Week of Dec 2
December rolls in with an amazing array of Queer films to choose from. This week, the new restoration of By Hook or By Crook premieres at the Academy, with filmmakers in person. New lesbian holiday romance The Holiday Club screens at Laemmle with a special Q&A. Plus, films from Queer filmmakers Lino Brocka, Sergei Parajanov, Jean Cocteau, Jaques Demy, and so so so much more!
By Hook or By Crook Restoration Premiere
Dec 5, 7:30 pm @ Academy Museum
Filmmakers Harry Dodge, Silas Howard, and Steak House in person
This ahead-of-its-time low-fi "butch and trans buddy film" about trans friendship and petty crimes, which won numerous jury and audience awards during finally gets its due with a new restoration.
Use code QueerCinema to get $2 off your ticket!
Queer Christmas at the AC
Not sure how you're going to spend the week before Christmas? American Cinematheque has filled your calendar with a week of amazing Queer Christmas movies, including Tangerine, Carol, Rent, Tokyo Godfathers, and Female Trouble.
Runs Dec 15 - 24 at Los Feliz 3.
This Week
The Holiday Club
Dec 4, 7:30 pm @ Laemmle NoHo 7
Writer/Director/Star Alexandra Swarens
Sam hates the holidays. Bailey loves the holidays. On a lonely Valentine’s Day the two meet-cute, quickly bond, and become friends. With every passing holiday Sam and Bailey spend together, they fall further in love with each other.
Tickets from Laemmle Theatres >
Sleepaway Camp
Dec 7, 9:45 pm @ Vidiots Eagle Theater
Authors BJ & Harmony Colangelo in person
Equally as memorable as it is problematic, Sleepaway Camp is an iconic 80s slasher with a complicated place in queer horror representation and history. The screening will be introduced by BJ & Harmony Colangelo, authors of the critical text SLEEPAWAY CAMP from DieDieBooks.
Elton John: Never Too Late
Dec 8, 4:00 pm @ Aero Theater
Director R.J. Cutler in person
Sir Elton John looks back on his life and the astonishing early days of his 50-year career in this emotionally charged, full-circle journey. As he prepares for his final concert in North America at Dodger Stadium, Elton takes us back in time and recounts his struggles with adversity, abuse, and addiction, and how he overcame them to become the icon he is today.
Tickets from American Cinematheque >
Rope
Dec 7, 4:15 pm @ Vidiots Eagle Theater
Film writer Alonso Duralde in person
Is this the original "be gay do crimes" movie? Though heavily censored, this one-take Hitchcock thriller (from out screenwriter Arthur Laurents) is based off the real-life Leopold and Loeb case, where two gay students killed a boy just to see if they could get away with it.
8 Women
Dec 3, 7:30 pm @ Whammy Analog Media
This musical murder mystery farce from gay auteur Francois Ozon sees eight women trapped in a house, and all of them are suspects! As the night goes on, their conflicts descend into madness, comedy, and of course lesbianism in turn.
Tickets from Cool Girl Cinema Club >
Spartacus
Dec 8, 2:00 pm @ Vidiots Eagle Theater
The restored version of Spartacus contains a homoerotic bath scene cut by censors, in which Laurence Olivier's villainous emperor confirms he is bisexual. This censorship, featured in The Celluloid Closet, was emblematic of the studio environment at the time.
Female Trouble
Dec 2, 7:30 pm @ Vidiots Eagle Theater
Dec 6, 9:30 pm @ Alamo Drafthouse
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.
Tickets from Vidiots >
Tickets from Alamo Drafthouse >
Queer Filmmakers
Bona
Dec 2, 7:30 pm @ Academy Museum
Openly gay director Lino Brocka was one of the Philippines' greatest directors, and suffered censorship and jail for his art and activism. (His nephew, Q. Allan Brocka, is also a queer filmmaker in LA). See this new restoration of Bona, a tale of showbiz obsession.
Sergei Parajanov Retrospective
The Color of Pomegranates
Dec 4, 7:00 pm @ Los Feliz 3
Parajanov: The Last Spring
Dec 7, 7:30 pm @ Hammer Museum
Andriesh // The First Lad
Dec 8, 7:00 pm @ Hammer Museum
American Cinematheque and the UCLA Film/TV Archive contuine their celebration of bisexual Soviet film director Sergei Parajanov, who was jailed for his art, his sexuality, and his support of nationalist movements within the USSR. None of his films are explicitly Queer by modern standards, but they play with gender, kitsch, and folklore in beautiful ways.
Howard Ashman
Little Shop of Horrors
Dec 4, 10:00 pm @ Los Feliz 3
The Little Mermaid
Dec 7, 3:30 pm @ Los Feliz 3
American Cinematheque's Alan Menken retrospective includes these two films which were co-written by out lyricist Howard Ashman. Ashman was openly gay during his career in the Disney Renaissance, and died of complications of AIDS while Beauty and the Beast was still in production.
Series from American Cinematheque >
Orpheus
Dec 4, 8:00 pm @ Whammy Analog Media
This surrealist, dreamlike interpretation of the Orpheus myth, with pioneering special effects, was directed by bisexual writer/filmmaker/critic Jean Cocteau, and stars his lover, French superstar Jean Marais.
Tickets from Whammy Analog Media >
The Tree House
Dec 6, 7:30 pm @ Hammer Museum
Before he made this year's erotic gay drama Viet & Nam, queer director Minh Quy Truong made The Tree House, a science fiction documentary hybrid about a future astronaut seeking the memories of the people of Vietnam.
Tickets from UCLA Film & TV Archive >
The Young Girls of Rochefort
Dec 7, 12:00 pm @ Egyptian Theatre
Though married to Agnes Varda for most of this life, French New Wave icon Jacques Demy was bisexual and died of AIDS-related complications in 1990. He is best known for his sunny musicals of the 1960s, where his voice shines through with romantic optimism.
Just Added
Jesus - Der Film
Dec 15, 8:00 pm @ Academy Museum
Director Michael Brynntrup in person
An "cinematic burlesque" retelling of the story of Christ, shot by teams of East and West German underground filmmakers who didn't know what each other were shooting, all coordinated by and starring queer avant-garde Michael Brynntrup as Jesus.
Shortbus
Dec 21, 9:45 pm @ Vidiots Eagle Theater
Hedwig creator John Cameron Mitchell wrote and directed this sexually explicit ensemble comedy about the intersecting (sex) lives of couples gay straight and in-between, leading up to a gathering at the weekly Shortbus art/sex salon and orgy.
Born in Flames
Dec 29, 6:00 pm @ Brain Dead Studios
In near-future New York, ten years after the “social-democratic war of liberation,” diverse groups of women organize a feminist uprising as equality remains unfulfilled.
Tickets from Brain Dead Studios >E
Cunningham
Dec 30, 2:00 pm @ Academy Museum
This remarkable 3D documentary showcases the life work of gay choreographer Merce Cunningham, who was a trailblazer in modern and avant-garde dance, and frequently collaborated with his life partner, the composer John Cage.
In Theaters
Sabbath Queen (opens Dec 5)
Sabbath Queen is a remarkable 20 year journey in the life of Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie, a 39th generation Orthodox rabbi — and drag queen.