agliff

Based in Austin, Texas — aGLIFF’s mission is to create positive and visible film programs relevant to the lives of LGBTQ+ identified and allied people. Our goal is to entertain, educate, and inspire audiences with carefully curated movies the represent the entire spectrum of the Queer experience. 

We operate with a deep belief that film is the universal language that helps people find our commonalities and understand each other. This becomes increasingly important as we battle against institutionalized bias against our community, especially in Texas. We strive to curate a roster of films about the LGBTQ+ experience that anyone, independent of their sexual orientation or gender identity, can relate to and empathize. We aim to intentionally expand our audience reach to celebrate our intersectionality’s by aligning with other film organizations such as The Austin Film Society, the Austin Film Festival, Indie Meme, Cine Las Americas, Austin Asian American Film Festival, and other multicultural film festivals and industry communities. We endeavor to invest in Queer filmmakers helping them tell the stories of our community and allies through recognition, mentorship and financial reward.

aGLIFF programs include the Queer Spectrum Community Screenings & Events Series and the Queer Black Voices Fund which cultivate in our annual PRISM LGBTQ+ Film Festival each August.

HISTORY

1987 - 2013: aGLIFF was founded as the Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival in 1987 and became a 501(c)3 in 1995. The festival began as a four-day event with just four films primarily focused on coming out and the AIDS epidemic. It is Austin’s oldest film festival and has since grown into a multifaceted nonprofit organization with year round community programs and events culminating each year in the annual film festival.

2013: aGLIFF made a brief rebrand as Polari to reflect the limitations of being known as a “Gay & Lesbian” festival, but returned to aGLIFF in 2015 to honor its history.

2018: the organization changed its name to All Genders, Lifestyles, and Identities Film Festival to reflect the changing landscape of how queer people identify.

2019: the Board of Directors selected PRISM as the new name for our marquee annual film festival. The name was chosen to highlight the way our festival can refract a single beam of art into multiple viewpoints, showcasing all the voices in the spectrum of our LGBTQ+ community.

2022: the organization officially becomes known simply as aGLIFF to preserve the equity and rich history of the festival. The annual film festival continues to be called PRISM.

30 YEARS OF PRIDE: an aGLIFF Retrospective

AGLIFF CELEBRATED ITS 30TH ANNIVERSARY IN 2017 AND HONORED ITS HISTORY WITH A RETROSPECTIVE DIRECTED BY BEARS REBECCA FONTE.