September 24–27, 2026 · Austin, Texas
The Big Queer Weekend
Four days celebrating Austin’s Queer creative community: six feature films from aGLIFF and SXSW Film, red carpets and filmmaker Q&As, plus a free night of Queer music, drag and art at Drinks Backyard on Hwy 183 in South East Austin brought to you by the Austin LGBT Chamber’s Pride in Local Music and SXSW Music.
The inaugural Big Queer Weekend has concluded — thank you for celebrating Austin’s Queer creative community with us.
- 4
- Days
- 6
- Feature Films
- 3
- Venues
- Free
- Saturday Night
Thank you, Austin
Thank you for an incredible inaugural Big Queer Weekend
To the filmmakers, musicians, drag artists and makers — thank you for sharing your work, your craft and your stories with us.
To our sponsors and donors — thank you for backing Queer art in Central Texas and making the weekend possible.
To our volunteers, and to everyone responsible for planning and helping to execute the vision — thank you. Weekends like this simply don’t happen without you.
And most importantly, thank you to everyone who came out to find community and share their stories — to meet someone new, or to gather with old friends.
Please consider a donation to aGLIFF, Austin’s LGBTQ+ Film Festival, to continue championing Queer indie film and filmmakers.
Your donation helps ensure LGBTQIA+ stories continue to be seen on screens across Central Texas — and preserved as historical documentation of our existence.
The Weekend at a Glance
Four days, four distinct nights
A red carpet opening, a documentary double bill, an outdoor music and marketplace day, and a closing night built around a story 41 years in the making.
Thursday
September 24, 2026
Red Carpet Opening Night
The weekend opens with a red carpet reception at Galaxy Theatres, an Austin premiere short, the Southwest premiere of Lady Champagne, and an official after party downtown.
View schedule →Friday
September 25, 2026
Two Documentaries, One Community Conversation
A double bill at Galaxy Theatres: the award-winning short This is Texas, radical fatherhood in The Dads with a moderated community conversation, then Billie Jean King in Give Me The Ball!
View schedule →Saturday
September 26, 2026
Matinee Doc, Then Music, Drag & Marketplace
An international matinee at Galaxy Theatres, then the weekend spills outdoors to Drinks Backyard for the free Pride In Local Music showcase, drag performances featuring our host for the evening Maxine LaQueene & Friends, and a Queer artist & artisan marketplace.
View schedule →Sunday
September 27, 2026
Walk, Brunch, Queer Black Voices & Closing Night
A morning StartOut & Walk with LGBTQ+ Outdoors through downtown, a creatives mixer and brunch at Hotel Indigo, the Queer Black Voices presentation of Assembly, then a final red carpet, an award-winning short and the closing feature WICKET.
View schedule →Films
Six features. Two shorts. Connecting queer filmmakers and indie film lovers.
Presented by aGLIFF, Austin's LGBTQ+ Film Festival, and SXSW Film at Galaxy Theatres Austin.
Lady Champagne
Thursday · 7:00 PM
High-camp, rhinestone-studded revenge: Champagne White breaks out of Lady Prison to clear her name and take down a perfume tycoon bent on world domination.
Written, Directed & Produced by D'Arcy Drollinger
The Dads
Friday · 6:00 PM
A group of dads building a movement to support their trans and gender-expansive kids face an impossible choice: stay and fight, or flee the country.
Directed & Produced by Luchina Fisher · Produced by Stephen Chukumba
Give Me The Ball!
Friday · 8:00 PM
World champion tennis trailblazer Billie Jean King changed culture and sport forever — but at what cost?
Directed by Liz Garbus & Elizabeth Wolff
Out Laws
Saturday · 1:00 PM
Three Queer activists confront the colonial laws that criminalise their lives — and a rising global backlash determined to silence them.
Directed by Lexi Powner & James Lewis · The Good Side
Assembly
Sunday · 3:00 PM
Visionary artist Rashaad Newsome transforms a historic military facility into a Black Queer utopia, blending art, AI and performance.
Featuring artist Rashaad Newsome
WICKET
Sunday · 6:00 PM
After 41 years in the closet, Bboy Wicket confronts his past as a renowned breakdancing legend with a deep secret.
A documentary featuring Gabriel 'Bboy Wicket' Jaochico
Saturday, September 26 · Free
Queer music, drag & a maker marketplace at Drinks Backyard
The Austin LGBT Chamber’s Pride In Local Music initiative takes over Drinks Backyard for an evening of local Queer musicians and bands, hosted by drag performer Maxine LaQueene & friends, alongside a Queer artist and artisan marketplace all day.
No ticket, no cover — free and open to the public.
This event is ASL accessible. Amber G Productions will provide ASL interpreters.
Marketplace participants
Nicky Tovar's Little Art Show · Laura Marsh Jewelry · Pride Socks · OUTlaw Pride · Austyn Heath Art · Topios Provisions · Cedar Park Pride · The Little Gay Shop · BookWoman
Venues
Galaxy Theatres Austin
6700 Middle Fiskville Rd, Austin, TX 78752
Home base for all six feature films and every filmmaker Q&A, plus the Thursday and Sunday red carpet receptions in the lobby.
Drinks Backyard
6328 S Hwy 183, Austin, TX 78744
Saturday night's open-air music and art showcase: local Queer bands, DJs, drag hosts and the artist & artisan marketplace. Free and open to the public, with a full bar, food trucks and a dog-friendly yard.
Rain on 4th
217 W 4th St, Austin, TX 78701
Downtown on the Fourth Street strip — host of Thursday's official Opening Night After Party with filmmakers and special guests.
Hotel Indigo Austin Downtown
810 Red River St, Austin, TX 78701
Sunday's filmmaker and Queer creatives mixer and brunch on the pool deck, in the heart of downtown's Red River District.
Relive the weekend
The full 2026 program, preserved
Browse the films, the schedule and Saturday's free showcase exactly as they happened — kept online as a record of the inaugural Big Queer Weekend.
Support aGLIFF
Help aGLIFF Reach 40 — And Unlock $10,000 in Arts Funding
For nearly four decades, aGLIFF has created a place in Austin for LGBTQ+ stories to be seen, celebrated and shared. As Austin’s longest-running film festival prepares to celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2027, we need your help carrying that legacy forward.
aGLIFF has secured another year of support from the Texas Commission on the Arts, but that funding comes with an important requirement: we must raise $10,000 in matching funds from our community.
Your gift helps unlock critical grant funding that allows aGLIFF to bring independent queer films and filmmakers to Austin, elevate voices too often left out of mainstream storytelling, and create spaces like The Big Queer Weekend where artists and audiences can find one another.
Our goal: $10,000. Every gift gets us closer.
Whether it’s $10, $40, $100 or more, your contribution helps ensure queer stories continue to have a home on Austin screens for the next 40 years.
Help us reach $10,000. Help us unlock this funding. Help aGLIFF reach 40.
Presented by
A collaboration built in Austin
The Big Queer Weekend is presented by the Austin LGBT Chamber of Commerce and aGLIFF, Austin’s LGBTQ+ Film Festival, in collaboration with SXSW.
This project is supported in part by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts.