By Liz Lopez
Austin’s oldest film festival, aGLIFF (All Genders, Lifestyles, and Identities Film Festival) announces changes to the schedule and access availability for screenings and special events for PRISM 34 taking place August 26 – September 6, 2021. The Opening Night screening of the North American premiere of Blitzed: The 80s Blitz Kids Story and Queer Black Voices screenings will now take place at the Galaxy Theatres Austin and will also be added to the virtual lineup along with additional films including Centerpiece film Boulevard! A Hollywood Story. Legacy Honoree Madeleine Olnek’s 2011 feature Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same will move to a virtual screening only with a live Q&A.
Two in -person events have been cancelled: the Opening Night Party at the the Paramount Theatre as well as the Silent Cinema Disco at the W Hotel Austin. The following events are now virtual only: DJ Watch in-person Dance Party at the W Hotel Austin and Big Queer Quiz Thing in-person portion at Austin Eastciders is now virtual only.
The aGLIFF Centerpiece Film is the latest documentary from Emmy-winning director Jeffrey Schwarz (The Fabulous Allan Carr, Tab Hunter Confidential, I Am Divine, Vito), Boulevard! A Hollywood Story and makes its World Premiere. Dickson Hughes and Richard Stapley, two young songwriters and romantic partners, find themselves caught in movie star Gloria Swanson’s web when she hires them to write a musical version of “Sunset Boulevard.” Life imitates art when Gloria falls for Richard, and the men find themselves living a real-life version of the classic film.
The screening of this film will be held at The Galaxy on Saturday, August 28th at 7pm. www.thefilmcollaborative.org/films/boulevard
—-
The sweeping Cold War true story epic, Firebird, will screen at the festival. At the height of the Cold War, a troubled soldier forms a forbidden love triangle with a daring fighter pilot and his female comrade amid the dangerous surroundings of a Soviet Air Force Base. Tom Prior (The Theory of Everything, Kingsman: The Secret Service), leads an international cast including Oleg Zagorodnii (The Choice, Dzhamayka) and Diana Pozharskaya (The Unknown Soldier, Hotel Eleon). Firebird is directed by University of Southern California and Harvard alumni Peeter Rebane (Robbie Williams – Live in Tallinn), written together with Tom Prior and produced by Brigita Rozenbrika (Defenders of Riga, Archangel).
Based on a true story Firebird is an intense cold war thriller set in the 1970’s Soviet Air Force. A dangerous love triangle forms between Sergey, a troubled conscript, his best friend Luisa, a charming and ambitious secretary to the base Commander, and a daring young fighter pilot Roman. Driven by curiosity, they embark on a fatal affair of forbidden love and deception, navigating the precarious line between love and friendship. Sergey is forced to face his past as Roman’s career is endangered and Luisa struggles to keep her family together. As the walls close in they risk their freedom and their very lives in the face of an escalating KGB investigation and the multiple perils of an all-seeing Soviet regime.
The aGLIFF screening will be at the Galaxy Theater on Friday, August 27th at 9pm.
For more complete information on these and other films, read the schedule available at agliff.org/schedule.
Source: aGLIFF, The Factory