additionally, the Centerpiece Documentary, Join the Club, chronicles the life of rebel activist Dennis Peron and his remarkable efforts to legalize medical marijuana after losing his lover to AIDS. Desire Lines, a docudrama by Jules Rosskam, follows an Iranian American trans man who travels back in time to an LGBTQ+ archive to understand his sexuality.
The festival ends with the World Premiere of American Schemers at Alamo Drafthouse Mueller. This film, directed by Jack Newell, introduces two scheming characters whose plans are hilariously thwarted by their equally crooked targets.
“We are deeply honored to premiere American Schemers at aGLIFF, a festival that has championed underrepresented voices and stories for so many years,” said Newell. “We’re grateful for the privilege to get to bring to the screen characters who embrace and find joy in their queerness. We couldn’t be more excited for aGLIFF to be the first to meet our crew of quirky characters.”
Named the 2022 Nonprofit of the Year by the Austin LGBT Chamber of Commerce, aGLIFF cultivates the Texas LGBTQ+ community by enlightening, educating, and entertaining moviegoers through programs that enrich LGBTQ+ and ally communities while developing LGBTQ+ awareness. The nonprofit organization’s programs include the “Queer Spectrum” Community Screening Series and the Queer Black Voices Fund, all of which culminate around its annual film festival, PRISM.
More information, including Queer Black Voices Dinner and Screening, shorts programs, special events, and more for the PRISM 37 festival, is available at agliff.org/prism-37.
OPENING NIGHT
Rent Free
USA | 2024 | 93 minutes | English | Southwest Premiere
Director: Fernando Andrés | Writers: Fernando Andrés, Tyler Rugh | Cast: Jacob Roberts, David Treviño, Temple Baker, Neal Mulani, Sarah Bartholomew, Annabel O’Hagan, Bill Wise, Zeke Goodman, Jeff Kardesch, Megan Bitchell, Lorelei Linklater, Frank Mosley, Carson Barwinkel, and Kristin Slaysman
After hitting emotional and financial rock bottom, best friends Ben and Jordan devise a scheme to spend an entire year living “rent-free” with the help of friends, family, and strangers alike in a rapidly changing Austin. A part social experiment, part buddy comedy, their quixotic plan all too soon reveals itself to be a bit untenable.
DOCUMENTARY CENTERPIECE FILM
Join the Club
USA | 2024 | 87 minutes | English | Southwest Premiere
Directors: Kip Andersen, Chris O’Connell | Writers: Adam Kaplan, Paul Marchand | Cast: Dennis Peron, Mary Jane Rathbun (Brownie Mary), Deborah Small, Joey Cain, Joseph Bannon, Greg Corrales, Dan Lungren
After losing his lover to AIDS, rebel activist Dennis Peron launches the first public cannabis dispensary in the nation, skirting the law in pursuit of true justice—the legalization of medical marijuana.
NARRATIVE CENTERPIECE FILMS
Riley
USA | 2023 | 93 minutes | English | Texas Premiere
Director and Writer: Benjamin Howard | Cast: Jake Holley, Colin McCalla, Riley Quinn Scott
Navigating locker rooms, weight training, post-workout showers, and the mob of toxic masculinity around him, a disciplined high school football star watches his life unravel when his queer identity competes against the idea of who he was supposed to be.
Rivière | France, Switzerland | 2023 | 105 minutes | French | Southwest Premiere
Director: Hugues Hariche | Writers: Hugues Hariche, Joanne Giger | Cast: Camille Rutherford, Flavie Delangle, Sarah Bramms
Crossing the border from Switzerland to France to find her estranged father, a young woman rebuilds her life to pursue her dream: becoming a professional ice hockey player.
CLOSING NIGHT FILM
American Schemers
USA | 2024 | 95 minutes | English | World Premiere
Director: Jack C. Newell | Writers: Michael Waller and Sydney Blackburn | Cast: Jean Villepique, Ithamar Enriquez, Michael Waller
Two flamboyant con artists pose as heirs to a deceased socialite, only to find that the community they’ve infiltrated is as crooked as they are.
20TH ANNIVERSARY SCREENING
Saved!
USA | 2004 | 92 minutes | English | 20th Anniversary Screening
Director: Brian Dannelly | Writers: Michael Urban, Brian Dannelly | Cast: Jena Malone, Mandy Moore, Macaulay Culkin
Mary is a good Christian girl who attends a good Christian high school with good Christian friends and a perfect Christian boyfriend. Her life seems perfect until the day that she finds out that her boyfriend may be gay — and that she’s pregnant. A 20th Anniversary Retrospective Screening with director Brian Dannelly in attendance.
45TH ANNIVERSARY SCREENING
Fascination
France | 1979 | 80 minutes | English | 45th Anniversary Screening
Director and Writer: Jean Rollin | Cast: Franca Maï, Jean-Marie Lemaire, Brigitte Lahaie
A dangerous criminal breaks into an eerie chateau, taking its two frightened chambermaids hostage. As night falls, a group of mysterious aristocratic women arrive, and the criminal realizes the women are the true danger. A 45th Anniversary screening of the Erotic Thriller from Jean Rollin, the master of Vamploitation.
Source: aGLIFF/PRISM 37