A Queer Review of the Austin Film Festival (2023)
Highlighting the many ways in which AFF 2023 illustrated that the queer experience is not a monolithic one.

Highlighting the many ways in which AFF 2023 illustrated that the queer experience is not a monolithic one.
The new biopic 'Elvis' highlights the beginning and end of the career of this rock and roll legend. The audience is taken on this journey knowing the tragic ending but not so much about what led him there. A large topic of discussion is the influences on Elvis that made him who he was as a singer, musician, and performer, which were blues, gospel, and country. Many of the songs that rose him to fame were songs by Black artists he heard growing up in primarily Black settings.
This film is based off of The Diary of a Young Girl, which was written during the Holocaust period.
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film "Pyscho" is an American film classic that still resonates today.
The human experience is described through the eyes of a marginalized outsider, neither judgmental nor invested, just an observant donkey.
The film is a documentary focusing on heavy metal in the late 80s and tackles topics like drug addiction, alcoholism, sex, masculinity, and of course, rock and roll. However, this didn’t feel like any documentary I’ve ever seen before.