Week of Apr 28
Lavender Men
May 02, 7:30 PM @ LOOK Dine-In Glendale
Director Lovell Holder in person
Taffeta, a contemporary queer person of color, summons Abraham Lincoln to perform an elaborate historical fantasia within her own head — only to learn that she can’t hide from her own present-day demons in the shadows of someone else’s past.
LA Asian Pacific Film Festival
The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival returns for its 41st year this week, May 1-7, at various venues across LA. Queer highlights include Between Goodbyes, in which a Queer Korean adoptee seeks out her birth family, and a free screening of Māhū: A Trans-Pacific Love Story, an exploration of these traditional transgender members of Native Hawaiian culture. Both films will have filmmakers in attendance.
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival ↗
Indian Film Festival Los Angeles
Next week, the Indian Film Festival Los Angeles celebrates its 23rd year of independent cinema from South Asia and its diasporas--including 2025 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner gay romance Cactus Pears, and Queer Nepalese detective thriller Pooja, Sir. Festival runs May 6-10.
Indian Film Festival Los Angeles ↗
Also This Week
FREE: Parting Glances
Apr 28, 7:30 PM @ Hammer Museum
Double feature with Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.
The only feature film completed by director Bill Sherwood before his death at age 37, Parting Glances featured the screen debut of Steve Buscemi as the main character's bitter ex, who he cares for as he is sick with AIDS.
Tickets from UCLA Film & TV Archive ↗
Mulholland Drive
May 01, 8:00 PM @ Brain Dead Studios
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.
Tickets from Brain Dead Studios ↗
Female Perversions
May 02, 10:00 PM @ Art Theater Long Beach
New 4k Restoration.
Now considered a feminist classic, Tilda Swinton stars in this film as a bisexual attorney whose life and romances begin to unravel in the run-up to a professional opportunity.
Tickets from Art Theater Long Beach ↗
M. Butterfly
May 04, 7:30 PM @ Brain Dead Studios
Book launch event for "David Cronenberg: Clinical Trials" with author Violet Lucca in person.
In 1960s China, French diplomat Rene Gallimard falls in love with an opera singer, Song Liling – but Song is not at all who Gallimard thinks.
Tickets from Brain Dead Studios ↗
Queens of Drama
Apr 27, 6:00 PM & Apr 29, 10:00 PM @ Alamo Drafthouse DTLA
An outrageous lesbian pop musical satire inspired by the pop frenzy of the early 2000s, Queens of Drama charts the rise and fall of new star Mimi Madamour and her passionate, rage-fueled love affair with punk icon Billie Kohler.
Tickets from Alamo Drafthouse ↗
Next Week
Persona
May 05, 7:00 PM @ Los Feliz 3
You can cut the lesbian tension with a knife in this arthouse masterpiece from Ingmar Begrman. Long imitated, this classic films follows a stage actress who has gone mute, and the pyschologically intense journey she goes on with her young nurse while recovering on an island.
Tickets from American Cinematheque ↗
Dog Day Afternoon
May 05, 7:30 PM @ Egyptian Theatre
Presented in collaboration with the Los Angeles Film Critics Association as part of the monthly LAFCA PRESENTS series.
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."
Grand Prize
May 06, 3:00 PM @ Laemmle Royal
Against the backdrop of the thriving Croatian ballroom scene, Teo - a young trans man searching for his place, finds support and inspiration in Valentina, a seasoned voguer and veteran of the scene.
Tickets from South East European Film Festival Los Angeles ↗
All About My Mother
May 09, 7:30 PM @ Philosophical Research Society
This compassionate, sprawling melodrama follows Manuela after the death of her 17 year-old son Esteban. She sets out in search of Esteban's father, now a trans woman named Lola, who is sick with AIDS. It's the kind of film only Almodóvar can make, lurid and lovely and memorable.
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
May 11, 5:30 PM @ Brain Dead Studios
An all-female rock group finds fame, love, and drama when they move to LA in order to claim the lead singer’s inheritance.
Tickets from Brain Dead Studios ↗
FREE: Cabaret
We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thing
May 11, 7:00 PM @ Hammer Museum
Bob Fosse's film adaptation of the Broadway show went on to win 8 Academy Awards. Showtunes, Liza Minelli, the rise of the Nazis, and forward (for 70's Hollywood) depiction of bisexuality make Cabaret a classic.
