Starring: Winston Chao, Mitchell Lichtenstein, Lung Sihung, May Chin, Ya-lei Kuei, Tien Pien
Brokeback Mountain may have changed LGBTQIA+ cinema’s place in the mainstream in 2005, but Ang Lee has long been fascinated with the codes of masculinity, tradition, family, and queerness. For his 1993 romantic comedy The Wedding Banquet, part of his “Father Knows Best” Trilogy, Lee looked back to the ingredients of classic screwballs and farces for the modern New York tale of a gay interracial relationship that’s foisted back into the closet when the family of the Taiwanese half comes to visit. Co-written with longtime collaborator James Schamus and Neil Peng, and starring Winston Chao, Mitchell Lichtenstein (director of Teeth), and Lee mainstay Lung Sihung, The Wedding Banquet is a bracingly funny and tender look at the imperfect path to love and happiness in the new world.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Beginning with early trailblazers like Different from the Others, Kyle Turner has selected 100 of cinema’s greatest queer films to guide you through the eras. From Hitchcock’s Rope and cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show through the New Queer Cinema movement of the 90s to the present day, where LGBTQIA+ narratives have increasingly made their way into the mainstream and dominated award seasons with films like Carol, Tangerine, and Moonlight.
From scrappy auteurs to Academy Award winners, The Queer Film Guide celebrates LGBTQIA+ stories and artists, offering a fresh take on what defines great cinema. Lending a voice to the diverse creators and characters who have shaped the artform, The Queer Film Guide is also a useful resource for people interested in discovering or exploring queer film for the first time.
Newly re-stored and distributed by the Found Footage Festival, Driver 23 (1999) and The Atlas Moth (2001) document seven years in the life of Dan Cleveland, a Minneapolis-based rock guitarist/deliveryman and his band, Dark Horse.
In spite of, or because of his obsessive-compulsive disorder, Dan is driven with an existential need to accomplish something… anything. He faces all obstacles with uncanny determination and the help of a variety of homemade inventions. An antidote for the manufactured puff pieces of the 90s MTV era, these two films show the gritty reality and stranger-than-fiction comedy of an aspiring rock star.
Driver 23 has been called The American Movie of rock documentaries and was a staple of the late 90s, early 00’s VHS tape-trading era. It was also a favorite on the Pearl Jam tour bus so much so that guitarist Stone Gossard even called director Rolf Belgum at home to tell him how much they loved it.
Starring: Cheryl Dunye, Guinevere Turner, Valarie Walker, Lisa Marie Bronson
Cheryl, a twenty-something black lesbian, is struggling to make a documentary about beautiful and elusive 1930s film actress Fae Richards, popularly known as the “Watermelon Woman.” As Cheryl uncovers the meanings of the Watermelon Woman’s life, she experiences a total upheaval in her personal life.
Starring: Alex Grelle, Laura G, Glamhag, Joey C. Heyworth, Joyce Porter, Sarah Sherman
To make an additional $10 donation to Advocates for Trans Equality, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen.
A queer girl named Trinity huffs the contents of a magic aerosol can and develops the ability to talk to the dead.
Starring: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono, Wesley Addy
To make an additional $10 donation to The Ali Forney Center, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen. Nitehawk will be matching all donations.
Jane Hudson (Bette Davis) is an aging child star left to care for her wheelchair-bound sister Blanche (Joan Crawford), also a former child actress. Stuck living together in a mansion in old Hollywood, Blanche plots to get even with Jane for the car crash that left her crippled years earlier. But Jane is desperate to keep Blanche imprisoned as she plans a new rise to fame, and tries to hide Blanche’s existence from doctors, visitors and neighbors while she devises a way to get rid of her sister.
Starring: James Duval, Rose McGowan, Johnathon Schaech
To make an additional $10 donation to The Ali Forney Center, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen. Nitehawk will be matching all donations.
The Doom Generation, restored in 4K with scenes edited for it’s theatrical release in 1995, this version reflects the director’s cut, intended by Araki. The film has been completely re-timed and re-edited for today’s technological standards. The sound is remastered to compliment today’s new audio standards in a new 5.1 mix.
Headed home after a wild night at a Los Angeles club, young lovers Jordan White (James Duval) and Amy Blue (Rose McGowan) pick up a dangerously handsome drifter named Xavier Red (Johnathon Schaech). Jordan doesn’t see a problem with offering Xavier a quick ride, but his acid-tongued girlfriend thinks he’s a creep. When Xavier inadvertently kills a convenience store clerk, they are forced to go on the run, traversing a bizarre and ultra-violent America. Somehow, every random thug, drive-thru operator, and neo-Nazi they encounter seem to recognize Amy as a past fling or alter ego, adding to the already explosive sexual tension brimming among the renegade trio.
Starring: Margit Carstensen, Hanna Schygulla, Irm Hermann, Eva Mattes, Gisela Fackeldey, Katrin Schaake
To make an additional $10 donation to The Ali Forney Center, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen. Nitehawk will be matching all donations.
Two women (Hanna Schygulla, Irm Hermann) form a sexual triangle with a fashion designer (Margit Carstensen) in her arty apartment.
Starring: Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Dianne Wiest, Hank Azaria, Christine Baranski, Dan Futterman, Calista Flockhart
To make an additional $10 donation to The Ali Forney Center, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen. Nitehawk will be matching all donations.
In this remake of the classic French farce La Cage aux Folles, engaged couple Val Goldman (Dan Futterman) and Barbara Keeley (Calista Flockhart) shakily introduce their future in-laws. Val’s father, Armand (Robin Williams), a gay Miami drag club owner, pretends to be straight and attempts to hide his relationship with Albert (Nathan Lane), his life partner and the club’s flamboyant star attraction, so as to please Barbara’s father, controversial Republican Sen. Kevin Keeley (Gene Hackman).
Starring: Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith Massey, Mink Stole, David Samson, Ken King, Mary Garlington
To make an additional $10 donation to The Ali Forney Center, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen. Nitehawk will be matching all donations.
Screening comes complete with ‘Odorama’ scratch-and-sniff cards!
A frustrated housewife, Francine Fishpaw (Divine), tries to maintain her sanity while taking care of her dysfunctional household. Elmer (David Samson), her husband and the owner of an adult theater, is sleeping with his secretary, and her delinquent teen son, Dexter (Ken King), and pregnant teen daughter, Lulu (Mary Garlington), aren’t helping matters any. But when Francine meets dashing Todd Tomorrow (Tab Hunter), the owner of a theater specializing in art films, her life appears rosier.
Starring: Felissa Rose, Jonathan Tiersten, Karen Fields, Paul DeAngelo, Katherine Kamhi, Mike Kellin, Christopher Collet, Desiree Gould
To make an additional $10 donation to The Ali Forney Center, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen. Nitehawk will be matching all donations.
Following the death of her family, Angela is sent to a camp for the summer. After her arrival, brutal accidents begin to kill the other campers.
This screening is open to all! If you’re unable to purchase a ticket due to financial constraints, please email williamsburg@nitehawkcinema.com for passes.
