BIG LOVE: Fundraising Screening Series in Austin, TX
AIDS Services of Austin and AGLIFF Nonprofit Organization are coming together to present BIG LOVE: ASA + AGLIFF’s Joint 25th Anniversary Year Fundraiser.
The one day event will take place Saturday, August 18 and is accompanied by the reopening of the classic Dobie Theater. The event will feature the premiere of the documentary film VITO, with after party featuring complementary food from Woodland and Homeslice, drinks by Dos Equis and Tecate and a dance floor featuring music from the iconic 80′s era both ASA and AGLIFF were born by DJ MOUTHFEEL.
ADVANCE TICKETS are only $35 and includes admission to all films and after party. Read below for the full list of films featured for this event, and if you are so inclined bring a donation to support the AIDS Services of Austin and aGLIFF Nonprofit Organization.
VITO (2011 | 93 min) – Austin Premier!
The story of Vito Russo, founding father of the gay liberation movement, author of “The Celluloid Closet,” and vociferous AIDS activist in the 1980s comes to Austin theaters for the first time after headlining film festivals and galvanizing audiences across the US! In the aftermath of Stonewall, a newly politicized Vito Russo found his voice as a gay activist and critic of LGBT representation in the media. He went on to write “The Celluloid Closet,” the first book to critique Hollywood’s portrayals of gays on screen. During the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, Vito became a passionate advocate for justice via the newly formed ACT UP, before his death in 1990. “I highly recommend it to anyone interested in pop culture, in civil rights, or in how the two are deeply connected.“ – TIME MAGAZINE
PARTING GLANCES (1986 | 90 min)
“Parting Glances,” the 1986 stunning debut of the late writer-director Bill Sherwood, tackled AIDS, an urgent issue that no longer could not have been ignored. Set on the Upper West Side and starring Steve Buscemi in one of his first roles, the story depicts 24 hours in the lives of three gay men, who form a most intriguing triangle, though not a ménage a trois. ”I intended the film as an homage to New York and also to the gay community, which, in spite of the AIDS crisis, continues to be such a life force,” said Sherwood.
PARIS IS BURNING (1990 | 71 min)
Before Madonna got dance floors hopping with her international dance sensation, the black and Latino drag queens and transfolk of New York City’s ball scene were dazzling audiences with their invented style of dance known as “voguing,” a highly imaginative imitation of the fashion poses on the covers of the magazine Vogue. As director Jennie Livingston discovers, the ball culture in 1980s NYC is a space of creativity, outsider community, and belonging, where her subjects band together into family-like “houses” for protection, taking the same last names and competing in elaborate drag balls where awards are given out for authenticity or “realness,” as well as other categories like “evening wear” and “executive wear.” Both an embracing and a refutation of the world of high fashion, the balls become the social locus of this underclass, underground society of hopeful outcasts, defiantly refusing to be ignored by a world that scorns them. In the 2000s, the descendants of this pageant community would find a home on “America’s Next Top Model,” teaching their moves to a younger generation of up-and-coming fashion superstars.
SHOW ME LOVE (1998 | 89 min)
Titled after recording artist Robyn’s first international hit, this sweet and profoundly realistic tale of two adolescent girls experiencing love, sex, boredom and peer pressure in small-town Sweden is generally cited as one of the best LGBT films of all time. Agnes and Elin are a pair of teenage girls trapped in the small town of Amal, an isolated place where nothing truly exciting ever seems to happen. Agnes is teased for being an outsider, but she doesn’t realize that the ever-popular Elin has a crush on her. After an accidental kiss, the two girls learn about themselves and, eventually, about proudly standing up for their emerging identities. A satisfying, touching and honest story about growing up in a confusing world, “Show Me Love” has the distinction of being the film that beat out Titanic at Northern European Box offices.
