AtlLGBTFilmFestival.com

Short film "Symmetry" at Atlanta LGBT Film & Music Festival

26 Aug 2016,

The Balzer Theater at Herren's
84 Luckie Street Northwest, Atlanta, GA, United States

On August 26, the short dance-opera film "Symmetry" by Ruben van Leer will be screened at the Atlanta LGBT Film & Music Festival in Atlanta, GA.

 

"Symmetry" is a dance-opera film shot inside CERN, the largest experimental particle physics facility in the world. With the cathedral-like majesty of the Large Hadron Collider as his theatre, a modern physicist searches for the smallest primordial particle and discovers a love without end. Made in 2015, The Huffington Post called it "the perfect collision of science and art," while VICE thought of it as "an upcoming film that fuses opera, choreography, digital art, and physics to tell a deeply existential tale around the basix questions asked by all curious humans." 

The film is part of the Symmetry Project, which also consists of the accompanying documentary "Symmetry Unravelled." The second film is about the collision of art and science in the particle accelerator at CERN. Featuring scholars like Prof. Robbert Dijkgraaf of Princeton Universiy, the documentary short accompanies "Symmetry" a common curiosity at the crux of man’s fascination with the unknown is
revealed. 

 

About Ruben van Leer

Ruben van Leer (Naarden, 1984) is an Amsterdam-based interdisciplinary art filmmaker. Raised in a musical household, Van Leer was engaged from an early age with the narrative capacity of sound. Seeing music as a universal language and feeling that the eyes are easier fooled than the ears, he grew increasingly interested with how the senses could be honed through integrated storytelling. Working predominantly with time based media and film, Van Leer artfully explores the potential for audiovisual harmony through narrative – often allowing the sonic aspect to shine through as the main protagonist.

About the Atlanta LGBT Film & Music Festival

The ALFF is a diverse and multicultural three day weekend hosted in Atlanta, GA. Their mission is to curate interactive experiences through different creative avenues all while providing a place to celebrate love and peace. On August 25, there will be an opening night event, while on August 26 there will be independent film showing. The last day, August 27, will be all about live music

The Atlanta LGBT Film and Music Festival Presents "Netflix and Chill" Night Out

March 7, 2016 / https://events.accessatlanta.com/

8:00 pm at Urban Cannibals, 368 5th St NE, Atlanta, GA 30308

Price: $12

 

We will be screening 2 LGBT films from our 2016 Festival Programming.

Wedlocked, directed by Puppett, is a short film that highlights gay marriage equality, and yes that also means divorce. 

Wedlocked is a farcical comedy taking on the ridiculous laws governing gay divorce. Sydney & Cameron are a happily engaged couple who are looking forward to their big day. Only problem is, Sydney is still married to Lisa and their home state won't recognize their marriage let alone their divorce.

Statement from the Director

Wedlocked is a very personal story for me. I was engaged in early 2012, and my fiancée tried to convince me to elope with her in NYC, since New York had legalized gay marriage the year before. After our breakup in early 2013, I realized that had we eloped, we would have been stuck and unable to divorce until gay marriage was (re)legalized in California. Like many LGBTQ couples, I hadn't considered all of the implications of getting married in a state where same-sex marriage was legal while living in a state where it was not. Fortunately, Prop 8 was overturned in June of that same year.

Seeing my friends' lived experiences hammered home the vital importance of this topic that was going unconsidered and overlooked. I had a couple of good friends in Pennsylvania who were stuck in marriages: one for three years and one for ten. They both had new partners and had moved on with their lives in so many ways, and yet they were stuck. With kids and careers involved, it was quite unrealistic for them to uproot their lives and move for six months just to be able to start the divorce process (who knows how long it would take for the divorce to actually be finalized).

In 2013, while working for Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, I had the honor of filming the first same-sex wedding in Los Angeles after the repeal of Prop 8, with the Mayor officiating the wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony, and the political importance of the occasion was driven home with a room packed full of reporters and flashing cameras. I bore witness to the regaining of marriage equality in California. 

It was in 2014 that Producers Ally Iseman, Christine Moore, and I decided it was time to join the fight for marriage equality with a film about gay divorce. We wanted to give voice to those unspoken for and shed light on the black sheep topic of marriage equality, the need for divorce equality.
​
On June 26, 2015, (the two year anniversary of the repeal of Prop 8) in the landmark decision of Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court ruled that laws banning same-sex marriage were unconstitutional. This decision harkened back to a ruling from 48 years earlier, on June 12, 1967, when the Supreme Court legalized interracial marriage with its ruling in Loving v. Virginia. Like same-sex marriage, prior to the SCOTUS ruling, the legality of interracial marriage differed from state to state. Since 2013, the Supreme Court has cited Loving v. Virginia as a precedent in its decisions regarding same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court Justices see the connections between our past and our present, and so too must we. The more contemporary issues for gay marriage and gay divorce were in fact a way in which history was repeating itself. These connections made it imperative to me that Wedlockedfeature an interracial couple. I wanted to acknowledge that part of our history and I wanted to honor the way in which the 1967 ruling on interracial marriages paved the way for same-sex marriage equality.

Before the June 2015 ruling, states had their own laws for same-sex couples, whether that be marriages, civil unions, domestic partnerships, or nothing. It was a country returning to a way of “separate but equal.” We must be mindful of the ways we are still on such a path. There is a war brewing against gender non-conforming people. Laws are passing state by state, and there is a new segregation underfoot. Differently-abled people get largely ignored in the broad movements for social change. Civil rights issues are intersectional and yet, too often, we fight for one thing at a time. We fought for our marriages and not our divorces. And now we're fighting for our bathrooms, and our jobs, and our lives. Let's remember the past, analyze the present, and fight for a better future, an inclusive intersectional fight for a better future.

 

---

Swirl, directed by Lance Mcdaniel, is a short film about acceptance among high school youth as told through dance. Doors open at 7:00 p.m., Showings start at 8:00 p.m.  Ticket Price includes free Popcorn and one free drink!! Event is FREE for ALL ALFF members, please RSVP.

More Background On AtlLGBTFilmFestival.com

AtlLGBTFilmFestival.com was the online home of the Atlanta LGBT Film & Music Festival, an independent cultural event created to give LGBTQ filmmakers, musicians, performers, and their supporters a place to present their work and connect with audiences. The festival culminated in a three-day event in Atlanta, Georgia, from August 25 through August 27, 2016, combining film screenings with panel discussions, networking opportunities, mixers, and live music.

The website and festival are particularly interesting because the event was not conceived simply as a conventional film festival. Its organizers envisioned a broader LGBTQ arts gathering in which cinema, music, conversation, community building, and social issues could coexist. The surviving material from AtlLGBTFilmFestival.com describes its purpose as providing LGBTQ filmmakers and music lovers with opportunities to showcase their art and gain recognition in the entertainment industry, while creating a welcoming environment for members of the LGBTQ community.

Although the Atlanta LGBT Film & Music Festival appears to have had a relatively brief history, evidence of its 2016 event survives in filmographies, filmmakers' websites, Atlanta event listings, festival-selection records, and award histories. These sources make it possible to reconstruct a picture of an ambitious independent festival that brought local audiences into contact with films and filmmakers from well beyond Georgia.

What AtlLGBTFilmFestival.com Was

AtlLGBTFilmFestival.com served several purposes during the festival's active period. It promoted the August event, provided submission rules and deadlines to filmmakers, publicized screenings and other programming, and explained the philosophy behind the organization.

The festival opened submissions on November 1, 2015. The early-entry deadline was January 12, 2016, followed by the regular deadline on February 28 and a late deadline on March 28. Filmmakers were scheduled to receive notification by April 4, giving the organizers several months to prepare for the August 25–27 festival.

The website was therefore aimed at two distinct audiences. One consisted of filmmakers and other creative professionals looking for festivals in which to exhibit their work. The other consisted of LGBTQ residents, allies, film enthusiasts, music fans, and members of Atlanta's arts community looking for screenings and social events.

The site's original material also reveals a grassroots quality. Rather than presenting the festival solely as an industry marketplace, it repeatedly emphasized community, acceptance, love, recognition, and the ability of LGBTQ people to express themselves without judgment.

Today, the domain functions more as a historical look back at the 2016 event than as the website of an ongoing annual festival. The current site explicitly describes itself as the former official site of the 2016 Atlanta LGBT Film and Music Festival and combines surviving festival material with retrospective content.

The Three-Day Festival Format

One of the most distinctive features of the Atlanta LGBT Film & Music Festival was its division into three broadly different experiences.

August 25 was conceived as an opening-night gathering with discussions, mixers, and opportunities for participants to meet. August 26 concentrated on independent cinema. August 27 shifted attention toward music and live performances.

Contemporary promotional material described ALFF as a diverse and multicultural three-day Atlanta weekend built around interactive creative experiences and the celebration of love and peace. The August 26 film program was followed by a final day devoted to live music.

Atlanta's own municipal event archive independently confirms the festival's presence in the city on August 27, 2016, listing the Atlanta LGBT Film & Music Festival from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

The format distinguished ALFF from events concentrating exclusively on movies. Film remained central, but the festival treated cinema as one component of a wider LGBTQ cultural gathering.

Location and the Balzer Theater at Herren's

At least part of the main film program took place at the Balzer Theater at Herren's, 84 Luckie Street NW in downtown Atlanta. Festival publicity for the August 26 screening of Ruben van Leer's Symmetry specifically identifies the theater as the screening location.

The location placed festival attendees in the downtown cultural and entertainment district rather than at a remote suburban venue. The theater sits close to major central Atlanta attractions and institutions, making the festival accessible to visitors already exploring downtown.

The Balzer Theater itself occupies a location with unusual Atlanta history. Its name is associated with the theatrical venue developed in the former Herren's restaurant building. Herren's was a notable downtown Atlanta restaurant, and the building's later transformation into a performing-arts venue gave the festival an appropriately cultural setting.

ALFF also staged activities outside the principal theater. A pre-festival private screening was promoted at Urban Cannibals, 368 Fifth Street NE. The event offered two films, popcorn, a drink, and an opportunity to socialize with people involved in Atlanta's film community. This smaller event demonstrates that ALFF's activities were not confined to one August weekend or one building.

The "Netflix and Chill" Screening Event

One of the more revealing examples of the festival's grassroots promotional strategy was its private movie night, billed as a "Netflix and Chill" night out.

The event offered two LGBT films for $12 and was free to ALFF members. The program included Wedlocked, directed by Puppett, and Swirl, directed by Lance McDaniel.

Wedlocked used comedy to examine an unexpectedly complicated consequence of the uneven legal recognition of same-sex marriage before the Supreme Court's 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision. The story concerns an engaged couple whose wedding plans are complicated because one partner remains legally married to a former partner and encounters problems obtaining a divorce.

The film's subject illustrates the kind of material ALFF wanted to present: stories in which LGBTQ lives were central rather than peripheral.

Swirl, meanwhile, approached acceptance among high-school students through dance. Pairing films with different styles and subjects gave audiences an accessible introduction to the type of independent work the larger festival intended to showcase.

The private-screening format also demonstrates the social component of ALFF. Attending wasn't presented merely as buying admission, watching films, and leaving. Networking and community interaction were part of the experience.

The Films and an International Reach

Evidence from filmmakers' own records shows that ALFF attracted work that was circulating through an international network of LGBTQ, dance, experimental, and independent film festivals.

One example was Ruben van Leer's Symmetry. Shot at CERN, home of the Large Hadron Collider, the film combined dance, opera, visual art, physics, and cinema. Its presence at an LGBTQ festival illustrates the organizers' relatively broad interpretation of queer artistic programming.

Dutch filmmaker and choreographer Harm Weistra also lists the Atlanta LGBT Film & Music Festival among his 2016 exhibitions. His work traveled that year to LGBTQ and dance-film festivals in Europe, North America, and elsewhere, placing the Atlanta event within a much larger international festival circuit.

Similarly, the music video Emelvi – Poems From Ramayana lists the Atlanta LGBT Film & Music Festival among its official selections alongside festivals in Mexico, California, Portland, Sarajevo, and Girona.

These records are significant because they independently establish that ALFF's program extended beyond purely local productions.

Award-Winning Films

The surviving film records also document awards presented at the Atlanta festival.

Better Half, directed by Michelle Clay, screened at ALFF on August 26, 2016, as its Atlanta premiere and received the festival's Best Feature award. The movie subsequently appeared at numerous other festivals and earned additional recognition. Its FilmFreeway record specifically identifies Atlanta LGBT Film & Music Festival, the August 26 date, its Atlanta-premiere status, and the Best Feature award.

Annalise Ophelian's documentary MAJOR! received Best Documentary at the Atlanta LGBT Film and Music Festival.

That selection was particularly noteworthy. MAJOR! concerns Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a veteran transgender activist and community leader. The documentary accumulated a substantial collection of honors on the LGBTQ festival circuit, including audience and jury awards at other events in Los Angeles, Boston, Toronto, Sydney, Chicago, Seattle, Kansas City, and elsewhere. Its Atlanta award places ALFF within the broader network through which the documentary reached LGBTQ audiences.

Rather than assuming a complete ALFF awards roster from fragmentary surviving records, it is safer to say that independently verifiable evidence confirms at least Best Feature for Better Half and Best Documentary for MAJOR!.

How Filmmakers Submitted Their Work

AtlLGBTFilmFestival.com also operated as a practical resource for filmmakers.

Submissions were made through FilmFreeway for online pre-screening. ALFF accepted shorts, webisodes, and feature films, although the available categories varied by deadline. Early submission fees were $20 for shorts, $30 for webisodes, and $40 for features. At the regular deadline those increased to $35, $45, and $55 respectively. The late deadline accepted completed features for $90.

Works in progress could be considered, provided filmmakers identified what remained unfinished.

One of the most important eligibility conditions was premiere status. Eligible films were required to be theatrical premieres in Georgia and could not already be publicly available online. Invited films similarly had to retain their premiere status until their ALFF presentation.

ALFF also stated that it did not pay screening fees. Filmmakers submitting through FilmFreeway acknowledged this condition as part of entering the festival.

These regulations show that the organizers were attempting to create a curated festival rather than simply assembling publicly available videos. Requiring a Georgia theatrical premiere gave an ALFF selection additional value to filmmakers seeking a formal festival run.

The Festival's Place in Atlanta's LGBTQ Film Culture

An important distinction is necessary when discussing ALFF historically: the Atlanta LGBT Film & Music Festival should not be confused with Atlanta's much older Out On Film festival.

Out On Film was already celebrating its 29th edition in September 2016, only about a month after ALFF. Contemporary reporting covered its opening with the documentary Strike a Pose, about dancers from Madonna's Blond Ambition tour.

ALFF was therefore entering an Atlanta cultural environment that already had a long-established LGBTQ cinema institution.

Its distinguishing feature was its combination of film and music and its emphasis on a multicultural, interactive weekend. In that sense, it complemented rather than simply replicated the traditional film-festival model.

A contemporary Atlanta summer-festival guide included the Atlanta LGBT Film and Music Festival among the city's August events and described it as presenting LGBT art, music, independent films, and panel discussions. That listing provides useful evidence that the event reached beyond its own promotional channels into general Atlanta event coverage.

Cultural and Social Context

The timing of the 2016 festival is essential to understanding its programming.

The event occurred only fourteen months after the June 26, 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling established a constitutional right to same-sex marriage nationwide. Issues involving marriage equality, transgender rights, discrimination, representation, and the treatment of LGBTQ people remained especially visible in American public discussion.

That context is reflected throughout ALFF's material.

Wedlocked, for example, addressed the complicated legal reality produced when same-sex couples could marry in one jurisdiction but had difficulty obtaining a divorce elsewhere. The director's statement connected those problems with the longer history of marriage law and civil rights.

The archived website also published material under titles such as "Love Is Love" and "Freedom to Love," emphasizing acceptance and the freedom of individuals to live openly.

This helps explain why ALFF described itself as more than entertainment. Its organizers viewed visibility itself as meaningful: providing screen and stage time to artists whose experiences and identities historically received limited mainstream representation.

Audience and Community Experience

The intended audience extended beyond filmmakers.

LGBTQ residents of Atlanta were an obvious constituency, but the festival also appealed to allies, independent-film followers, artists, musicians, students, entertainment professionals, and people interested in contemporary cultural issues.

Its combination of screenings, mixers, panels, private events, and performances encouraged interaction among those groups.

That community orientation is visible even in the small details. The private film night included popcorn and a drink. Members could attend without paying the regular admission charge. Promotional copy encouraged participants not simply to watch movies but to network with people in the local film industry.

The three-day structure similarly encouraged people to move between cultural forms: someone drawn primarily by film could encounter live music; a music fan might discover an independent filmmaker; both could participate in discussions and social events.

Popularity, Reviews, and the Limits of the Historical Record

ALFF clearly achieved enough visibility to attract filmmakers whose works were traveling internationally and to appear in Atlanta event calendars. However, surviving evidence does not support claims that it approached the size or attendance of Atlanta's largest festivals.

Reliable public attendance totals for the 2016 event are difficult to find, as are detailed box-office figures or comprehensive contemporary reviews. This is an important limitation when assessing its popularity.

The current AtlLGBTFilmFestival.com contains a highly favorable first-person attendee recollection describing a diverse, thought-provoking program and a strong feeling of community. Because this testimonial appears on the retrospective site rather than in an independent contemporary newspaper review, it is best understood as part of the site's historical presentation rather than as an objective measure of critical reception.

More persuasive evidence of the festival's reach comes from outside records: the City of Atlanta listed the event, Atlanta-oriented festival coverage mentioned it, and multiple filmmakers continue to include ALFF in their professional exhibition and award histories.

Press and Media Footprint

ALFF's surviving press footprint is scattered rather than concentrated in extensive mainstream coverage.

The Symmetry screening generated promotional material identifying the film, director Ruben van Leer, venue, date, and festival. Other traces remain in filmmaker biographies, portfolios, FilmFreeway records, event calendars, and festival histories.

This type of footprint is common for smaller independent festivals. Their historical significance can become easier to reconstruct from the records maintained by participating artists than from conventional newspaper archives.

The continuing references to ALFF are especially useful because filmmakers generally preserve festival selections and awards as professional credentials. Thus, years after the festival, Better Half, MAJOR!, Weistra's work, and Emelvi – Poems From Ramayana provide independent evidence that the Atlanta event was part of a functioning film-festival circuit.

Ownership and Organization

Publicly accessible surviving sources provide much more information about ALFF's programming than about the corporate structure behind AtlLGBTFilmFestival.com.

The website clearly functioned as the official online presence associated with the 2016 Atlanta LGBT Film & Music Festival, but readily verifiable historical material does not provide enough evidence to confidently identify a specific individual as the domain owner or to reconstruct a complete ownership history. It would therefore be misleading to assign ownership to a person or company without stronger documentation.

What can be established is that an organized programming operation existed. There were submission rules, entry fees, deadlines, notification procedures, premiere requirements, membership benefits, invited-film policies, screenings, and awards. Those elements indicate a structured festival operation rather than an informal collection of screenings.

What the Festival Was Known For

Looking back, several characteristics define AtlLGBTFilmFestival.com and the event it represented.

First was the combination of film and music. The festival intentionally broadened the concept of an LGBTQ film festival into a multidisciplinary arts weekend.

Second was independent and emerging work. Submission procedures and premiere requirements demonstrate an effort to discover and present films that audiences might not otherwise encounter.

Third was international participation. Filmmaker records connect ALFF with productions and artists whose works circulated through festivals across Europe, North America, and other regions.

Fourth was community interaction. Panels, mixers, private screenings, networking opportunities, and live music made participation more social than a conventional series of movie screenings.

Finally, there was an explicit LGBTQ cultural mission. ALFF presented artistic visibility, acceptance, and representation as central reasons for the festival's existence.

The Historical Value of AtlLGBTFilmFestival.com

AtlLGBTFilmFestival.com is now most useful as a record of a specific moment in Atlanta's LGBTQ and independent-arts history.

The surviving site captures the language, priorities, submission practices, programming concepts, and social concerns surrounding a small LGBTQ festival in 2016. It documents an event occurring during a particularly significant period for LGBTQ visibility in the United States, while also preserving traces of filmmakers whose work traveled through a much larger international festival network.

The festival's legacy should not be measured solely by whether it developed into a decades-long institution. Smaller festivals can play an important role by giving emerging filmmakers another screen, introducing audiences to unfamiliar work, creating professional connections, and offering community members a place to gather around shared cultural experiences.

For three days in August 2016—and through smaller events leading up to that weekend—the Atlanta LGBT Film & Music Festival attempted to do precisely that. Its combination of independent cinema, music, conversation, networking, and LGBTQ cultural expression made it a distinctive addition to Atlanta's already substantial film and arts landscape.

Today, AtlLGBTFilmFestival.com preserves a window into that event: a festival created around the idea that LGBTQ artists deserved opportunities not merely to be represented, but to present their own stories, build audiences, meet one another, and receive recognition for their work.

AtlLGBTFilmFestival.com