Only in LA
Screenings & Events
Festivals, Special Guests, Retrospectives and more "one night only" queer cinema screenings.
Apr
9
April
9
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April
9
&
7:30 pm
Persona
Vidiots Eagle Theater
You can cut the lesbian tension with a knife in this arthouse masterpiece from Ingmar Begrman. Long imitated, this classic films follows a stage actress who has gone mute, and the pyschologically intense journey she goes on with her young nurse while recovering on an island.
A young nurse, Alma, is put in charge of Elisabeth Vogler: an actress who is seemingly healthy in all respects, but will not talk. As they spend time together, Alma speaks to Elisabeth constantly, never receiving any answer. Alma eventually confesses her secrets to a seemingly sympathetic Elisabeth and finds that her own personality is being submerged into Elisabeth’s persona.
Apr
7
April
7
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April
7
&
3:00 pm
Shorts by John Waters
Hag in a Black Leather Jacket and Roman Candles
John Waters
Academy Museum
See John Waters' first two short films, Hag in a Black Leather Jacket (17m, 1964) and Roman Candles (40m, 1967) with live commentary in person from Waters himself. Shot on 8mm and presented on screen in new digital restorations.
Apr
6
April
6
-
April
6
&
7:30 pm
Pink Flamingos
John Waters
Academy Museum
Join John Waters for a special screening of his trash masterpiece Pink Flamingos on the big beautiful screen in the David Geffen Theater. Make a day of it and check out the Academy Museum's John Waters Pope of Trash exhibit beforehand to see Waters' whole career in retrospective.
Notorious Baltimore criminal and underground figure Divine goes up against Connie & Raymond Marble, a sleazy married couple who make a passionate attempt to humiliate her and seize her tabloid-given title as “The Filthiest Person Alive”.
Apr
4
April
4
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April
4
&
7:00 pm
I Saw the TV Glow
Jane Schoenbrun
Vidiots Eagle Theater
Fresh from Sundance, this new queer horror film is opening night for the brand-new LA Festival of Movies. Set in the 90s, two queer teens share an obsession with a supernatural TV show (*cough* Buffy *cough*), living their hardcore queer fandom in the show's fictional universe.
Teenager Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious late-night TV show — a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen’s view of reality begins to crack.
Apr
3
April
3
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April
3
&
7:30 pm
The Crying Game
Academy Museum
There's not enough space to summarize The Crying Game here--a lauded film that broke new ground in its portrayal of trans people on screen, despite its problematic recycling of toxic and dangerous tropes. Do your homework before seeing it for the first time.
Irish Republican Army member Fergus forms an unexpected bond with Jody, a kidnapped British soldier in his custody, despite the warnings of fellow IRA members Jude and Maguire. Jody makes Fergus promise he’ll visit his girlfriend, Dil, in London, and when Fergus flees to the city, he seeks her out. Hounded by his former IRA colleagues, he finds himself increasingly drawn to the enigmatic, and surprising, Dil.
Mar
29
March
29
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March
29
&
7:30 pm
Sylvia Scarlet
Academy Museum
When her father decides to flee to England, young Sylvia Scarlett (Katharine Hepburn) must become Sylvester Scarlett and protect her father every step of the way, with the questionable help of plenty others.
Mar
29
March
29
-
31
March
29
&
6:30 pm
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
with Run Lola Run
New Beverly Cinema
This madcap drama, with a whirling story of multiple women, their lovers, and some gazpacho laced with sleeping pills, is one of the greats from out Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar. It's not one of his Queer films, but this is the film that put him on the map internationally.
Pepa resolves to kill herself with a batch of sleeping-pill-laced gazpacho after her lover leaves her. Fortunately, she is interrupted by a deliciously chaotic series of events.
Mar
26
March
26
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March
26
&
7:30 pm
Brute Force
with Hardly a Criminal
Egyptian Theatre
For a glimpse of how badly queer characters were portrayed under the Hayes Code, when outright depictions were forbidden, check this film from American Cinematheque's "NOIR CITY" festival. The sadistic villain, a warden of this men's prison, is coded as both a gay man and a Nazi.
Timeworn Joe Collins and his fellow inmates live under the heavy thumb of the sadistic, power-tripping guard Captain Munsey. Only Collins’ dreams of escape keep him going, but how can he possibly bust out of Munsey’s chains?
Mar
25
March
25
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March
25
&
7:30 pm
Queen Christina
with Camille
Academy Museum
Greta Garbo double feature! In Queen Christina, real-life queer Garbo depicts the life of real-life queer Queen Christina of Sweden--who chose to abdicate the throne rather than marry and bear an heir, and who left royal life dressed as a man.
Queen Christina of Sweden is a popular monarch who is loyal to her country. However, when she falls in love with a Spanish envoy, she must choose between the throne and the man she loves.
Mar
23
March
23
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March
23
&
2:00 pm
The Bride Wore Red
with Christopher Strong
Academy Museum
Dorothy Arzner was a successful Hollywood director when there were few women, and even fewer out lesbians, at the top of the profession. This double feature picks two of Arzner's films--one starring Joan Crawford, the other Katharine Hepburn--for a trailblazing afternoon.
A poor singer in a bar masquerades as a rich society woman thanks to a rich benefactor.
Mar
22
March
22
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March
22
&
7:30 pm
Salomé
with Live Score by Sarah Davachi
Academy Museum
Considered by many scholars to be the first Queer film ever made, Salomé is an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's play, ghostwritten and co-directed by queer actress Alla Nazimova with an allegedly all-Queer cast and crew. See it at the Academy Museum with a live score.
Based on Oscar Wilde’s play, the films tells the story of how Salomé agrees to dance for King Herod in return for the head of John the Baptist.
Mar
20
March
20
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March
20
&
9:20 pm
Female Trouble
Egyptian Theatre
The life and times of Dawn Davenport, showing her progression from bratty schoolgirl to crazed mass murderer - all of which stems from her parents' refusal to buy her cha-cha heels for Christmas.
Mar
20
March
20
-
March
20
&
7:30 pm
Trans Hirstory in 99 Objects
Chris E. Vargas and more
Hammer Museum
The new book Trans Hirstory in 99 Objects is a project of artist Chris E. Vargas's Museum of Trans Hirstory & Art (MOTHA), a conceptual art project that is "forever under construction." Exploring trans art, activism, artifacts and resistance across more than four centuries.
Mar
20
March
20
-
March
20
&
7:30 pm
Showgirls
Academy Museum
A clumsy depiction of female bisexuality would normally not be enough to make Showgirls count as queer--but the film's cult classic status is sustained in large part by loyal Queer fans. Watch it, then go see documentary "You Don't Nomi" by Jeffrey McHale.
https://letterboxd.com/film/showgirls/
Mar
19
March
19
-
March
19
&
20
7:30 pm
Play it as it Lays
with Puzzle of a Downfall Child
New Beverly Cinema
Anthony Perkins co-stars as a depressed gay best friend in this Joan Didion adaptation. Perkins led a fascinating life before his death from AIDS--from Tab Hunter boyfriend, to playing Norman Bates in Pyscho, to Sondheim muse--and this film is one of few gay roles he played.
Burned-out B-movie actress Maria, depressed and frustrated with her loveless marriage to an ambitious film director, Carter Lang, who would rather work on his career than on his relationship with her, numbs herself with drugs and sex with strangers. Only her friendship with a sensitive gay movie producer, B.Z., offers a semblance of solace. But even that relationship proves to be fleeting amidst the empty decadence of Hollywood.
Mar
19
March
19
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March
19
&
6:30 pm
Suspiria
Alamo Drafthouse
Out director Luca Guadagnino followed Call Me By Your Name with this creepy remake of the 1977 horror classic. Tilda Swinton and Dakota Johnson star in this tale of Cold War witchcraft, dance, and the dark corners of the human heart -- which competed for the Queer Lion at Venice.
A darkness swirls at the center of a world-renowned dance company, one that will engulf the troupe’s artistic director, an ambitious young dancer and a grieving psychotherapist. Some will succumb to the nightmare, others will finally wake up.
Mar
17
March
17
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March
17
&
7:00 pm
The Untamed
Director Amat Escalante
Los Feliz 3
This twisted Mexican sci-fi horror, which won a directing prize at Venice in 2016, is a tense and troubling film about a woman (and those around her) who becomes sexually obsessed with a tentacled alien creature that embodies a supernatural power of desire over humans.
Desperate to flee but consumed by fear, Alejandra, a young mother and working housewife, is trapped in a violent and unsatisfying relationship with her husband, Angel. She leans on her brother Fabián for support, but he has secrets of his own. All of their lives are turned upside down by the arrival of the mysterious Veronica. She convinces them that in the nearby woods, inside an isolated cabin, dwells something not of this world that could be the answer to all of their problems… something whose force they cannot resist and with whom they must make peace or suffer its wrath.
Mar
12
March
12
-
March
12
&
7:30 pm
Pink Flamingos
Vidiots Eagle Theater
Notorious Baltimore criminal and underground figure Divine goes up against Connie & Raymond Marble, a sleazy married couple who make a passionate attempt to humiliate her and seize her tabloid-given title as “The Filthiest Person Alive”.
Mar
12
March
12
-
March
12
&
6:00 pm
Nimona
Alamo Drafthouse
Based on the graphic novel, Nimona was deep in development at Fox when Disney acquired the studio in 2019. Delayed multiple times before being axed, rumor has it that Disney execs were uncomfortable with the film's queer themes. Netflix saved it, and Nimona is now Oscar nominated
A knight framed for a tragic crime teams with a scrappy, shape-shifting teen to prove his innocence.
Mar
12
March
12
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March
12
&
5:00 pm
Love Lies Bleeding
with Livestream Q&A
Alamo Drafthouse
Reclusive gym manager Lou falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Las Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou’s criminal family.
Mar
11
March
11
-
March
11
&
7:30 pm
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Vidiots Eagle Theater
This dreamy, surrealistic, have-to-see-it Palm D'Or winner from out auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul isn't explicitly Queer, though it spins out of a line from his 2004 gay romance Tropical Maladay, in which one young lover's mentions his uncle who can remember past lives.
Suffering from acute kidney failure, Boonmee has chosen to spend his final days surrounded by his loved ones in the countryside. Surprisingly, the ghost of his deceased wife appears to care for him, and his long lost son returns home in a non-human form. Contemplating the reasons for his illness, Boonmee treks through the jungle with his family to a mysterious hilltop cave—the birthplace of his first life.
Mar
9
March
9
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March
9
&
2:40 pm
Orlando
Alamo Drafthouse
Adapted from Virginia Woolfe's novel, this film follows Tilda Swinton as Orlando, an young nobleman who lives for centuries, and awakes one day to find himself transformed into a woman. Watch it, then check out last year's Teddy documentary winner Orlando: My Political Biography.
England, 1600. Queen Elizabeth I promises Orlando, a young nobleman obsessed with poetry, that she will grant him land and fortune if he agrees to satisfy a very particular request.
Mar
8
March
8
-
March
8
&
9
7:00 pm
Cat People
with The Spiral Staircase
New Beverly Cinema
An early horror classic, this tale of monstrously-repressed female desire has attracted a growing scholarly attention as Queer-coded. The film's central conceit, of a woman who cannot consummate her marriage for fear of an ancient monster emerging, can carry many Queer readings.
Serbian fashion designer Irena Dubrovna and American marine engineer Oliver Reed meet in Central Park, fall in love and marry after a brief courtship; but Irena won’t consummate the union for fear that she will turn into a panther compelled to kill her lover, pursuant to a belief harbored by her home village.
Mar
6
March
6
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March
6
&
7:30 pm
Ponyboi
River Gallo and Esteban Arango
Film Independent Theater
See writer/star River Gallo and director Esteban Arango at this MEMBERS ONLY free screening of this year's Sundance hit about an intersex sex worker, based on River Gallo's 2019 short film. Beverages included.
Unfolding over the course of Valentine’s Day in New Jersey, a young intersex sex worker must run from the mob after a drug deal goes sideways, forcing him to confront his past.
Mar
5
March
5
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March
5
&
7:00 pm
Make Me Famous
Director Brian Vincent, Patti Astor of The Fun Gallery, and producer Heather Spore
Laemmle Royal
One night only! Gay painter Edward Brezinski hung out in 1980s New York with Wonjarowicz, Haring and Basquiat -- but never attained the success and cultural impact of his peers. This documentary explores Brezinski's ambitions, and the art scene of a bygone New York City.
An investigation of Edward Brezinski, an ambitious, charismatic Lower East Side painter hell-bent on sucess, who thwarted his own career with antics that roiled NYC’s art elite. Brezinski’s quest for fame gives an intimate portrait of the art world’s attitude towards success and failure, fame and fortune, notoriety and erasure.
Mar
3
March
3
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March
3
&
7:00 pm
Love Lies Bleeding
Kristin Stewart, Katy O'Brian, director Rose Glass
Egyptian Theatre
MEMBERS ONLY: Hot from Sundance and Berlinale, join actors Kristin Stewart and Katy O'Brian and writer/director Rose Glass for a special Q&A about this one-of-a-kind lesbian bodybuilder crime thriller love story.
Reclusive gym manager Lou falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Las Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou’s criminal family.
Mar
2
March
2
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March
2
&
11:59 pm
But I'm A Cheerleader
New Beverly Cinema
Megan is an all-American girl. A cheerleader. She has a boyfriend. But Megan doesn’t like kissing her boyfriend very much. And she’s pretty touchy with her cheerleader friends. Her conservative parents worry that she must be a lesbian and send her off to “sexual redirection” school, where she must, with other lesbians and gays learn how to be straight.
Mar
2
March
2
-
March
2
&
7:00 pm
But I'm a Cheerleader
Director Jamie Babbit
Vidiots Eagle Theater
RUN don't walk to this special screening. Icon Jamie Babbit presents her hilarious 1999 lesbian rom-com satire But I'm a Cheerleader. For anyone who has ever worried that all lesbian films are too serious, Babbit signle-handedly proves that queer women can be funny as hell.
Megan is an all-American girl. A cheerleader. She has a boyfriend. But Megan doesn’t like kissing her boyfriend very much. And she’s pretty touchy with her cheerleader friends. Her conservative parents worry that she must be a lesbian and send her off to “sexual redirection” school, where she must, with other lesbians and gays learn how to be straight.
Mar
2
March
2
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March
2
&
3:00 pm
Farewell My Concubine
Egyptian Theatre
This Chinese 1992 Palm D'Or winner (the Queer Palm didn't exist until 2010) was banned in its home country shortly after release, in part for the film's unrequited gay love story. Stars out bi Cantopop star Leslie Cheung, who also starred in Wong Kar Wei's Happy Together.
Abandoned by his prostitute mother in 1920, Douzi was raised by a theater troupe. There he meets Shitou and over the following years the two develop an act entitled “Farewell My Concubine” that brings them fame and fortune. When Shitou marries Juxian, Douzi becomes jealous, the beginnings of the acting duo’s explosive breakup and tragic fall take root.
Mar
1
March
1
-
5
March
1
&
10:00 pm
She is Conann
Los Feliz 3
Just like the film's titular gender-bent barbarian, She is Conann fights on. From the Director's Fortnight at Cannes to Fantastic Fest, this queer feminist take on the legend of Conan comes back to LA screens for a limited engagement thanks to American Cinematheque.
Traveling through the abyss, underworld dog Rainer recounts the six lives of Conann, perpetually put to death by her own future, across eras, myths and ages. From her childhood, a slave of Sanja and her barbarian horde, to her accession to the summits of cruelty at the doors of our world.
Mar
1
March
1
-
March
1
&
7:00 pm
Before I Change My Mind
Writer/Director Trevor Anderson
Vidiots Eagle Theater
This 80s-set Canadian coming of age story about a non-binary tween won hearts at Locarno and the Iris Prize. See it at the Ealge theater in a special screening with Writer/Director Trevor Anderson in person!
1987: While the other students wonder if new kid Robin is a boy or a girl, Robin forges a complicated bond with the school bully, making increasingly dangerous choices to fit in.
Mar
1
March
1
-
March
1
&
7:00 pm
Beau Travail
Egyptian Theatre
It's not gay but... those handsome soldiers, the beautiful cinematography, the bodies in the sun, woof. This tale of obsession and jealousy between an older sergeant and a young recruit from French master Claire Denis is a smoldering and sensual examination of men's worlds.
Foreign Legion officer Galoup recalls his once glorious life, training troops in the Gulf of Djibouti. His existence there was happy, strict and regimented, until the arrival of a promising young recruit, Sentain, plants the seeds of jealousy in Galoup's mind.
Mar
1
March
1
-
March
1
&
7:00 pm
Breaking the Oscars Ceiling
Celebrate historic firsts, wins, and Oscar milestones of the LGBTQ+ community.
Panel discussion with LGBTQ+ Oscar nominees
Academy Museum
Significant firsts, historic wins and Oscars milestones... the Academy Museum invites you to celebrate the achievements of the LGBTQ+ community at the Academy Awards. The conversation will center filmmakers who both identify and champion representation on and off-screen
Feb
26
February
26
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February
26
&
27
7:00 pm
Cabaret
Vista Theater Hollywood
Bob Fosse's film adaptation of the Broadway show, which went on to win 8 Academy Awards, comes to the Vista's festival of Technicolor prints. Showtunes, Liza Minelli, the rise of the Nazis, and forward (for 70's Hollywood) depiction of bisexuality make Cabaret a classic.
Inside the Kit Kat Club of 1931 Berlin, starry-eyed singer Sally Bowles and an impish emcee sound the clarion call to decadent fun, while outside a certain political party grows into a brutal force.
Feb
26
February
26
-
February
26
&
5:00 pm
Problemista
with Livestream Q&A
Alamo Drafthouse
An aspiring toy designer’s work visa runs out, and a job assisting an erratic art-world outcast becomes his only hope to stay in the country and realize his dream.
Feb
22
February
22
-
February
22
&
23
7:30 pm
Henry and June
New Beverly Cinema
Gay groups cried foul when Henry and June was the first film to be given a NC-17 rating. Based on the journals of Anaïs Nin about her love triangle with Henry Miller and his wife June, advocates argued the film was only rated so harshly due to its sex scenes between women.
While traveling in Paris, author Henry Miller and his wife, June, meet Anais Nin, and sexual sparks fly as Nin starts an affair with the openly bisexual June. When June is forced to return to the U.S., she gives Nin her blessing to sleep with her husband. Then, when June returns to France, an unexpected, and sometimes contentious, threesome forms.
Feb
21
February
21
-
February
21
&
8:00 pm
Blonde Death
Alamo Drafthouse
This outrageous 80s time capsule, shot on video for $2000 by pulp author and "the world's angriest gay man" James Robert Baker, Blonde Death is a John Waters-inspired true punk film about a teenage girl on a crime spree with her two bisexual best friends.
Tammy, an angry, nihilistic teenager fed up with the mediocrity of suburban life, descends into a hedonistic spree of drugs, crime and murder.
Feb
20
February
20
-
February
20
&
7:00 pm
Bottoms
Director Emma Seligman, Star Havana Rose Liu and more cast & crew
Los Feliz 3
PJ and Josie start a fight club as a way to lose their virginities to cheerleaders. The fight club gains traction and soon the most popular girls in school are beating each other up in the name of self-defense. But the pair find themselves in over their heads and in need of a way out before their plan is exposed.
Feb
18
February
18
-
February
18
&
1:45 pm
Beau Travail
Alamo Drafthouse
It's not gay but... those handsome soldiers, the beautiful cinematography, the bodies in the sun, woof. This tale of obsession and jealousy between an older sergeant and a young recruit from French master Claire Denis is a smoldering and sensual examination of men's worlds.
Foreign Legion officer Galoup recalls his once glorious life, training troops in the Gulf of Djibouti. His existence there was happy, strict and regimented, until the arrival of a promising young recruit, Sentain, plants the seeds of jealousy in Galoup's mind.