When the Tampa Bay International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (TIGLFF) returns for its 32nd year Oct. 1-10, audiences can expect everything they’ve come to love about the LGBTQ-focused cinematic celebration. They’ll also have more ways to experience it than ever before, a direct result of its ongoing evolution that began last year.
TIGLFF skipped the silver screen entirely in 2020 due to COVID-19, holding a virtual festival to safely reach audiences during the ongoing pandemic. The organization launched TIGLFF Online to engage longtime supporters and find new ones, just weeks after naming Derek Horne as its new programming director.
Horne was instrumental in the transition, having already programmed the Annapolis Film Festival at the beginning of the year. The long-running event was one of the first in the country to be held virtually.
“We learned last year that adaptation after 31 years is possible, even on the fly,” TIGLFF President Rob Akins says. “Derek was very helpful with that … we were able to find a platform that was user-friendly and low cost that has since become one of the standards for virtual film festival programming, and we found that we can make a lot of changes happen very quickly.”
Audiences welcomed it. Akins notes that TIGLFF attendance increased 42% when compared to their landmark 30th celebration in 2019.
“We heard a lot of, ‘I was able to watch films when I wanted to watch them,’ and ‘I was able to see more films than I would have been able to have seen in a live festival,’” he says. “Overall, the experience was a positive one.”
To ensure that was the case, TIGLFF Online utilized Eventive – a platform billed as “the most flexible and comprehensive virtual cinema solution” that they continue to enjoy. It launched in 2018 and offers a “virtual cinema package with security, rights management, integrated ticketing, visibility and accountability built in” that now hosts more than 600 film festivals worldwide.
TIGLFF’s virtual festival paved the way for two more expansions – smaller festivals designed to virtually elevate the most marginalized voices in the LGBTQ community. In partnership with St Pete Pride, TIGLFF launched its inaugural Tampa Bay Transgender Film Festival last November surrounding the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.
“TIGLFF is truly putting in the work to be an organization that is inclusive,” Board Member Kayden Rodriguez told Watermark last year. “That’s why this festival is happening, to show that we see the transgender community. We’re supporting all of the community … film can really bring us all together.”
A second effort followed this June. TIGLFF launched Queer in Color – its inaugural Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC)-focused festival – to commemorate Pride Month and Juneteenth. Rodriguez chairs each of the planning committees.
“TIGLFF in general is trying to revamp programming to reconnect to the community,” they explained at the time. “Our programming has always been diverse, but we know that we need to do better. This is owning up to that.”
Akins believes that doing so is critical for TIGLFF’s longevity. He wanted to ensure the organization “not only talks about diversity in the community, but also leads with it,” which is why each festival respectively utilized a transgender and BIPOC screening committee for its film selections.
It’s a practice that will continue moving forward, and one that also influenced this year’s TIGLFF lineup. Horne says the festivals “gave me a perspective about the importance of including diversity in the program to attract new audience members.
“After these two specialty festivals attracted new audience members, we want to keep them engaged,” he continues. “So I made sure to include a selection of trans and BIPOC-related films in the program.”
“The last year and almost three quarters of this one have allowed us to really shake things up out of necessity, to try some things that we were not able to do before that have been embraced by the community,” Akins says. “It’s also allowed us to lead locally among film festivals.”
This year TIGLFF will hold a hybrid festival, a combination of streaming options available throughout Tampa Bay flanked by in-person screenings in Tampa and St. Petersburg. The festival will return to its traditional home for its opening weekend Oct. 1-3, presenting 11 feature films at the historic Tampa Theatre.
Its opener is “Language Lessons,” a comedic drama making its Tampa Bay premiere. Directed by and starring openly LGBTQ Florida native Natalie Morales (“Parks and Recreation”), it co-stars her fellow writer Mark Duplass (“The Morning Show”) and details their unlikely pairing.
In a sign of the times, the film was shot entirely during the pandemic. Horne says it “underscores the importance of human connection as these two people form a meaningful friendship via online computer sessions, which is so relevant to our socially isolated and technology-dependent time that we have all been facing.”
Virtual screenings will follow Oct. 4-10, including several feature films and all of this year’s shorts programs. The groupings include “It’s A Queer World After All,” shorts representing the best in international LGBTQ cinema and “Queer-toons,” a new program of animated features.
“We always knew after last year’s successful all-virtual festival that we wanted to keep an aspect of that going forward,” Horne says. “Especially this year when all the rising COVID variants have some people concerned about going to the theaters.
“Also, because we only have theaters reserved for the opening weekend and closing weekend, there was not room for all the programming,” he continues. “So to keep it simple and cohesive, I decided to put all the narrative feature films in the theaters and all the documentaries and shorts online.”
Two documentary programs also explore the careers of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” alum and histories of LGBTQ Pride celebrations. Horne says there’s something for everyone, especially locals.
In addition to featuring the in-person screening of the horror film “Inheritance” – a local spotlight featuring fan favorite Tampa Bay drag performer Amy DeMilo, TIGLFF 32 will feature the world premiere trailer of “Tampa Baes.” The unscripted docuseries is produced by Amazon Studios and follows “the young lesbian ‘it-crowd’ navigating and celebrating life in Tampa Bay – Florida’s LGBTQ+ hub and the place to see and be seen.’
It will precede “Rebel Dykes,” a documentary examining the lives of a gang of lesbian, trans and queer people in 1980s London that begins streaming Oct. 4. The premiere will also include a special introduction by the producer and show-runner.
This year’s festival will close at the AMC Sundial in St. Petersburg, where TIGLFF will present three films over the course of the weekend. The closing night film is “Glob Lessons,” another piece making its Florida premier. The road-trip buddy film focuses on another unlikely duo.
“I fell in love with this film and the characters of Alan and Jesse,” Horne says. “Even though it’s not a romantic relationship, they have such chemistry together and comedic timing. This year’s opening night film and closing night film focus on friendships between a gay man and a straight woman. My friendships with straight allies have always been very meaningful to me and I am happy to celebrate the value of friendship in this year’s festival.”
TIGLFF notes that all in-person screenings will follow protocols set forth by each theater to protect guests, all of which are subject to change. To minimize risk, the Tampa Theatre upgraded its HVAC system last year to incorporate more fresh air and a bipolar ionization system and has implemented enhanced environmental cleaning throughout its venue.
Similarly, AMC movie theaters is a member of Clorox’s Safer Today Alliance. It’s designed to combine “world-class expertise in infection protocols with EPA-approved disinfection solutions … to make public spaces safer, so the world can move forward, together.”
“It is possible to attend films as safely as we can,” Akins says. He also notes that “given the state of the world, and trends and movie consumption prior to the pandemic, it’s going to be a combination of live and virtual streaming going forward.”
“We still need to get out,” he adds. “We’re very fortunate to have an organization like this around, especially after 32 years when so many others have gone away. Maybe we don’t need to watch every film in a theater, but it’s still good to be out and around other people. TIGLFF provides something that’s needed.”
The 32nd annual Tampa Bay International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (TIGLFF) will be held Oct. 2-10. In-person screenings will be held at the Tampa Theatre at 711 N. Franklin St. in Tampa and AMC Sundial 12 at 151 2nd Ave. N. in St. Petersburg. For more information about the venues, COVID-19 safety precautions and to purchase tickets, visit TIGLFF.com.
See when, where and how to watch each of this year’s films here.
