Week of Feb 3
Queer Film Los Angeles gets a new look! Check out our updated website with our new logo and colors, ushering in a new era for QFLA and our parent nonprofit, the Queer Film Institute.
In addition to cosmetic changes, we're making a few other additions. We will now be flagging when a film that's showing is not streaming anywhere, as one more incentive to get offline and go connect with your fellow Queer film nerds IRL.
Speaking of gathering, a lot of hot screenings are selling out fast lately. While our newsletter will remain weekly, we will now be posting to our Bluesky as we add new events -- so follow us there for LA's latest Queer film news in real time.
Celebrating Tilda Swinton
Braindead Studios' spotlight artist for February is the inimitable Tilda Swinton, the elegant and enigmatic screen presence who has graced world cinema for the last forty years. Following her first screen role in Derek Jarman's Caravaggio, she appeared in all of Jarman's subsequent films, and has an amazing track record of working with Queer auteurs.
Braindead's series includes Jarman's Blue, as well as some of her work with gay directors Luca Guadagnino, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and Julio Torres.
Tilda Swinton Spotlight at Braindead Studios ↗
This Week
The Doom Generation
Feb 06, 7:30 PM @ Egyptian Theatre
Q&A with filmmaker Gregg Araki & actor James Duval
Gregg Araki followed 1992's angry The Living End with the Teen Apocalypse "trilogy"--three Gen X slacker films that feature angsty and sexually fluid teens, winking French New Wave references, hallucinations of the end times, killer soundtracks, and dreamy lead man James Duval.
18+ ONLY: Daddy Dearest & Juice
Feb 08, 7:30 PM @ Whammy Analog Media
New 2k restorations of these gay adult films from the 1980s.
18+ Only, ID required.
FREE: Macumba Sexual
Feb 04, 1:00 PM @ University of Southern California
Trans actress Ajita Wilson plays the goddess of lust, who appears in visions to torment a sexually repressed wife in this 1983 cult classic from exploitation filmmaker Jess Franco.
Mulholland Drive
Feb 05, 7:30 PM @ Vidiots Eagle Theater
In David Lynch's maniacal, notorious thriller, amnesia-suffering Rita, who barely escapes murder on winding, hilly Mulholland Drive, makes her way down to Hollywood, where she sneaks into the apartment of bright-eyed aspiring actress Betty.
Cry-Baby
Feb 07, 2:00 PM @ New Beverly Cinema
A prim and proper schoolgirl goes against her society grandmother’s wishes when she dates a motorcycle-riding juvenile delinquent.
Tickets from The New Beverly ↗
Bones and All
Feb 09, 4:25 PM @ Alamo Drafthouse DTLA
Luca Gudagnino directs this gory tale of two lonely, yearning drifter cannibals in love, based off the 2015 novel.
Tickets from Alamo Drafthouse ↗
Slamdance
The Slamdance full schedule is live and tickets are now on sale. Queer highlights include:
- The Big Johnson, a documentary about the tragic life of Dean Johnson, who went from New York drag star to unknown John Doe, from veteran director Lola Rock'N'Rolla;
- LARRY (they/them), a portrait of Canadian non-binary trans photographer Laurence Philomène;
- American Theater, a documentary about an out theater director who goes full MAGA and stages a Salem Witch Trials musical after being "canceled";
- Confessions Chin-Chin, a Spanish comedy following two queer actors one night in an enigmatic bar in Madrid.
We'll be following up next week with a full guide to all the Queer films and filmmakers at this year's Slamdance.
Next Week
Castration Movie Anthology i. Traps
Feb 15, 7:00 PM @ Whammy Analog Media
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 ↗
FREE: Ed Wood
Feb 11, 7:00 PM @ University of Southern California
Tim Burton's biopic of legendary "worst director of all time" 1950s B-movie king (and lifelong crossdresser) Ed Wood turns 30! Make it a double feature with Glen or Glenda, Wood's 1953 first movie about gender-crossing characters.
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.
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 ↗
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.
