Week of Dec 15
Your early Christmas present this year is a special film program Happy Holidays from George Kuchar presented by Lightstruck. George was a groundbreaking and prolific gay underground filmmaker active from the 1950s until his death in 2011, and was an inspiration to John Water and countless other Queer auteurs.
Happy Holidays from George Kuchar
Thu, Dec 18, 8:00 pm @ 2220 Arts + Archives
A program of four short films from gay underground filmmaker George Kuchar, including Xmas 1986 in which Kuchar visits his dying friend, former lover, and Thundercrack! collaborator Curt McDowell.
Also This Week
Fucktoys
Wed, Dec 17, 7:00 pm & 10:00 pm @ Los Feliz 3
Filmmaker and actor Annapurna Sriram in person
A bubblegum grindhouse adventure through sunny and romantic Trashtown, USA. In this raucous odyssey, a wanton minx quests hard across a dreamy landscape of smut, filth and psychics, hustling to lift a curse that has been f-cking her sh-t up.
Tickets from American Cinematheque
SOLD OUT: The Chronology of Water
Thu, Dec 18, 6:30 pm @ Los Feliz 3
Director Kristin Stewart in person
Growing up in an environment torn apart by violence and alcohol, a young woman struggles to find her path. She manages to escape her family and enters university, where she finds refuge in literature. Gradually, words offer her an unexpected freedom…
Tickets from American Cinematheque
Badnam Basti
Sun, Dec 21, 6:30 pm @ Academy Museum
Perhaps the first Queer film from India, this story of a young man in a bisexual love triangle was heavily censored on release and believed lost until a print was found in 2019.
Safe
Dec 16, 19, 26, various times @ Los Feliz 3
LA Premiere of New Restoration!
This breakout 1995 film from Queer auteur Todd Haynes (and the first of many collaborations with Julianne Moore) draws inevitable parallels to the AIDS epidemic in its portrayal of a suburban housewife stricken with a mysterious illness, and who is drawn to outlandish cures.
Tickets from American Cinematheque
Matador
Sat, Dec 20, 7:30 pm @ Academy Museum
US Restoration Premiere
A conflicted youth confesses to crimes he didn’t commit while a man and woman aroused by death become obsessed with each other.
Beau Travail
Tue, Dec 16, 10:00 pm @ Los Feliz 3
It's not gay but... those handsome soldiers, the beautiful cinematography, the bodies in the sun, woof. This tale of obsession and jealousy between an older sergeant and a young recruit from French master Claire Denis is a smoldering and sensual examination of men's worlds.
Tickets from American Cinematheque
Auntie Mame
Fri, Dec 19, 7:00 pm @ Egyptian Theatre
If you know a gay man over 50, you've probably heard this film quoted endlessly. "Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!" is one of many pearls of wisdom from Rosiland Russell as Mame, a progressive woman of the 1920s who takes in her orphaned nephew.
Tickets from American Cinematheque
Carol
Sat, Dec 20, 4:00 pm @ Los Feliz 3
Tue, Dec 23, 7:30 pm @ Vidiots Eagle Theater
In 1950s New York, a department-store clerk who dreams of a better life falls for an older, married woman.
Tickets from American Cinematheque
Tickets from Vidiots
Tokyo Godfathers
Sat, Dec 20, 7:15 pm @ Brain Dead Studios
Wed, Dec 24, 7:00 pm @ Los Feliz 3
On Christmas Eve, three homeless people living on the streets of Tokyo discover a newborn baby among the trash and set out to find its parents.
Tickets from Brain Dead Studios
Tickets from American Cinematheque
Night of the Hunter
Sat, Dec 20, 7:30 pm @ Aero Theater
It's not just the camp value of Lillian Gish with a shotgun--this film is the only directorial effort from closeted actor Charles Laughton, and through that lens you can't help but see more in its serial-killing preacher targeting women whose sexual freedom he resents.
Tickets from American Cinematheque
Mala Noche
Sat, Dec 20, 9:30 pm @ Brain Dead Studios
Mala Noche is the film debut from director Gus Van Sant. The film portrays the unanswered love of an American man toward a young Mexican man.
Tickets from Brain Dead Studios
Next Week
Tangerine
Dec 22, 10:00 pm & Dec 24, 4:00 pm @ Los Feliz 3
A new queer Christmas classic (from future Oscar-winning director Sean Baker), Tangerine follows trans workers Sin-Dee and Alexandra on a holiday odyssey across Los Angeles. Shot on a micro budget on three iPhones, Tangerine is a triumph of scrappy indie can-do--that led to Gotham and Spirit awards for co-star Mya Taylor.
Tickets from American Cinematheque
Milk
Dec 28, 8:00 PM @ Brain Dead Studios
The true story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man ever elected to public office. In San Francisco in the late 1970s, Harvey Milk becomes an activist for gay rights and inspires others to join him in his fight for equal rights that should be available to all Americans.
Tickets from Brain Dead Studios
Streaming Now
Letterboxd is one of our favorite parts of the Internet, and they're expanding with a new Video Store that features limited time streaming rentals of unreleased gems and underseen films.
One of their current selections is Queer Chilean drama The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo, which is now Chile's official Oscar submission for 2025. Stream it now!
The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo on Letterboxd Video Store
In Cinemas
Little Trouble Girls
Now Slovenia's official Oscar submission!
Introverted 16-year-old Lucia joins her Catholic school’s all-girls choir, where she befriends Ana-Maria, a popular and flirty third-year student. But when the choir travels to a countryside convent for a weekend of intensive rehearsals, Lucia’s interest in a dark-eyed restoration worker tests her friendship with Ana-Maria and the other girls. As she navigates unfamiliar surroundings and her budding sexuality, Lucia begins to question her beliefs and values, disrupting the harmony within the choir.
Dust Bunny
The directorial debut of out Hannibal and Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller, an eight-year-old girl asks her scheming neighbor for help in killing the monster under her bed that she thinks ate her family.
