Week of Feb 10
Valentine's Day is here, and what better way to spend time with your special person than going to the movies? I Am Love, Jennifer's Body, and The Young Girls of Rochefort all play on Feb 14, so you've got a wide range of vibes to choose from. Plus, Castration Movie, I Saw the TV Glow, The Matrix and more!
Documenting Michelle
Mark your calendars for next weekend! February 21 & 22, the UCLA Film and TV archive presents a celebration of New Black Cinema filmmaker, writer, and performance artist Michelle Parkerson. A trailblazing Black lesbian voice, Parkerson has worked in both narrative and documentary film.
Feb 21 & 22, 7:30 PM @ Hammer Museum
Filmmaker Michelle Parkerson in person both nights
Night one includes Fierceness Served!, a documentary about the ENIKAlley Coffeehouse, a home to Queer black culture in DC the '80s; ... But Then, She's Betty Carter, a documentary about the jazz legend, and Gotta Make This Journey, a 1983 public television documentary about acapella group Sweet Honey in the Rock.
Night two screens feature film A Litany For Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde, Parkerson's 1995 documentary about the famous Black lesbian poet and activist; with short films Stormé: The Lady of the Jewel Box, about the 1950's theater "male impersonator" and Odds and Ends, Parkerson's near-future drama shot that was shot in Los Angeles.
As with all film events at the Hammer Museum, the program is free and open to the public with no advance ticketing. The box office opens one hour before the event, and all tickets are released on a first-come, first-served basis.
More info from UCLA Film & TV Archive ↗
This Week
SECOND NIGHT ADDED:
Castration Movie Anthology i. Traps
Feb 15 & 16, 7:00 PM @ Whammy Analog Media
LA Premiere; Director Louise Weard, Vera Drew in person
Part i of Castration Movie follows a trans woman named Michaela "Traps" Sinclair, a sex worker in Vancouver who splits her time between seeing clients and hanging out with her group of trans friends. As the weight of the world piles up on her she decides to pursue her dream of settling down and having a child until her fantasy shatters around her.
Tickets from Whammy Analog Media ↗
I Saw the TV Glow
Feb 12, 7:20 PM @ LOOK Dine-In Glendale
In the 90s, two queer teens share an obsession with a supernatural TV show (cough Buffy cough). As time goes on, the lines begin to blur between their fandom and reality.
I Am Love
Feb 14, 7:00 PM @ Brain Dead Studios
This international breakout for gay director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name, Queer), about a wealthy woman's affair with a younger chef, was produced and co-written by Tilda Swinton.
Tickets from Brain Dead Studios ↗
The Young Girls of Rochefort
Feb 14, 2:00 PM @ Academy Museum
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.
Jennifer's Body
Feb 14, 9:45 PM @ Brain Dead Studios
Panned on release, queer film fans have since reclaimed this Diablo Cody-written horror film about a (literally) man-eating undead cheerleader and the... um... complicated relationship she has with her best female friend.
Tickets from Brain Dead Studios ↗
The Matrix
Feb 15, 7:30 PM @ Academy Museum
When The Matrix came out in 1999, nobody thought it was a queer movie--but directors Lily and Lana Wachowski have come out as trans (and made the wildly queer series Sense8). Watching The Matrix today shines a new light on its epic battles for liberation and authenticity.
Legacy Project Screening Series
Since 2005, the UCLA Film & Television archive and Outfest have partnered on the Legacy Project for LGBTQ Moving Image Preservation, with a companion screening series to spotlight the films preserved and restored by this project. Upcoming screenings include:
February 23 - new restorations of short films by the Gay Girls Riding Club, a 1960's SoCal gay social club that produced a number of drag parodies of popular films.
February 28 - Brother to Brother, the 2004 Sundance winner that launched Anthony Mackie's career, about a young gay Black man who befriends an older man who shares his experiences in the Harlem Renaissance.
March 15 - the West Coast restoration premiere of Pink Narcissus, the lavish "erotic poem" director James Bidgood shot on elaborate sets in his Manhattan apartment over the course of six years from 1963-69.
Legacy Project Screening Series Events ↗
Next Week
In addition to Slamdance kicking off next week (see our special spotlight newsletter for details), there are a number of other awesome Queer film events next week:
Rope (on Nitrate)
Feb 21, 7:00 PM @ Egyptian Theatre
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.
Tickets from American Cinematheque ↗
Multiple Maniacs
Feb 21, 9:45 PM @ Vidiots Eagle Theater
The Cavalcade of Perversion, a traveling freak show, acts as a front for Divine, who is out for blood after discovering her lover’s affair.
Psycho (on 16mm)
Feb 21, 10:00 PM @ Art Theater Long Beach
It's probably the OG problematic gender-crossed serial killer movie, but there's more Queer connections to Psycho. Anthony Perkins was boyfriend to Tab Hunter before his star turn in Psycho, and died of AIDS in 1992. The film was also remade in 1998 by gay director Gus Van Sant.
Tickets from Art Theater Long Beach ↗
FREE: Y Tu Mamá También
Feb 22, 6:00 PM @ Tía Chucha's Centro Cultural
In Mexico, two teenage boys and an attractive older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life, friendship, sex, and each other.
Tickets from Cinema Conciencia ↗
Suspiria
Feb 22, 6:15 PM @ Brain Dead Studios
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.
Tickets from Brain Dead Studios ↗
Tongues Untied
Feb 18, 7:30 PM @ Vidiots Eagle Theater
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.
