TIGLFF 29: When and where to see major, local productions

TAMPA | Following its successful launch party, the Tampa Bay International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (TIGLFF) returns for its 29th year Oct. 5-13.

“This year we have such star quality,” Director of Programming KJ Mohr says, “with major productions that people won’t be able to see in theaters for some time. We have Molly Shannon playing Emily Dickinson, Matt Smith playing Robert Mapplethorpe and Paul Rudd is one half of an eccentric gay couple in our closing film.”

Mohr says that above all, TIGLFF is about the community coming together. “You feel the laughter around you,” she says, “and you feel the tension. I think we’ve forgotten how that feels in a theater together.”

Film fans from around Tampa Bay will have the opportunity to remember exactly that with this year’s eclectic entries. You can check out Watermark’s in-depth coverage of local favorite “At the End of the Day” here and grab your popcorn for the full film schedule below.

For more information about this year’s lineup, venues and ticket prices, visit TIGLFF’s website.

Oct. 5

OPENING FILM: “WILD NIGHTS WITH EMILY”

7:15 p.m. |Tampa Theatre

Emily Dickinson as we always knew she must be – a passionate, funny, endearing woman in love with Susan Gilbert.

“HARD PAINT (TINTA BRUTA)”

9:45 p.m. | Tampa Theatre

Socially awkward Pedro escapes his melancholy life in Brazil’s southern city of Porto Alegre by becoming his on-camera persona “Neon Boy.”

Oct. 6

“AT THE END OF THE DAY”

11:45 a.m. | Tampa Theatre

A conservative Christian experiences a profound change when he finds himself planted in a gay support group to stop their plans to open an LGBTQ youth shelter.

“DRAMA IN YOUR SHORTS”

2:45 p.m. | Tampa Theatre

A collection of seven short films that celebrate queer and transgender people of diverse backgrounds and experiences.

“KISS ME (EMBRASSE-MOI!)”

5:00 p.m. | Tampa Theatre

An ordinary rom-com with a typical rom-com story… except it is about lesbians. Brava!

“RIOT”

7:00 p.m. | Tampa Theatre

Lance Gowland and his years-long struggle for equal rights brought him to a pivotal night in Australian LGBT history.

“KILL THE MONSTERS”

9:15 p.m. | Tampa Theatre

Three hunky men in a polyamorous relationship travel across the country to start a new life.

Oct. 7

“MAKING MONTGOMERY CLIFT”

11:30 a.m. | Tampa Theatre

Montgomery Clift’s nephew Robert rigorously examines the flawed narratives that have come to define the influential actor’s legacy.

“REINVENTING MARVIN (MARVIN OU LA BELLE ÉDUCATION)”

1:30 p.m. | Tampa Theatre

Marvin Bijou is a sensitive, creative boy living in what he will later in life identify as exile.

“TUCKED”

4:00 p.m. | Tampa Theatre

Jackie and Faith find themselves together at the precise moment they both needed the other.

“FREELANCERS ANONYMOUS”

6:00 p.m. | Tampa Theatre

In a dead-end job that she hates, engaged to Gayle whom she adores, Billie quits her job and makes a dramatic exit after a chemically-induced epiphany.

“STUDIO 54”

8:15 p.m. | Tampa Theatre

Matt Tyrnauer’s excellent and entertaining documentary explores the enchantment behind Studio 54 in New York City.

Oct. 8

“A MOMENT IN THE REEDS (TÄMÄ HETKI KAISLIKOSSA)”

6:30 p.m. | Tampa Theatre

Leevi comes home to help his estranged father renovate a summer home and meets Tareq, hired by his father to help with the work.

“GOOD MANNERS (AS BOAS MANEIRAS)”

8:45 p.m. | Tampa Theatre

Clara is poor, Black, and so desperate for work that she takes a demeaning job working for what appears to be (at least on the surface) an entitled, self-absorbed wealthy, pregnant white woman.

Oct. 9

“CALL HER GANDA”

5:00 p.m. | Tampa Theatre

When 26-year old Filipina transgender woman Jennifer Laude is found dead, the perpetrator is quickly identified as 19-year-old U.S. marine Joseph Scott Pemberton.

“LEZ BOMB”

7:00 p.m. | Tampa Theatre

Thanksgiving is a blessed time of celebrating the ties that bind and the love of family. Thus, the perfect time to drop the “lez bomb.”

“MARIO”

9:00 p.m. | Tampa Theatre

Mario was well on his way toward a career as a professional soccer playe when Leon walked into his life.

Oct. 10

DOCUMENTARY CENTERPIECE: “PATERNAL RITES”

5:30 p.m. | Tampa Theatre

A first-person essay film that examines the secret underbelly of a contemporary Jewish American family as they grapple with physical and sexual abuse.

NARRATIVE CENTERPIECE: “MAPPLETHORPE”

7:45 p.m. | Tampa Theatre

Celebrated documentarian Ondi Timoner’s first scripted narrative peeks into her version of Robert Mapplethorpe, one of the most controversial artists of our time.

Oct. 11

“TRANSMILITARY”

5:00 p.m. | Tampa Theatre

Four brave soldiers serve their country valiantly while pushing back against the oppressive policies of the military.

“POSTCARDS FROM LONDON”

7:00 p.m. | Tampa Theatre

This highly stylized visual feast follows Jim as he moves away from his family home in Essex to follow his artistic dreams in London.

“DYKES, CAMERA, ACTION!”

7:00 p.m. | freeFall Theatre

This beautifully constructed documentary is more than a review of lesbian filmmaking.

“DADDY ISSUES”

8:45 p.m. | freeFall Theatre

Maya, a 19 year-old queer pixie and a talented artist, gets romantically involved with her sexually fluid insta-crush.

“SORRY, ANGEL (PLAIRE, AIMER ET COURIR VITE)”

9:00 p.m. | Tampa Theatre

Christophe Honoré’s skillfully crafted and thoroughly engaging new effort is a time capsule back 25 years to when AIDS was on the mind of every gay man.

Oct. 12

“TRANSGEEK”

5:30 p.m. | freeFall Theatre

shines a bright light on the profound impact that the internet had on transgender people.

“STILL WAITING IN THE WINGS”

7:45 p.m. | freeFall Theatre

From the director of the popular Eating Out series comes this over the top, comedic musical, chock full of familiar faces and toe-tapping musical numbers.

“WHITE RABBIT”

10:00 p.m. | Tampa Theatre

Sophia Lee devotes herself to her public performance art, whether it’s a provocative Korean perspective on the LA Riots at a park or quirky digital art on social media.

Oct. 13

“EVERY ACT OF LIFE”

11:15 a.m. | freeFall Theatre

Terrence McNally, who goes to the theater “to see characters strip themselves of their secrets, to let us see into their hearts,” walks the talk in this candid documentary of his life.

FUN IN YOUR SHORTS

1:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. | freeFall Theatre

Lighten your mood with this quirky collection of seven short films.

“BELIEVER” (FREE YOUTH PROGRAM)

11:30 a.m. | Tampa Museum of Art

Dan Reynolds believes he can get Mormons and Christians to start an important conversation about the role of LGBTQ people, especially youth, in the Church.

“JUST FRIENDS (GEWOON VRIENDEN)”

3:30 p.m. | freeFall Theatre

Dreamy medical student Yad moves backs home after too much partying in Amsterdam and attempts to land a job as a surf instructor, but ends up as home help for elderly clients.

“TWO IN THE BUSH: A LOVE STORY”

5:30 p.m. | freeFall Theatre

Emily is toiling away as personal assistant to filmmaker Kenneth, getting verbally berated on a daily basis, until she returns from work to find her girlfriend in bed with their best friend.

CLOSING FILM: “IDEAL HOME”

8:00 p.m. | AMC Sundial 20+IMAX

Paul and Erasmus are a quintessentially bitchy couple with a rhythm of contempt for each other so rutted in disdain there is an inevitable breaking point, and that’s when the kid shows up.

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