Only in LA
Screenings & Events
Festivals, Special Guests, Retrospectives and more "one night only" queer cinema screenings.
Jun
4
June
4
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6
June
4
&
7:30 pm
Midnight Cowboy
My Own Private Idaho
New Beverly Cinema
Double feature! Two iconic male sex work films from two cinematic revolutions. First up, the problematic AF 1969 Midnight Cowboy, about a delusional hustler who thinks he can make a living in Times Square with only female clients; then a New Queer Cinema breakout from Van Sant.
Joe Buck is a wide-eyed hustler from Texas hoping to score big with wealthy New York City women; he finds a companion in Enrico “Ratso” Rizzo, an ailing swindler with a bum leg and a quixotic fantasy of escaping to Florida.
Jun
4
June
4
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June
4
&
7:30 pm
Funeral Parade of Roses
Vidiots Eagle Theater
Is there a film more ahead of its time? This funny but melancholy arthouse classic, set in a drag bar/brothel in the underground of 1960s Tokyo, is a film that still feels wildly fresh and boundary-pushing even 55 years later.
An electrifying journey into the nether-regions of the late-’60s Tokyo underworld.
Jun
2
June
2
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June
2
&
4:00 pm
Toll
TCL Chinese Theaters
Brazilian director Carolina Markowicz picked up the Emerging Talent award at Cannes for this dark comedy about a toll booth worker who turns to crime in order to pay to send her gay son to conversion therapy.
Suellen is a toll booth attendant who starts using her job to help a gang of thieves steal watches from people driving to the coast. But only for a noble cause: to send her son to an expensive gay conversion workshop.
Jun
1
June
1
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June
1
&
7:45 pm
Riley
New Filmmakers LA
Benjamin Howard
South Park Center
New Filmmakers LA concludes their June LGBTQ+ spotlight with the LA premiere of Student Emmy winner Benjamin Howard's debut feature about a closeted high school football player.
The life of a disciplined high school athlete begins to unravel when his queer identity competes against the idea of who he was supposed to be.
Jun
1
June
1
-
June
1
&
5:15 pm
LGBTQ+ Shorts Program II
New Filmmakers LA
South Park Center
New Filmmakers LA hosts their monthly showcase of emerging filmmakers with a June spotlight on LGBTQ+ films and filmmakers.
Jun
1
June
1
-
June
1
&
3:45 pm
Speaking Out
World Premiere
TCL Chinese Theaters
Three gay men plagued by trauma of their own, undergo an emotional journey toward healing to become resilient, overcome their past, and finally speak out.
Jun
1
June
1
-
June
1
&
3:00 pm
LGBTQ+ Shorts Program I
New Filmmakers LA
South Park Center
New Filmmakers LA hosts their monthly showcase of emerging filmmakers with a June spotlight on LGBTQ+ films and filmmakers.
May
31
May
31
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May
31
&
10:00 pm
Power Alley
Levante
TCL Chinese Theaters
This Brazilian film, about a rising star volleyball player who needs to get an abortion, competed for the Queer Palm at Cannes 2023 and won the FIPRESCI Critics Prize.
On the eve of a future-defining championship, promising volleyball player Sofia (17) is faced with an unwanted pregnancy. Seeking an illegal termination, she becomes the target of a fundamentalist group determined to stop her at any cost – but neither Sofia nor those who love her are willing to surrender to the blind fervor of the swarm.
May
31
May
31
-
May
31
&
7:30 pm
Hidden Master
The Legacy of George Platt Lynes
Photographer Stewart Shining
Landmark Nuart
An intimate look at pioneering artist George Platt Lynes, who took radically explicit photographs of the male nude. The documentary reveals Lynes’ gifted eye for the male form, his long-term friendships with Gertrude Stein and Alfred Kinsey, and his lasting influence as one of the first openly gay American artists.
May
31
May
31
-
May
31
&
7:30 pm
Big Boys
Director Corey Sherman, producer Allison Tate & actress Emily Deschanel
Lumiere Music Hall
A coming-of-age story about Jamie, a chubby, gay fourteen year-old, who develops a crush on his older cousin’s boyfriend, Dan, on a family camping trip.
May
31
May
31
-
May
31
&
7:00 pm
F.L.Y.
Regal LA Live 13
This slice-of-life comedy follows the intertwining journeys of former partners Max and Rafael amidst the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic and the challenges of lockdown. Suddenly quarantined under one roof, Max, Rafael, and Max’s new boyfriend Hunter navigate awkward dinners, emotional revelations, misunderstandings, and heartache to embrace their authentic selves and forge a new kind of family.
May
30
May
30
-
May
30
&
7:30 pm
Rocky Horror Picture Show
Academy Museum
If you love Queer cinema, you probably watched this movie a lot in high school. Rocky Horror needs no intro--but when do you get a chance to see it on the big screen at the Acadmey? No word on whether the museum will be encouraging callbacks or auctioning virgins before the show.
Sweethearts Brad and Janet, stuck with a flat tire during a storm, discover the eerie mansion of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a transvestite scientist. As their innocence is lost, Brad and Janet meet a houseful of wild characters, including a rocking biker and a creepy butler. Through elaborate dances and rock songs, Frank-N-Furter unveils his latest creation: a muscular man named ‘Rocky’.
May
29
May
29
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May
29
&
7:00 pm
In The Summers
TCL IMAX Theater
Catch the LA premiere of the Grand Jury Winner at this year's Sundance film festival, a four-act coming of age story about two siblings visiting their father during the summers in New Mexico.
On a journey that spans the formative years of their lives, two sisters navigate their loving but volatile father during their yearly summer visits to his home in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
May
27
May
27
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May
27
&
7:30 pm
Shiva Baby
with Lemon
Academy Museum
Before they made last year's hit comedy Bottoms, director Emma Seligman and actress Rachel Sennott made micro-budget Shiva Baby, in which a young bisexual Jewish woman cannot escaper her family, lovers and exes, all while attending a shiva in her community.
https://letterboxd.com/film/shiva-baby-2020/
May
27
May
27
-
May
27
&
7:00 pm
Velvet Goldmine
Vidiots Eagle Theater
Young Ewan MacGregor, Christian Bale and Jonathan Rhys Meyers star in New Queer Cinema auteur Todd Haynes' loosely-fictionalized bisexual 1970s glam-rock faux biopic based on the lives and loves of David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and Lou Reed. Say that three times fast.
Almost a decade has elapsed since Bowiesque glam-rock superstar Brian Slade escaped the spotlight of the London scene. Now, investigative journalist Arthur Stuart is on assignment to uncover the truth behind the enigmatic Slade. Stuart, himself forged by the music of the 1970s, explores the larger-than-life stars who were once his idols and what has become of them since the turn of the new decade.
May
25
May
25
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May
25
&
7:30 pm
Hellbound: Hellraiser II
Academy Museum
The Hellraiser series, from out writer/director/producer Cliver Barker, are horror films where queer themes run plainly across the surface. While Hellbound is less overtly gay than other entries in the series, Barker's kinky pleasure-demons are unmistakable icons of Queer horror.
Doctor Channard is sent a new patient, a girl warning of the terrible creatures that have destroyed her family, Cenobites who offer the most intense sensations of pleasure and pain. But Channard has been searching for the doorway to Hell for years, and Kirsty must follow him to save her father and witness the power struggles among the newly damned.
May
24
May
24
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26
May
24
&
7:00 pm
Giant
Vista Theater Hollywood
The last film James Dean made before his untimely death, this lavish Technicolor epic is packed with queer icons. Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and Sal Mineo co-star in this frontier saga following a generation of cattle ranchers and oilmen in Texas.
Wealthy rancher Bick Benedict and dirt-poor cowboy Jett Rink both woo Leslie Lynnton, a beautiful young woman from Maryland who is new to Texas. She marries Benedict, but she is shocked by the racial bigotry of the White Texans against the local people of Mexican descent. Rink discovers oil on a small plot of land, and while he uses his vast, new wealth to buy all the land surrounding the Benedict ranch, the Benedict's disagreement over prejudice fuels conflict that runs across generations.
May
23
May
23
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May
23
&
7:30 pm
Kissing Jessica Stein
First Wives Club
Academy Museum
Jessica, a Jewish copy editor living and working in New York City, is plagued by failed blind dates with men, and decides to answer a newspaper’s personal advertisement. The advertisement has been placed by ‘lesbian-curious’ Helen Cooper, a thirtysomething art gallerist.
May
18
May
18
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May
18
&
7:00 pm
Paris is Burning
Philosophical Research Society
The kickoff to the "Queer Diaspora" film program series from PRS and filmmaker/programmer Gregorio Davila. With vendors from Queer Mercado and after-party with music by DJ Sindri of HOT DOG.
Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City’s African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, PARIS IS BURNING offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion “houses,” from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women — including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza — PARIS IS BURNING brings it, celebrating the joy of movement, the force of eloquence, and the draw of community.
May
12
May
12
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May
12
&
7:30 pm
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Academy Museum
The frantic runaway train vibe of Everything Everywhere All At Once drops in and out of too many genres and ideas to be just one thing--but story of a mother reconnecting with her queer daughter is the warm heart at the center of all the madcap universe-hopping hijinks.
An aging Chinese immigrant is swept up in an insane adventure, where she alone can save what’s important to her by connecting with the lives she could have led in other universes.
May
11
May
11
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May
11
&
7:30 pm
Glen or Glenda
Academy Museum
The first film from "worst director of all time" Ed Wood (a lifelong cross-dresser) is one of his many cult classics--and a progressive/problematic exploration of cross-dressing and trans identities long before we had our current vocabularies for trans identity.
The film is a docudrama about cross-dressing and transvestism, and is semi-autobiographical in nature. Wood himself was a cross-dresser, and the film is a plea for tolerance. It was widely considered one of the worst films ever made upon release. However, it has since been reevaluated and has become a cult film due to its low-budget production values, idiosyncratic style, and early cinematic themes of transgender acceptance.
May
10
May
10
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May
10
&
7:30 pm
Golden Gate Girls
Hammer Museum
A documentary portrait of lesbian director Esther Eng, who directed 10 early Cantonese "talkies" in the 1930s, but was little known until film scholars rediscovered her work in the 1970s. Presented with short film The World of Dong Kingman and with a talkback to follow.
The film traces the life and times of Esther Eng, a San Francisco native known as Hong Kong’s first “directress.” She directed 10 Cantonese talkies.
May
8
May
8
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May
8
&
9
7:30 pm
All That Heaven Allows
with Magnificent Obsession
New Beverly Cinema
The 1950s domestic melodramas of Douglas Sirk have gone on to inspire generations of Queer filmmakers: Todd Haynes, John Waters, Almodóvar, Fassbinder and more have all cited his influence on their work. This Rock Hudson double feature is a great introduction to Sirk.
Two different social classes collide when Cary Scott, a wealthy upper-class widow, falls in love with her much younger and down-to-earth gardener, prompting disapproval and criticism from her children and country club friends.
May
7
May
7
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May
7
&
7:30 pm
When Night is Falling
Patricia Rozema
Laemmle Royal
This steamy lesbian classic about a college professor's sexual awakening at the hands of a circus performer is one of Patricia Rozema's most beloved Queer films. Join for a special screening followed by a Q&A with the director.
A prudish woman working on tenure as a literacy professor at a large urban university finds herself attracted to a free-spirited, liberal woman who works at a local carnival.
May
5
May
5
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May
5
&
7:30 pm
Funny Girl
Academy Museum
If all the backbiting Broadway gossip about the stage revival has you asking what's so special about Funny Girl, come see Barbra Streisand in her Oscar-winning turn as Fanny Bryce (the namesake of Fanny's restaurant at the Academy Museum) in the 1968 Willam Wyler film.
The story of the life of comedienne Fanny Brice, from her early days in the Jewish slums of the Lower East Side, to the height of her career with the Ziegfeld Follies, including her marriage to and eventual divorce from her second husband, Nick Arnstein.
May
4
May
4
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May
4
&
5:00 pm
Unidentified Objects
California Plaza
This charming sci-fi pandemic road trip movie is anchored by an amazing performance from Matthew Jeffers as Peter, a misanthropic gay dwarf on a reluctant cross-country voyage with his alien-obesssed neighbor. Free screening as part of LA's Reel Abilities Film Festival.
A curmudgeonly gay dwarf and his unstable, alien-obsessed neighbor are thrown together on an impossible road trip that will alter their strange friendship (and their sense of reality) forever.
Apr
26
April
26
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April
26
&
7:30 pm
I've Heard the Mermaids Singing
Writer/director Patricia Rozema
Academy Museum
Considered part of the "Toronto New Wave," this first film from lesbian auteur Patricia Rozema (When Night is Falling), follows a young woman named Polly whose new job at an art gallery awakens both her sexual identity and her overlooked artistic gifts.
Awkward, shy and delightfully funny, Polly Vandersma is an “organizationally impaired” temporary assistant who finally gets her first permanent job at the age of 31. While she works for the curator of an art gallery, Polly narrates her own story, sharing the comical and bittersweet pretensions of the art world. At the same time, she reveals a special part of her own private world, taking the viewer to enchanted places in this quiet assault on the notion of authority everywhere.
Apr
26
April
26
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April
26
&
27
7:00 pm
Stress Positions
John Early & Theda Hammel
Landmark Sunset
This lockdown-era farce continues the steady stream of this year's queer Sundance hits making their way to theaters. Join star John Early and director Theda Hammel for two special screenings as the film kicks off its theatrical run.
Terry Goon is keeping strict quarantine in his ex-husband’s Brooklyn brownstone while caring for his nephew — a 19-year-old model from Morocco named Bahlul — bedridden in a full leg cast after an electric scooter accident. Unfortunately for Terry, everyone in his life wants to meet the model.
Apr
19
April
19
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April
19
&
9:45 pm
The People's Joker
Vidiots Eagle Theater
A law-breaking comedian who is grappling with her gender identity forms a new anti-comedy troupe with a friend and finds herself battling a fascistic caped crusader.
Apr
18
April
18
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April
18
&
7:00 pm
Power
with Strong Island
Yance Ford
Aero Theater
American Cinematheque's "This is Not a Fiction" documentary festival screens "Power," a history of American policing from trans director Yance Ford. Double feature with Ford's Oscar-nominated autobiographical true crime doc Strong Island.
Driven to maintain social order, policing in the United States has exploded in scope and scale over hundreds of years. Now, American policing embodies one word: power.
Apr
17
April
17
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April
17
&
10:00 pm
Tongues Untied
with Black Is... Black Ain't
Los Feliz 3
As part of American Cinematheque's documentary celebration "This is Not a Fiction," catch this double feature from Emmy-winning gay Black documentarian Marlon T. Riggs. Tongues Untied is a seminal portrait of gay Black culture in the 1980s.
Marlon Riggs, with assistance from other gay Black men, especially poet Essex Hemphill, celebrates Black men loving Black men as a revolutionary act. The film intercuts footage of Hemphill reciting his poetry, Riggs telling the story of his growing up, scenes of men in social intercourse and dance, and various comic riffs, including a visit to the “Institute of Snap!thology,” where men take lessons in how to snap their fingers: the sling snap, the point snap, the diva snap.
Apr
17
April
17
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April
17
&
7:00 pm
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Race d'Ep
The Homosexual Century
2220 Arts + Archives
A rare screening of Race d'Ep, a feature-length essay/art film that makes a contrary case that Queer liberation didn't just begin in the 60s, but developed through the 19th century--marking the "homosexual century."
“Race d’Ep!” (which literally translates to “Breed of Faggots”) was made by the “father of queer theory,” Guy Hocquenghem, in collaboration with radical queer filmmaker and provocateur Lionel Soukaz. The film traces the history of modern homosexuality through the twentieth century, from early sexology and the nudes of Baron von Gloeden to gay liberation and cruising on the streets of Paris. Influenced by the groundbreaking work of Michel Foucault on the history of sexuality and reflecting the revolutionary queer activism of its day, “Race d’Ep!” is a shockingly frank, sex-filled experimental documentary about gay culture emerging from the shadows. ×
Apr
14
April
14
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April
14
&
7:00 pm
Saved!
Jena Malone
Vidiots Eagle Theater
Mary is a good Christian girl who goes to a good Christian high school where she has good Christian friends and a perfect Christian boyfriend. Her life seems perfect, until the day that she finds out that her boyfriend may be gay — and that she’s pregnant.
Apr
13
April
13
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April
13
&
11:59 pm
The Craft
New Beverly Cinema
What is about 1990s horror overflowing with Queer subtext? The vampire movies get all the attention, but don't sleep on the lesbian undertones of the decade's various teen coven stories--none more enjoyable than the classic The Craft.
A Catholic school newcomer falls in with a clique of teen witches who wield their powers against all who dare to cross them – be they teachers, rivals or meddlesome parents.
Apr
13
April
13
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April
13
&
11:00 pm
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Live Shadow Cast Sins O' The Flesh
Landmark Nuart
Sweethearts Brad and Janet, stuck with a flat tire during a storm, discover the eerie mansion of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a transvestite scientist. As their innocence is lost, Brad and Janet meet a houseful of wild characters, including a rocking biker and a creepy butler. Through elaborate dances and rock songs, Frank-N-Furter unveils his latest creation: a muscular man named ‘Rocky’.
Apr
12
April
12
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April
12
&
7:30 pm
Vera
"Masc" series co-curator Jenni Olson
Hammer Museum
One of the earliest depictions of transmasculinity on film, this 1986 Brazilian film about the life of trans poet Anderson Bigode Herzer is part of the collection of the Outfest Legacy Project with UCLA. Content warning: suicide.
Based on the life of Brazilian poet Anderson Bigode Herzer who committed suicide at the age of 20, this intense drama tells the story of Bauer, a transman who navigates a difficult life in an orphanage before finding love with young librarian Clara.
Apr
12
April
12
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April
12
&
13
7:15 pm
The People's Joker
Director Vera Drew
Landmark Nuart
This parody of a certain caped crusader through the lens of trans creator Vera Drew was quick to disappear after its premiere at TIFF, due to rights issues from an unnamed giant media company. Why so serious?
A law-breaking comedian who is grappling with her gender identity forms a new anti-comedy troupe with a friend and finds herself battling a fascistic caped crusader.
Apr
11
April
11
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April
11
&
7:00 pm
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
Laemmle NoHo 7
The real-life rivalry between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, subject of the first season of Ryan Murphy's "Feud," culminated in the production of this camp classic about two aging, revenge-obsessed actresses sharing a mansion in Hollywood.
Two aging film actresses live as virtual recluses in an old Hollywood mansion. Jane Hudson, a successful child star, cares for her crippled sister Blanche, whose career in later years eclipsed that of Jane. Now the two live together, their relationship affected by simmering subconscious thoughts of mutual envy, hate and revenge.
Apr
10
April
10
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April
10
&
7:30 pm
Indigo Girls: It’s Only Life After All
Afterparty at Ruby Fruit
Vidiots Eagle Theater
An intimate look into the lives of one of the most iconic folk-rock bands in America - the Indigo Girls. With never-before-seen archival and intimate vérité the film dives into the songwriting and storytelling of the music that transformed a generation.