Don’t forget the aGLIFF Holiday Family Screening tomorrow, December 11, starting with photos with Santa at 10:00am at the Alamo Drafthouse South. We have a limited number of tickets to give away for FREE to this screening that have been sponsored by the generous members of the aGLIFF Board of Directors. Email aGLIFF to get your FREE tickets to the holiday family screening tomorrow. Let us know how many tickets you’d like us to reserve for you, and note these free tickets are on a first-come-first-serve basis and subject to availability.

Please continue to support aGLIFF’s nonprofit organization programs by purchasing your tickets to the screening below. Tickets will also be available for sale at will call.

Sunday, December 11, aGLIFF Presents:
How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
10:00am Photo booth w/ Santa | 11:00am Film Screening
Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar (1120 S. Lamar)

Join aGLIFF’s Family Screening Program as we celebrate the holiday season for LGBTQ families with the special screening of the Dr. Seuss classic, How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), directed by Ron Howard and starring Jim Carrey. From 10:00am-10:50am we will have complementary photos with Santa inside the theater. The film screening will begin promptly at 11:00am.

Dec. 11: aGLIFF Family Screening Program – $10 per person

• All tickets purchased online will be available for pick-up only upon arrival on Dec. 11 at the Alamo South under the name of the cardholder. We anticipate this screening to sell out so please purchase tickets in advance.

This screening is co-sponsored by PFLAG (Parents, Families, & Friends of Lesbians and Gays).

aGLIFF’s Family Screening Program focuses on providing film screenings and community building for LGBTQ families. AGLIFF is dedicated through this program to give families the opportunity to build LGBTQ family awareness and support. Want to hear more about aGLIFF special programs or get involved, Email aGLIFF.

Image courtesy of Universal Studios

Join aGLIFF at the Violet Crown theater this Friday, December 9th for the opening of the film, TOMBOY, which had its premiere at Berlin International Film Festival this year and was a jury award winner. The film is centered around a 10-year-old girl, settling into her new neighborhood outside Paris, who is mistaken for a boy and has to live up to this new identity since it’s too late for the mistake to be clarified.

The first person to respond to our aGLIFF trivia question wins one pair of complementary tickets to the Saturday, December 10 screening at 8:00pm. Trivia question: What year was the aGLIFF organization founded? Email us your answer, and the first person to respond wins!!

Thank you Violet Crown for bringing this beautiful and touching film to Austin! Don’t miss this screening of TOMBOY at Violet Crown Cinema.

Sunday, December 11, aGLIFF Presents:
How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
10:00am Photo booth w/ Santa | 11:00am Film Screening
Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar (1120 S. Lamar)

Join aGLIFF’s Family Screening Program as we celebrate the holiday season for LGBTQ families with the special screening of the Dr. Seuss classic, How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), directed by Ron Howard and starring Jim Carrey. From 10:00am-10:50am we will have complementary photos with Santa inside the theater. The film screening will begin promptly at 11:00am.

Dec. 11: aGLIFF Family Screening Program – $10 per person

• All tickets purchased online will be available for pick-up only upon arrival on Dec. 11 at the Alamo South under the name of the cardholder. We anticipate this screening to sell out so please purchase tickets in advance.

This screening is co-sponsored by PFLAG (Parents, Families, & Friends of Lesbians and Gays).

aGLIFF’s Family Screening Program focuses on providing film screenings and community building for LGBTQ families. AGLIFF is dedicated through this program to give families the opportunity to build LGBTQ family awareness and support. Want to hear more about aGLIFF special programs or get involved, Email aGLIFF.

Image courtesy of Universal Studios

Drag Till You Drop – Drag Show & Silent Auction
Saturday, December 10 | Backroads Bar & Grill
(2200 S. I-35 next to the Clarion I-35@Oltorf)
Auction begins at 8:00pm | Show starts at 10:30pm
NO COVER (donations accepted) AND amazing food and drink specials all night!
For event information, contact Elissa Bouillion

Let’s drag till we drop with a night of dragtastic performances and unbelievable bargains, hosted by Rebecca Havemeyer, winner of the 2011 Austin Chronicle’s best drag performer! Drag Till You Drop – “The fabulous way to check off your holiday shopping list!”

The Drag Till You Drop event will benefit Jayson Oaks’ new film, Flocker, a project participating in aGLIFF’s Filmmaker Assistance Program. aGLIFF’s program assists LGBTQ filmmakers with building community partnerships, assisting with film agency exposure and providing filmmakers with personalized professional resources for their projects.

Calling all aGLIFF volunteers! It’s the time of year we’d like to give you a big THANK YOU for all of your support of aGLIFF events throughout the year. If you missed your invitation e-mail to attend our aGLIFF volunteer appreciation party this Tuesday, December 6 from 6:00pm-8:00pm, please Email aGLIFF so we can be sure to put your name on the list to attend.

We’re excited to invite all aGLIFF volunteers to join us for complementary appetizers and fun at Frank (407 Colorado Street) this Tuesday evening. Thank you for all you do to make aGLIFF a success!

Thank you for your warm support of the 24th Annual Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival this September 2011! We’re looking forward to 2012 and to celebrating the landmark 25th season of our nonprofit organization with you.

Help transform the lives of the LGBTQ community by donating to aGLIFF. Your support will fund aGLIFF programs that directly serve the needs of LGBTQ independent filmmakers, families, at-risk youth and more! Make sure to give back to the LGBTQ communities we serve by Donating to aGLIFF Today! Your donations are tax deductible.

Here’s how you can make an immediate impact on our community and support aGLIFF’s important programs:

DONATE ANY AMOUNT ONLINE NOW and 100% of your gift will support aGLIFF’s nonprofit organization and special programs. Your charitable gift is tax deductible for 2011!

SIGN UP TO VOLUNTEER your time and talents to the oldest and largest LGBT film and arts organization in the Southwest.

Learn more about aGLIFF Programs and how you can get involved.

aGLIFF wishes you a happy holiday season!

Join Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF) this Saturday, November 19 at 3:00pm at The Paramount Theatre (713 Congress Avenue, Austin, TX) for a FREE to the public screening of the documentary, WORD IS OUT (1978). This screening is part of the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA), a film archiving conference in Austin this week, and is co-presented by aGLIFF.

Let’s celebrate the local Austin LGBT community this Saturday together with Word is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives, the first feature-length documentary about lesbian and gay identity made by gay filmmakers. “Word is Out” captures the voice of the emerging gay rights movement of the 1970′s. This film was restored in 2009 by the Outfest Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation, a collaboration between Outfest and the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

Don’t miss this special screening of “Word is Out” that will carry the voices and determination of the gay rights movement from the beginnings into the future!

Alex Morse is breaking LGBT community records as the recently nominated mayor of Holyoke, Massachusetts. The now youngest gay mayor elected in the history of our nation is a 22-year-old graduate of Brown University as of this May and a Victoria Fund-endorsed candidate. Morse previously dedicated three years as a member of the Governor’s LGBT Commission and working for Democratic US Rep. David N. Cicilline of Rhode Island during college. Congratulations, Alex for helping change the voice of our nation’s politics to represent equality.

This achievement echo’s the recent milestone of the first time a United States president mentioned gay rights in a speech before the U.N. General Assembly this September when President Obama stated, “No country should deny people their rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion, but also no country should deny people their rights because of who they love, which is why we must stand up for the rights of gays and lesbians everywhere.”

Get involved in your local politics and the Victory Fund to support LGBT leaders and soon-to-be leaders in our community! The Victoria Fund’s mission is to achieve equality for LGBT Americans by increasing the number of openly LGBT officials at all levels of government.

We’re excited to announce the two winners of the aGLIFF screening contest, who will be receiving a complementary pair of tickets to an opening night screening of WEEKEND at the Violet Crown Cinema tonight.

aGLIFF asked the community to share their favorite aGLIFF memories with us for a chance to win a free pair of tickets. We received a lot of touching emails describing ways aGLIFF has impacted the lives of our community members, and we are grateful to have been a part of these special moments.

Drumroll please… the two winners of the screening contest are: Collin Acock, the Development Manager, Corporations and Foundations at the Long Center for the Performing Arts, and Ryan Stanley, Freelance Creative Marketing Consultant at Ryan Stanley Marketing & Consulting. Ryan told us about meeting another aGLIFF festival-goer and “thanks aGLIFF for allowing us full days together… to eat, talk, snuggle closely, sneak kisses, discuss and experience each other without interruption or fear… to just be… to just be US! aGLIFF was the avenue for me getting to know a very wonderful man that, if possible, I find now even more handsome, more charismatic, more intellectually stimulating, and captivatingly wonderful. I owe you big time for starting the chain of memories that I hope continues on. I’ll keep you posted!” Collin recalls his favorite memory from aGLIFF “was during aGLIFF22 when the power went off at the Alamo South Lamar right as Sharon Gless arrived. The theaters were evacuated, and Sharon worked the crowd like a pro, taking it all in stride and making everyone feel special. It was awesome!” aGLIFF is beside itself to have provided the platform for our audience to fearlessly find love interests, admire those who conquer unforeseen obstacles with composure and grace… and much more!

Thank all of you for entering this contest – there were so many great memories shared and we appreciate your support of aGLIFF through the years and look forward to creating more memories with you in the future! If you didn’t have the opportunity to win free tickets to this screening, don’t forget to check out the schedule of available times to purchase tickets to see the inspiring film, WEEKEND!

Stay tuned to aGLIFF.org for more upcoming, memorable events!

Image of WEEKEND courtesy of Sundance Selects

Come to the 18th Annual Austin Film Festival & Conference, October 20th – 27th. See over 180 films, including Sal with James Franco in attendance; Jeff, Who Lives at Home with Jay & Mark Duplass; Union Square with Mira Sorvino; The Descendants starring George Clooney; Shame starring Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan; The Rum Diary, The Artist; Pariah; and the world premieres of Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters and Beneath the Darkness. And for the first time, Austin Film Festival will be screening in 3D, featuring the new animated film Puss in Boots.

This year’s AFF Conference boasts more than 90 panels, workshops, roundtable discussions, and programs with the filmmakers of some of your favorite movies. Panelist include John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer for Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, Jim Uhls (FIGHT CLUB), Scott Silver (THE FIGHTER), Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars), Hart Hanson (Bones), Caroline Thompson (EDWARD SCISSORHANDS), Lawrence Kasdan (RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK), Terry Rossio (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN series), Alec Berg (Curb Your Enthusiasm), and many more!

AGLIFF is excited about attending these LGBT-focused films at AFF and more: Albert Knobbs, An Ordinary Family, One Night Stand, Phariah and Wish Me Away.

AFF Film Passes start at $50 and Badges start at $110. Both can be purchased online at www.austinfilmfestival.com. Visit AFF’s website to see the full film and conference schedule.