Week of Sep 16
September continues to fill the calendar with Queer film goodness. Tour European Queer film this week with French erotic drama Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Spanish revenge drama Bad Education, West German psychedelic exploitation horror Vampyros Lesbos, or Austrian royal drama Sisi & I.
Hola Mexico Film Festival
Hola Mexico Film Festival kicks off this week and runs September 20-27, bringing the best contemporary cinema from our Southern neighbor to LA. Queer picks include:
- Todo El Silencio/All the Silence, a drama about a woman with a Deaf girlfriend who discovers she too is losing her hearing. (Sep 22, 7:45pm)
- Soy Lo Que Nunca Fui/Broken Borders, a family drama from Outfest alum Rodrigo Alvarez Flores that follows three siblings' lives after their father leaves for the US. (Sep 24, 5pm)
- TransMéxico, a documentary portrait of the varied experiences of Trans women in Mexico. (Sep 26, 5pm)
Full schedule from Hola Mexico Film Festival >
Circa: Queer Histories Festival 2024
The One Institute, LA's LGBT history nonprofit, kicks off their annual celebration of Queer history. Running the whole month of October, Circa: Queer Histories Festival partners with artists and organizations across LA to bring screenings, exhibitions, panels, readings and parties celebrating LA's Queer history.
Circa: Queer Histories Festival Calendar >
This Week
Happy Together
Sep 18, 7:30 pm @ Vidiots Eagle Theater
Beautifully shot and wonderfully acted, the brokenhearted romance at the center of this groundbreaking film, about a gay couple from Hong Kong trying to start over in Argentina, will leave you in tears over and over again.
In The Summers
Sep 20, 7:00 pm @ Laemmle Royal
Actor Sasha Calle in Person
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance this year, In The Summers is a coming of age story about two siblings told through the summers they spend in New Mexico with their father.
Tickets from Laemmle Theatres >
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Sep 21, 10:30 pm @ Landmark Westwood
This smoldering erotic drama from French auteur Céline Sciamma follows the desire that develops between a wealthy young woman and the painter who is charged to accompany her and paint her wedding portrait.
Tickets from Landmark Theatres >
Vampyros Lesbos
Sep 16, 7:00 pm @ Los Feliz 3
Halloween comes early from Jess Franco, the "European Ed Wood." It's a 70s softcore erotic exploitation horror film directed by a man, so temper your expectations--but it's a noteworthy film, one of many in the tradition of the lesbian vampire, and a wild psychedelic experience.
Tickets from American Cinematheque >
So Pretty
Sep 17, 7:00 pm @ University of Southern California
Four young queers in New York City struggle to maintain their proto-utopian community against the outside world as their lives curiously merge with the 1980s German novel “So schön” by Ronald M. Schernikau. Free and open to the public; RSVPs required.
Bad Education
Sep 18, 8:00 pm @ Brain Dead Studios
Spotlight on Pedro Almodóvar
Two children, Ignacio and Enrique, know love, the movies and fear in a religious school at the beginning of the 1960s. Father Manolo, director of the school and its professor of literature, is witness to and part of these discoveries. The three are followed through the next few decades, their reunion marking life and death.
Tickets from Brain Dead Studios >
Volver
Sep 20, 7:15 pm @ Brain Dead Studios
Spotlight on Pedro Almodóvar
While a woman attempts to cover up her daughter’s murder and reinvent her life, her sister is visited by their mother, who was thought to have died.
Tickets from Brain Dead Studios >
Sisi & I
Sep 21, 11:00 am @ Art Theater Long Beach
After an elaborate application process, Empress Elisabeth of Austria hires Countess Irma as her new lady-in-waiting and takes her to her summer residence on Corfu. As the two women become closer there, this soon leads to tensions back in Vienna.
Tickets from Art Theater Long Beach >
The Wizard of Oz
Sep 22, 1:00 pm @ Egyptian Theatre
What movie better deserves the "Not Queer But Queer" label? Historians may debate exactly why Judy Garland was such an icon to the gay community, but for years being a "friend of Dorothy" was code for how closeted queers could find each other. See her in this iconic role.
Tickets from American Cinematheque >
Todo El Silencio
Sep 22, 7:45 pm @ Regal LA Live 13
Hola Mexico Film Festival
Miriam teaches sign language in the mornings and is part of a professional theater production in the afternoons, maintaining a stable and passionate relationship with her girlfriend Lola. Although her life is very much connected to the routine of a deaf person, her world begins to crumble when she discovers that she is losing her hearing.
Tickets from Hola Mexico Film Festival >
Coming Soon
Undertow (Contracorriente)
Oct 10, 7:00 pm @ Vidiots Eagle Theater
Writer/director Javier Fuentes-León in Person
Queer Film LA Meetup at 6
This romantic, soulful ghost story set in a Peruvian seaside village won the Sundance Audience Award in 2010 before a wildly successful festival run. Director Javier Fuentes-León joins in person for a special 15th anniversary screening in honor of National Coming Out Day.
The Sticky Fingers of Time
Oct 18, 7:30 pm @ Hammer Museum
Director Hilary Brougher in Person
The world premiere of the restoration of this 90s cyberpunk bisexual time travel noir, with director Hilary Brougher in person. Tickets are free, no advance reservations, get there early to line up -- the box office opens at 6:30.
Tickets from UCLA Film & TV Archive >
The Way He Looks
Sep 23, 7:30 pm @ Academy Museum
This super-sweet Brazilian coming of age film, about a blind boy experiencing first love with a classmate, has a bopping soundtrack, and won the 2014 Teddy award at the Berlin International Film Festival.