Week of Feb 17
Slamdance begins, Michelle Parkerson celebrated at Hammer Museum, two by Alfred Hitchcock, two by John Waters, Tongues Untied, and Gay Girls Riding Club restorations!
Plus, don't miss the upcoming trans film series Disclosure: A Trans Re-reading of American Cinema next month from the UCLA Film & TV archive.
FREE: Gay Girls Riding Club
Feb 23, 7:30 PM @ Hammer Museum
Not Streaming Anywhere!
Come see new digital restorations of four short films by the Gay Girls Riding Club, a pre-Stonewall club of gay entertainment industry pros (including cinematographers Ray Harrison and Rocky DP James Crabe) who made high camp drag satires of popular films.
Tickets from UCLA Film & TV Archive ↗
FREE: Documenting Michelle
Feb 21 & 22, 7:30 PM @ Hammer Museum
Filmmaker Michelle Parkerson in person
The UCLA Film and TV archive presents a two-night 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. Free and open to the public.
Tickets from UCLA Film & TV Archive ↗
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.
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 ↗
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 ↗
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.
Cry-Baby
Feb 23, 4:40 PM @ Alamo Drafthouse DTLA
A prim and proper schoolgirl goes against her society grandmother’s wishes when she dates a motorcycle-riding juvenile delinquent.
Tickets from Alamo Drafthouse ↗
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 ↗
Slamdance Screenings
The Big Johnson
Feb 21, 9:45 PM @ Quixote West Hollywood
World Premiere Screening
Dean Johnson, drag queen, rock star, LGBTQI activist, junkie, genius, escort then John Doe. How does someone so famous in New York die as an unknown in DC? This documentary explores the incredible highs and the crushing lows of Dean Johnson’s life and untimely death. Was it murder? Was it an accident? We may never know, but what is certain is that Dean and “the Big Johnson” changed New York City and all who knew him forever.
Tickets from Slamdance Film Festival ↗
LARRY (they/them)
Feb 21, 5:00 PM @ Quixote West Hollywood
A young non-binary trans photographer, Laurence Philomène asserts themselves as one of the most original and inspiring voices of their generation and an icon of the LGBTQ+ community. Revealing both Laurence’s intimate world and creative process, LARRY (they/them) paints a luminous and committed portrait of the complex and often misunderstood multiplicity of trans and non-binary identities and experiences.
Tickets from Slamdance Film Festival ↗
Confessions Chin-Chin
Feb 22, 11:45 AM @ Quixote West Hollywood
North America Premiere
Vicente and Lolo, two queer actors in search of better times, meet Sofía, Roberto, and a host of enigmatic characters on a Saturday night at Cazador, a bar in Madrid. Between drinks, jazz, and tobacco, the diners discuss the artistic world, sex, discrimination, non-traditional relationships, harassment, and many other controversial topics including their most intimate and dark secrets.
Tickets from Slamdance Film Festival ↗
American Theater
Feb 23, 9:15 AM @ Quixote West Hollywood
World Premiere Screening
A "canceled" gay theater director summons a troupe of conservatives to an abandoned cabin in rural Georgia to plot revenge on the Atlanta theater community with a musical retelling of the 1692 Salem witch trials.
Tickets from Slamdance Film Festival ↗
Disclosure Series
Disclosure: A Trans Re-Reading of American Cinema
March 1-30 @ The Hammer Museum
To celebrate the addition of the interviews from Disclosure to the UCLA Film and Television Archive, this series screens both the documentary itself as well as numerous films included within it as notable contributions to shaping Americans' view of transgender people through cienema.
This series also includes six short films with trans characters from the 1800s through present day, with numerous special guests and Q&As.
Next Week
Dog Day Afternoon
Feb 25, 7:30 PM @ Aero Theater
Star Al Pacino in person
Al Pacino joins in person for this members-only event at the American Cinematheque.
A true Story! Young Al Pacino plays John Wojtowicz, who tries to rob a bank in order to pay for his lover's sex-change operation. The real Wojtowicz was an active gay liberationist, and tells his own story in the 2013 documentary "The Dog."
Tickets from American Cinematheque ↗
FREE: 2024 Project Involve Short Films
Feb 25, 7:30 PM @ DGA Theater
Project Involve is Film Independent's artist development program for filmmakers from underrepresented backgrounds. Every year a new cohort of fellows come together to develop short films that showcase their talents. Join this free screening to see the shorts produced this year.
Tickets from Film Independent ↗
Memoria
Feb 26, 8:00 PM @ Brain Dead Studios
This dreamlike film is the long-awaited collaboration between Tilda Swinton and gay Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 18 years after Swinton first wrote to him to express her love for his film Tropical Malady.
Tickets from Brain Dead Studios ↗
Problemista
Feb 28, 7:00 PM @ Brain Dead Studios
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.
Tickets from Brain Dead Studios ↗
FREE: Brother to Brother
Feb 28, 7:30 PM @ Hammer Museum
If Anthony Mackie's star turn as Captain America left you wondering what else he's done, check out this amazing film about a young Black man connecting with an older mentor who lived through the Harlem Renaissance.
Tickets from UCLA Film & TV Archive ↗
Coming to Theaters in April
A Nice Indian Boy - Opens April 4
When Naveen brings his fiancé Jay home to meet his traditional Indian family, they must contend with accepting his white-orphan-artist boyfriend and helping them plan the Indian wedding of their dreams.
The Wedding Banquet - Opens April 18
Frustrated with his commitment-phobic boyfriend Chris and running out of time, Min makes a proposal: a green-card marriage with their friend Angela in exchange for her partner Lee’s expensive IVF. Elopement plans are upended, however, when Min’s grandmother surprises them with an extravagant Korean wedding banquet.
