We were a long way from the multiplex, at least spiritually, during aGLIFF. Few 20-screen behemoths would show a musical about a narcoleptic pre-op transsexual who's trying to save money for the big operation. Fortunately, Austin audiences got a chance to see the Spanish film 20 Centimeters during the festival last weekend, and the movie screened to a fairly full theater.

I'm sure that somewhere out there, people are trying to describe 20 Centimeters by referencing other films: "It's Hedwig and the Angry Inch meets Pedro Almodovar!" "Imagine Chicago if Renee Zellweger had an eight-inch ..." Ahem. Although the film does intersperse over-the-top musical numbers with a serious storyline, it's not derivative, although it is sprinkled with film in-jokes -- for example, one dance number was oddly reminiscent of Grease.

Marieta (Monica Cervera) is a pre-op transsexual, nee Adolfo, who dresses and identifies as a woman except for those 20 centimeters (nearly 8 inches, baby) that she hopes will be surgically removed someday. She turns tricks to earn money, but wants a legitimate job even if it's working as a night-shift janitor in a bank. She's also narcoleptic -- during especially emotional or stressful times, she falls asleep. Her dreams are the often-elaborate musical numbers that appear throughout the film. Marieta is living with Tomas (Miguel O'Dogerty), whom she by turns abuses as a "dwarf" and cuddles with in the bath. But she swoons over Raul (Pablo Puyol), the hunky fruit stocker at the market, who wears leather jackets and takes her for rides on his motorcycle. She and her neighbor Berta (Concha Galan) dream of the day they will escape to Brazil, where everything is cheaper and better, including the surgery.

Before the aGLIFF screening of For the Love of Dolly, aGLIFF director Lonny Stern posed a question for the audience to consider while watching the film: "Is Dolly Parton the sweetest, nicest person in the world, or the world's largest enabler?" The answer isn't evident after watching this documentary that examines extreme Dolly Parton fandom. Like many contemporary documentaries, the film selects a few representatives on which to focus, and follows these five different people for a year in their assorted quests to get closer to Dolly.

The five fans all have their different ways of loving Dolly. Harrell and Patric are a couple whose house is stuffed full of Dolly likenesses -- the guys claim they had one bedroom that was off-limits to Dolly paraphernalia for awhile, but "she just crept in." Harrell designs and creates dolls in Dolly's likeness, from stitching the intricate costumes to modeling and painting the faces. Melisa and Jeanette devise new butterfly costumes every year to wear to a big parade featuring Dolly in person. Melisa moved to Nashville so she could keep tabs on Dolly and follow her around, and only takes jobs that allow her a flexible schedule to pursue the singer. Jeanette has built a little cabin based on a sliver of wood she stole from Dollywood, that she calls her "Tennessee Mountain home." The floor is stained with a likeness of Dolly and one of Jeanette's favorite dogs. We see video of Jeanette cleaning off Dolly's Walk-of-Fame star, then covering it in lipsticked kisses. David crochets little flyswatters and other knickknacks for Dolly, and has photos and posters of her plastered all over his bedroom.

Born on Christmas Day, so he never gets proper birthday parties and his mother attributes religious powers to him. Dropped at birth, even. Three older brothers. One father determined to root out even the slightest inclinations of sissiness -- when he wants a baby stroller for his fifth birthday, his father buys him a huge hockey game instead. On top of all that, teenage and later young adult Zac Beaulieu is worried that he might have homosexual inclinations, which in the 1960s and 1970s, was even more difficult to deal with than it would be now.

C.R.A.Z.Y., which screened at aGLIFF this week, is not simply a coming-of-age and coming-out story. The movie's true focus is on a turbulent, changing father-son relationship. At an early age, Zac breaks one of his father's rare prize Patsy Cline albums, and throughout the film we see Zac searching for another copy, as if this will make everything better with his dad (Michel Cote).

The opening-night aGLIFF screening, Puccini for Beginners, was a sweet little old-fashioned comedy about bisexuality, sexual identity and juggling multiple lovers. You could almost take your mom to see it -- if your mom isn't the type to faint at the sight of women kissing or the sound of a Hitachi. Writer-director Maria Maggenti also directed another well-known romantic comedy, the 1995 film The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love.

The title refers to the favorite hobby of Allegra (Elizabeth Reaser), an opera fiend who is continually landing herself into situations of an overly dramatic nature (a la grand opera), or nursing a broken heart. Her girlfriend Samantha leaves her because she feels Allegra is unable to commit, and besides, Samantha keeps claiming she's not a lesbian anyway. Allegra mopes around until she spends an evening with Philip (Justin Kirk), who cheers her up ... and most unexpectedly, turns her on. On top of everything else, she starts suffering a sexual-identity crisis because of Philip. She also develops a friendship with Grace (Gretchen Mol), an investment banker by day, glassblower by night who's having trouble with her longtime live-in boyfriend.

We already know, from the first scene, what ultimately will happen, since most of the movie is a flashback, recounted by Allegra in voiceover. But the journey back to that point is fairly entertaining, if not exactly suspenseful -- we know what's going on before the characters do. The New York-centric movie owes a great debt to Woody Allen, specifically Annie Hall, as it uses many of the same narrative techniques. Passersby often stop what they're doing to give Allegra advice or comment on her situation. However, the unreal character interactions aren't handled consistently: In one scene, it's obvious that a waitress advising Allegra is actually a fantasy moment occurring only in her own head -- but a few scenes later, everyone around her witnesses the subway announcer berating Allegra for her life choices. After the farcical climactic scene, which returns to the teaser at the beginning of the film, the ending drags and barely resolves itself.

Tonight, the Austin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (aGLIFF) starts at the Arbor Theater and runs through Oct. 8, with a variety of films and parties scheduled. The opening-night films will be followed by a gala event down at City Hall. I'm covering the festival for Cinematical, so look for reviews and highlights over the next week.

Other special screenings and film-related events around Austin:

• Indie films opening in Austin today include the documentary The U.S. Vs. John Lennon at the Dobie, and Edmond at Alamo Lake Creek.
• Alamo's Saturday Morning Kids Club features a Joseph Losey film this month: the 1948 movie The Boy with Green Hair. Free admission to the Saturday noon screening at the South Lamar location, which might provide an interesting contrast with Austin Film Society's series on Losey.
• If you missed the epic adventure film Beowulf & Grendel (pictured above) at Fantastic Fest, you can catch it at Alamo Downtown on Saturday afternoon and Sunday night.

It's the time of year when an overly air-conditioned theater sounds absolutely wonderful, even if the movie itself is mediocre. I'm not sure I'd want to see movies outside this week, even after dark, except for the ones at Deep Eddy Pool. However, an outdoor nighttime movie would then be a good excuse for lots of frosty beverages and maybe ice cream. If you're really lucky, you were able to score tickets to the sold-out Rolling Roadshow preview of The Descent this weekend at the cool Longhorn Caverns. If not, check out the other special screenings this week in Austin.

• Deep Eddy Pool is showing movies you can watch from the comfort of the refreshingly cool water. On Saturday night, you can see Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit if you pay the usual pool admission.
• The Paramount's Summer Movie Series continues with another week of comedies: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum on Sunday, a Blake Edwards double-feature of The Party and The Pink Panther on Sunday and Monday, a delightful George Cukor double-bill of The Women and Adam's Rib on Tuesday and Wednesday, and a Billy Wilder/Marilyn Monroe set of Some Like It Hot and The Seven-Year Itch on Thursday and Friday.

Austin is chock-full of special screenings and film events this week, so let's just get right to them.

• This week's AFS@Dobie film is Sophie Scholl: The Final Days. The 2005 German film about University of Munich students during WWII will run all week at Dobie Theatre.
• Dude, Lebowski Fest is in Austin this weekend. Friday night's event includes live music and a midnight screening of The Big Lebowski, and Saturday night's main event features bowling (after sunset, natch) and other fun related to the cult-like film.
• One of the first times I was allowed to drive a car without a parent around was to see Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (my first Tim Burton film). Now Rolling Roadshow is hosting a benefit screening for Austin Yellow Bike Project on Saturday night near the Yellow Bike shop at 2013 E. 51st. If you ride your bike to the event, you get discounted admission and VIP seating. (If only Alamo Drafthouse had a basement where they could screen this film, that would be ideal.)

Nearly everyone in Austin is recuperating from one aspect of SXSW or another, or from Spring Break. The hardcore film-festival survivors may not want to see another movie for at least a week, but everyone else might enjoy a nice relaxing movie in a theater or coffeehouse.

• Free movies: Monkeywrench Books is showing one of my all-time favorites, Breaking Away, on Sunday 3/19 at 2 pm. Cafe Mundi is showing Murderball on Monday 3/20 at 8 pm. Ventana del Soul will screen Godzilla vs. Mothra on Monday at 7:30 pm. Rounders Pizzeria is showing two baseball movies on Tuesday 3/21: The Sandlot at 6:30 pm and Bull Durham at 8 pm.
  
• After a sold-out screening a few weeks ago, Alamo is bringing Dildo Diaries back for a limited run. The South Lamar theater will show the documentary about Texas sex-toy laws nightly from Monday through Thursday, 3/20-23. I saw the movie earlier and while it didn't tell me much I didn't already know, I got a kick out of the scenes inside a toymaking factory. Also, the songs Annie Sprinkle sings over the closing credits are delightful.

The Austin Chronicle published a list this week of the top ten 2005 film-related news stories in Austin. It's a good list for filmmaking news, but it lacks news about film exhibition, such as festivals. Overall, 2005 was a great year for film festivals, premieres, special screenings, and other film-related events in Austin. How many other cities would follow up a preview screening of Domino with a trip to a shooting range?

Last year, Austin once again hosted SXSW and Austin Film Festival, as well as aGLIFF, Fantastic Fest (for the first time), Cine Las Americas, Cinematexas, QT-Six, and at least a dozen other, smaller film festivals. Austin Film Society, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, programmed a number of film series and retrospectives. Alamo Drafthouse opened a new multiscreen theater in south Austin.

Perhaps that's not considered newsworthy because Austin boasts great film festivals and programming every year? And 2006 looks like it will be no exception. SXSW announced its 2006 big-name premieres this week, and other planned local screenings and events look first-rate.