Circa: Queer Histories Festival
Ongoing Series
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
UPCOMING SCREENINGS
Mark your calendar for these amazing events.
Connection | Isolation
Los Angeles LGBT Center
Director + Producer G. Chesler and Composer + Associate Producer Luka Fisher
The documentary Connection | Isolation presents eight intimate portraits of trans and post-gender individuals navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amidst moments of connection and isolation, participants reveal a deepening awareness of gender, their bodies, and tra
Shinjuku Midnight Story: Man and Woman
Whammy Analog Media
Two in the Pinku podcast co-hosts Dakota Noot and Christopher Velasco
Shinjuku Midnight Story: Man and Woman (1972) is a “pink film” released by major studio Nikkatsu. It follows a lesbian bar hostess, who is betrayed by her lover for a man. Eventually, the hostess finds new love with a trans woman and cons men.
Quotations from a Ruined City
Los Angeles LGBT Center
Quotations from a Ruined City is a sort of apocalyptic follies: an evening of song, dance, poetry, nudity and torture set in a world whose center has clearly long ceased to hold. Created and directed by the gifted young theatrical cult artist Reza Abdoh, the work is a kaleidoscopic catalogue of images of decay and destruction that range through the centuries and around the globe.
Torture Trilogy: Reflecting on Two Decades of Infamy with Ron Athey
Los Angeles LGBT Center
Artist Ron Athey
In conversation with curator Anuradha Vikram, Athey will present documentation of Four Scenes in a Harsh Life at LATC and other works in the accompanying Torture Trilogy including Deliverance (1994) which was never shown in its entirety in Los Angeles due to censorship.
Outliers and Outlaws
Los Angeles LGBT Center
A story of lesbian world-builders, OUTLIERS AND OUTLAWS uncovers the fabulous history of a large and vibrant lesbian community in Eugene, Oregon. Women who migrated to this small town in the 1960s-80s candidly share stories about the power of courageous and creative world-building. Intimate portraits–both then and now–model living in hard times with hope, humor, and commitment to social change. Narrated by musician Jody Bleyle, Outliers includes a rich archive of images documenting this groundbreaking community.
Circa: Queer Histories Festival
PAST SCREENINGS
Bridges Across Homelands
Circa: Queer Histories Festival 2024
Los Angeles LGBT Center
Director Jen Cheng
“Bridges Across Homelands” is an event to get inspired by pioneering BIPOC feminists in arts and culture. Spanning across geographies and identities, attendees will learn what it takes to be a culture leader and valuable lessons about sustaining a career in the arts.
LESBO
Circa: Queer Histories Festival 2024
Los Angeles LGBT Center
Directors Julia M. Applegate & LuSter P. Singleton
Community building event that features a rough-cut screening of the documentary Free Beer Tomorrow, which tells the story of Ohio's longest running, lesbian owned and operated bar. Followed by a game of LESBO (BINGO).
Pedaling With Purpose
Circa: Queer Histories Festival 2024
Los Angeles LGBT Center
Filmmakers in attendance
Short documentary film in which six Papis, Black and Latino men, discuss the impact of HIV/AIDS on their communities, and how a 545-mile bike ride across California has changed their lives.
UNIDAD: Gay & Lesbian Latinos Unidos
Circa: Queer Histories Festival 2024
Los Angeles LGBT Center
Director Gregory Davila
Winner of a 2024 Los Angeles Press Club Award, UNIDAD: Gay & Lesbian Latinos Unidos is a feature-length documentary, directed by Gregorio Davila, that tells the story of the country’s first Queer Latine organization, formed in Los Angeles in 1981 to highlight Queer Latine issues.
Winner of a 2024 Los Angeles Press Club Award, UNIDAD: Gay & Lesbian Latinos Unidos is a feature-length documentary, directed by Gregorio Davila, that tells the story of the country�s first Queer Latine organization, formed in Los Angeles in 1981 to highlight Queer Latine issues.
The story of the Los Angeles organization Gay & Lesbian Latinos Unidos (GLLU), a political and social group formed in 1981 to help bring Queer Latino issues to light in the LGBTQIA+ community.
Drag On Tape: Collecting Archival for "The Other Drag" Documentary
Circa: Queer Histories Festival 2024
Los Angeles LGBT Center
Director Larin Sollivan and editor Alex Bohs
Join filmmaker Larin Sullivan, director of The Young King and the new drag king documentary The Other Drag, alongside Alex Bohs, editor of P.S. Burn This Letter Please, for a screening and discussion on the process of finding, using and working with newly vintage drag tape.
Reel Resilience: The Circa 2024 Short Film Festival
Circa: Queer Histories Festival 2024
Los Angeles LGBT Center
Filmmakers in attendance
In a first for the festival, One Institute presents “Reel Resilience: The Circa 2024 Short Film Festival.” This curated selection of films delves into the transformative power of love and the revolutionary spirit that has driven the LGBTQ+ community’s journey through history.
“From Past to Present”: Lecture and Short Film Screening
Circa: Queer Histories Festival 2024
One Gallery
Director Morgan Lieberman
Join photographer Morgan Lieberman for a short lecture and screening of the short film from Hidden Once, Hidden Twice, a long-term documentary project chronicling the lives of senior lesbian partnerships across the United States.
Transvisible: Bamby Salcedo’s Story Then and Now
Circa: Queer Histories Festival 2024
Los Angeles LGBT Center
Director Dante Alencastre
Join the California LGBT Arts Alliance as they revisit the 2013 documentary film on the life of renowned Los Angeles-based Trans Latina activist and leader, Bamby Salcedo. Audiences will see how and where Ms. Salcedo — the founder and CEO of the largest trans-led nonprofit...
Radical Harmonies
Circa: Queer Histories Festival 2024
Los Angeles LGBT Center
Director Dee Mosbacher
RADICAL HARMONIES (2002) is an 88-minute documentary produced and directed by Academy Award nominee Dee Mosbacher that chronicles the history of queer music by (mostly lesbian) women.
Queer Asian Elders on Screen
Circa: Queer Histories Festival 2024
Los Angeles LGBT Center
Filmmakers in attendance
Queer Asian cinema has always been part of the tapestry of American cinema, from works like Alice Wang’s Saving Face to the Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All At Once. Beyond the blockbuster films, independent filmmakers have been pushing forward stories that document...
Jeanne Córdova: Butches, Lies & Feminism
Los Angeles LGBT Center
filmmakers Gregorio Davila & Todd A. Henry and Minki Hong
Double Feature with Paradise (2023): Revisiting South Korea’s Gay/Queer Pasts.
Madame Behave
One Gallery
A cross-dressing farce, adapted from “Madame Lucy” by Jean Arlette, in which to help a friend in a lawsuit, Jack Mitchell disguises himself as the mysterious “Madame Brown,” a missing witness important to the case of the plaintiff. He attracts the romantic attention of two old roués and one hot Broadway showgirl.
Stuart Timmons WeHo@40 LGBTQ History Tour
West Hollywood Council Chambers
Join us for a special evening honoring the legacy of historian Stuart Timmons (The Trouble with Harry Hay, GAY L.A.) as part of West Hollywood’s 40th Anniversary and the One Institute’s Circa: Queer Histories Festival.
Connection | Isolation
Los Angeles LGBT Center
Director + Producer G. Chesler and Composer + Associate Producer Luka Fisher
The documentary Connection | Isolation presents eight intimate portraits of trans and post-gender individuals navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amidst moments of connection and isolation, participants reveal a deepening awareness of gender, their bodies, and tra
Shinjuku Midnight Story: Man and Woman
Whammy Analog Media
Two in the Pinku podcast co-hosts Dakota Noot and Christopher Velasco
Shinjuku Midnight Story: Man and Woman (1972) is a “pink film” released by major studio Nikkatsu. It follows a lesbian bar hostess, who is betrayed by her lover for a man. Eventually, the hostess finds new love with a trans woman and cons men.
