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Wednesdays at 8pm | July 5 – August 9, 2023

Queer Qlassics

THE QUEERS ARE REVOLTING!

Queer Qlassics

As part of the Belcourt’s ongoing mission to speak to communities whose achievements and creative voices have not received the attention they deserve, the Queer Qlassics series was developed to explore  the history of queer cinema by focusing on a different thematic constant each year. 2023 marks our third edition. 

The first year of Queer Qlassics dealt with primary source materials — documents from throughout the many facets of the queer experience. In the second year, we turned our focus to transformative narratives that explored the depiction of the queer experience from the outside looking in, detailing the points at which representation can become something new and unexpected. So for year three, in the face of the ceaseless assault on LGBTQIA+ rights from legislatures unconcerned with defending the rights of all their constituents, we’ve decided to take a more militant tone.

Too long an easy scapegoat for shortsighted absolutists and those unwilling to examine their own house, the LGBTQIA+ community has been dealing with bullies, homophobes and people who hate that which is festive for centuries. But the recent spate of legislation designed to dehumanize trans people and drag artists is ramping up antagonism to a level that not only unmakes the social contract, but also has lifelong Tennesseans assembling exit strategies to more hospitable and less autocratic states. So this year’s offerings serve as a marble fist clad in a velvet glove.

We present these films as an illustration of community and kindness — and cinematic achievement — and an unblinking gaze into the white hot hate so easily focused on The Other.


Past Screenings

TO WONG FOO, THANKS FOR EVERYTHING! JULIE NEWMAR
Wed, Jul 5 at 8:00pm

TO WONG FOO, THANKS FOR EVERYTHING! JULIE NEWMAR

Vida (Patrick Swayze) and Noxeema (Wesley Snipes) win a spot to compete in the national “Miss Drag Queen of America Pageant'' in L.A. — and take pity on the losing Queen, Chi-Chi (John Leguizamo) — on their pageant-bound cross country road trip to Hollywood.
DESPERATE LIVING
Wed, Jul 12 at 8:00pm

DESPERATE LIVING

Troubled housewife Peggy Gravel flees suburbia and embraces her fascist inner core in Mortville, a shame-based community ruled over by the cruel Queen Carlotta. Screening in 35mm
PLEASE BABY PLEASE
Wed, Jul 19 at 8:00pm

PLEASE BABY PLEASE

A chance encounter with a leather-clad street gang sends a young married couple on a journey of sexual evolution as they shed expectations and embrace explorations.
THE DOOM GENERATION
Wed, Jul 26 at 8:00pm

THE DOOM GENERATION

Amy Blue (Rose McGowan), her boyfriend Jordan White (James Duval) and drifter Xavier Red (Johnathan Schaech) take an anarchic road trip that leads them through a series of gonzo encounters ranging from the erotic to the violent, in this dark satire of surrealist heterosexual America.
THE INCREDIBLY TRUE ADVENTURES OF TWO GIRLS IN LOVE
Wed, Aug 2 at 8:00pm

THE INCREDIBLY TRUE ADVENTURES OF TWO GIRLS IN LOVE

A baby dyke named Randy (Laurel Holloman) and a popular girl named Evie (Nicole Ari Parker) forge an unexpected path to first love and self-discovery in this coming-of-age comedy.
SCREAMING QUEENS: THE RIOT AT COMPTON’S CAFETERIA
Wed, Aug 9 at 8:00pm

SCREAMING QUEENS: THE RIOT AT COMPTON’S CAFETERIA

In 1966, three years before the Stonewall riots, a very fed up transgender woman threw a cup of coffee in a police officer’s face. Her act of resistance sparked a riot, and set a precedent for LGBTQIA+ resistance, activism and liberation in the decades that followed.