For those of you in the middle of a film/waiting for a film at AGLIFF today, we want to thank you all for your patience and cooperation with the Alamo Drafthouse Staff while waiting for the power to come back on. Please see the main page as to the schedule changes that will be coming up for the SWIMMING WITH LESBIANS screening on Sunday, September 13, at 11:45am. For everyone waiting to see HANNAH FREE, I hope you enjoyed the opportunity to chat it up with Festival Guest Sharon Glass while waiting for the power to return. She’s such a sweetheart!
Download the Press Release (pdf)
It is official! Calvin Williams, long-time supporter and board member of aGLIFF has been elected to serve as President of the Austin-based film festival. Calvin is replacing outgoing three-term President Alisa Weldon who helped oversee the successful transition of aGLIFF into a nonprofit organization and the creation of the annual BLOOM event.
Calvin, a fan of gay films since he saw two men kiss in MAKING LOVE when he was 17, has avidly supported aGLIFF as a festival participant since 1989 and jumped headfirst onto the board only one week before the 2006 festival. He is thrilled to channel his experience as an educator and administrator into his role as President of an organization that brings the LGBTQI community together through film.
“I appreciate my fellow board members for their confidence and support by electing me President,” Calvin said immediately after the confirmation vote. “I am excited to help steer aGLIFF as it maintains its distinction as the premier LGBTQI international film festival in the southwest.”
In addition to this change in leadership, aGLIFF has recently added several new staff and board members. This infusion of new blood and ideas has inspired the creation of several new educational programs and the expansion of the film and arts activities of the organization.
A New Near, a New aGLIFF - that’s our theme as we finish out 2008 and start on 2009.
But what do we mean by new? Well, for starters, we have an all new staff. Collin Acock is our Development Director, and Grace Gonzales is our Program Director. That means new grants to pursue, new sponsorships to find, and new relationships with all our members.
We have new membership formats - we learned some important lessons last year about how badges work for us, and so we’ve streamlined the entire membership process.
We’re working on a new website - this one is the functional bones of what we’re working on - that will take a few months as we develop our theme for 2009.
But most importantly, it’s a new chance for us to thrive. There have been some awesome challenges since I started last June, but by reaching out and asking for your support - and by proving to you that your support is worthwhile - we have kept this idea going.
And what is worthwhile? Of course, we’re going to have aGLIFF’s 22nd Annual Film Festival - this year with tentative dates (write them down) of September 8 - 13th - 6 days, with an estimated 42 screenings with 120 films.
We have new projects starting - some may look familiar - My Queer Movie, the Queer Youth Media Project, and expanded volunteer opportunities. We’ve started hosting monthly screenings, and bi-monthly get togethers for our members. We have BLOOM 2009 coming up in April, and we’ll be at Pride in June.
The take home point is that we’re here, and we’ve listened to you and we’re doing what you want. And more than that, we’re grateful for the opportunity.
We’ll see you in 2009. And thank you.
David Sweeney
