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In Mueller, aGLIFF’s Prism 37 Turns Screens Into Civic Space

Edited by Eric Cheung Fri, Nov 7, 2025 • 03:39 PM

A cluster of glowing marquees along Aldrich Street is about to pull Mueller into the center of Austin’s queer cinema calendar. When aGLIFF’s PRISM festival returns August 21–25, the longtime Austin institution will spread screenings across the city and plant a busy hub at Alamo Drafthouse Mueller — a choice that underscores how neighborhood venues can double as cultural commons in a tense political moment.

Mueller as a main stage

At Alamo Drafthouse Mueller, the festival’s presence will be visible from afternoon arrivals to late-night exits as audiences filter between the plaza, nearby restaurants, and the lobby’s hum. The theater’s food-and-film setup is part of the programming calculus. “Environment is always part of the cinema experience. Honestly, playing all our films in the same venue has really limited some of the choices I might make,” said aGLIFF artistic director Bears Rebecca Fonte in Austin CultureMap. “Some films just need a more intimate screen, and others are gonna benefit from a more raucous attitude with food and beer. It's going to be really fun matching the film to the best screen for it.”

Parking garages and street spots around the district should absorb festival traffic, but patrons can expect heavier evening footfall as regular moviegoers mingle with badge holders. For area residents, the theater’s walkable setting means aGLIFF’s audiences will blend with neighborhood routines — parents leaving Thinkery’s twilight events, joggers looping Mueller Lake Park, diners lingering on patios before showtimes.

Programming at the Mueller location is likely to lean into that casual, convivial energy — the kind of screening where laughter or a collective gasp carries. In a year when aGLIFF is straddling multiple venues, matching tone to room will matter, and the Mueller house style is built for communal viewing and conversations that spill beyond the end credits.

What’s on and where

Prism 37 will run August 21–25, with screenings at Violet Crown Cinema, AFS Cinema, Galaxy Theatre, and Alamo Drafthouse Mueller, according to Austin CultureMap. The opening night film screens August 21, followed by a reception; on August 22, a screening-and-dinner fundraiser will benefit the aGLIFF program Queer Black Voices at KMFA’s Draylen Mason Music Studio; closing night on August 25 includes additional shows and cocktails, reported Austin CultureMap.

Opening night: Local filmmaker Fernando Andrés brings the Austin premiere of Rent Free, with a live Q&A and post-screening reception, noted Austin CultureMap.
Sundance winner: Desire Lines by Jules Rosskam, a hybrid doc/drama exploring the LGBTQ archive through an Iranian American trans man, highlighted by Austin CultureMap.
Historical biography: S/He is Still Her/e – The Official Genesis P-Orridge Documentary, directed by David Charles Rodrigues, featured by Austin CultureMap.
Media analysis: Bulletproof: A Lesbian’s Guide to Surviving the Plot by Regan Latimer, examining queer TV representation, listed by Austin CultureMap.

This year’s theme riffs on the Beastie Boys’ “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!),” with poster art by Jennifer Burba and Jeannie Lozano, according to Austin CultureMap. “This year's theme is bittersweet as we are excited about how inclusive and fun the artwork looks, but also sobered by the fact that in Texas (and around the country), Queer rights continue to be under legislative attack,” said board of directors president Todd Hogan in Austin CultureMap. “We hope that the play on the 'Fight to Right' anthem acts as a reminder to our community that it is more important than ever to get out the vote this election year. We also believe that sharing the LGBTQ experience through film can play a powerful role in shifting attitudes around Queer politics.”

An institution with Austin roots

aGLIFF began in 1987 as the Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival and became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 1995, later expanding into year-round programming and, over time, reworking its name to reflect broader identities; PRISM became the festival title in 2019, and aGLIFF returned as the organization’s name in 2022 while keeping PRISM as its marquee event, according to aGLIFF. The social function of that evolution is well remembered. “The only place that you could see (many of these films) was at the film festival because there wasn’t Netflix,” said Scott Dinger, founder of aGLIFF, in The Daily Texan.

The scale of the city’s audience has only grown. A 2021 Quality of Life study estimated that LGBTQ residents make up about 5.9% of the Austin metro — roughly 100,000 to 118,000 people — with high acceptance among friends and chosen family (about 97%), but far lower acceptance reported in schools (around 10%) and places of worship (about 18%), according to Austin Monitor.

The political reality

The decision to spread PRISM screenings into neighborhood venues arrives amid a charged statewide context. “We’ve definitely seen an escalation, and in targeted legislation that would impact the LGBTQ community in Texas, specifically trans Texans,” said Johnathan Gooch, communications director at Equality Texas, in mySanAntonio. Political pressure can ripple into public cultural events, influencing everything from security planning to whether a program goes forward.

That tension lends added weight to the festival’s Mueller footprint, where a mix of residents, businesses, and passersby encounter the work simply by moving through the district. Public-facing arts programming can assert visibility without fanfare — a showtime on the marquee, a line forming beneath it.

Safety, trust, and the value of shared space

Local data suggest why such visible, communal spaces matter. A KUT-reported survey of approximately 2,000 people found that about 53% said they had been verbally harassed or abused because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, most often by strangers; 41% reported feeling uncomfortable asking police for help, according to KUT. “We didn’t have any demographic data about the LGBTQ community in Austin,” said Victor Martinez of KUT.

In that context, a festival screening can feel less like an escape and more like an affirmation. The setting matters — a seat in a familiar neighborhood theater, a short walk home afterward, the crowd’s brief community. As Hogan put it in Austin CultureMap, “Our continued goal is to provide a safe space for members of the LGBTQ community to share our remarkable stories. There is something magical about seeing film on the big screen, and festival goers can continue to expect a robust attendance by the creators of the films, allowing for a deeper dive into their inspiration and process as Queer filmmakers.”

Why Mueller matters this week

Mueller’s centrality — geographically and socially — makes it a practical anchor for PRISM’s dispersed model. The neighborhood’s dining and transit options help screenings function as gatherings rather than one-off stops, while the Alamo’s service style suits a festival that, this year, is explicitly about choosing the right room for each story. It is a local reminder that cultural institutions endure not only in downtown arts districts but in the places where people already live their lives.

Read the press release on Austin CultureMap.

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