Week of Feb 2
Luchino Visconti was a fascinating filmmaker, evolving from the gritty early Italian neorealism of Rocco and his Brothers to lavish historical epics like The Leopard. He was also openly gay later in life and directed queer films like Death In Venice and Ludwig. He had a complicated relationship with his lover and mentee (and 70s sex symbol) Helmut Berger, and Berger starred with Burt Lancaster in 1974's Conversation Piece, which is believed to be a telling of the relationship between Berger and Visconti.
The LA Premiere of a new restoration of Conversation Piece plays Wednesday night thanks to American Cinematheque:
Conversation Piece
Wed, Feb 4, 7:00 pm @ Los Feliz 3
LA Restoration Premiere
A retired professor of American origin lives a solitary life in a luxurious palazzo in Rome. He is confronted by a vulgar Italian marchesa and her lover, her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend, and forced to rent to them an apartment on the upper floor of his palazzo. From this point on his quiet routine is turned into chaos by his tenants’ machinations, and everybody’s life takes an unexpected but inevitable turn.
Tickets from American Cinematheque
This Week
The Outwaters
Feb 08, 8:15 PM @ LOOK Dine-In Glendale
Director Robbie Banfitch; actors Angela Basolis and Michelle May in person
This found footage coming out horror film is set deep in the Mojave desert, under a scorching blood-red sun, where four travelers have set up camp to make art. One fateful night, the group is thrust into a feverish tornado of flayed flesh and mind-boggling monstrosities, the likes of which mere humans simply cannot fathom.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Feb 2, 4, 6, 2:30 pm @ Academy Museum
Raised a boy in East Berlin, Hedwig undergoes a personal transformation in order to emigrate to the U.S., where she reinvents herself as an ‘internationally ignored’ but divinely talented rock diva, inhabiting a ‘beautiful gender of one’.
SOLD OUT: Come See Me In the Good Light
Feb 06, 7:00 PM @ Los Feliz 3
Director/producer Ryan White and producers Jessica Hargrave and Tig Notaro in person
In an intimate and joyful story of love in the face of loss, celebrated poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley find strength—and unexpected hilarity—in what might be their final year together.
Tickets from American Cinematheque
Next Week
Punks (2000)
Thu, Feb 12, 8:00 pm @ Eastwood Performing Arts Center
The life and times of a group of twentysomething black gay men living in West Hollywood. Rarely screened -- out of print and not streaming anywhere. Don't miss!
The Wizard of Oz
Feb 09, 11 & 12, 2:30 pm @ Academy Museum
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.
All That Heaven Allows
Feb 14, 10:00 am & Feb 15, 10:00 am @ Vista Theater Hollywood
The 1950s domestic melodramas of Douglas Sirk have gone on to inspire generations of Queer filmmakers: Todd Haynes, John Waters, Almodóvar, Fassbinder and more have all cited his influence on their work. This film, starring closeted actor Rock Hudson, is one of Sirk's most-beloved movies.
SOLD OUT: Querelle
Sat, Feb 14, 6:30 pm @ Los Feliz 3
Actor Franco Nero in person
The final film made by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, this adaptation of the Jean Genet novel follows a sailor on leave in France as he simultaneously tries to cover up his involvement in a murder and embarks on a sexual odyssey of self-discovery.
Tickets from American Cinematheque
Call Me by Your Name
Sat, Feb 14, 8:30 pm @ Brain Dead Studios
In 1980s Italy, a relationship begins between seventeen-year-old teenage Elio and the older adult man hired as his father’s research assistant.
Tickets from Brain Dead Studios
Funeral Parade of Roses
Sun, Feb 15, 8:00 pm @ Brain Dead Studios
Is there a film more ahead of its time? This funny but melancholy arthouse classic, set in a drag bar/brothel in the underground of 1960s Tokyo, is a film that still feels wildly fresh and boundary-pushing even 55 years later.
Tickets from Brain Dead Studios
In Cinemas
The Chronology of Water (Opened Jan 29)
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…
Jimpa (Opens Feb 2)
Hannah and her non-binary teenager Frances visits her gay grandfather Jimpa in Amsterdam. Frances expresses a desire to stay with their grandfather for a year, challenging Hannah's parenting beliefs and forcing her to confront past issues.
