A welcome rebuke to divisiveness and intolerance wherever it lurks, the Frameline media-arts organization — renowned bastion and supporter of queer cinema — is presenting the 50th edition of its annual San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival (Frameline50) from June 17–27 at various Bay Area theaters. Those venues consist of the recently restored and reopened Castro Theater, the festival’s home base in the heart of San Francisco’s historically gay Castro neighborhood, the Roxie Theater in the Mission, the Vogue Theatre in Presidio Heights, the Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) in Berkeley, and The New Parkway Theater in Oakland.
Frameline50, still the world’s longest-running festival dedicated to LGBTQ+ motion pictures, will feature over 140 films from 35 countries over 11 days. It’s unquestionably intentional and only fitting that this particular movie showcase is slated for the middle of Pride Month, which celebrates the panoply of LGBTQ+ people and culture. Curated with that diversity in mind, the chosen feature films and shorts scrupulously acknowledge the community’s diversity and history through new dramas, comedies, and documentaries, as well as a handful of significant revivals introduced at earlier Frameline events.
In keeping with the festival’s geographical and its connection to generations of gays and lesbians who looked upon it as a mecca of tolerance and support, there are significant nods to San Francisco in a number of offerings on the schedule. The highly anticipated screenings celebrating the city and its creative power are led by the opening night movie, Lady Champagne, which was written and directed by its star (and San Francisco’s first drag laureate) D’Arcy Drollinger. In this sequel to her riotous debut feature Shit & Champagne, D’Arcy plays wild woman of adventure and mystery Champagne Horowitz Jones Dickerson White, accused of murdering her latest husband. Lady Champagne plays on Wednesday, June 17, 7:30 p.m. at the Castro Theater and will be followed by the Frameline50 opening night party, 10 p.m. at The Foundry SF (1425 Folsom Street).
Local and inspirational
Another key selection with a local connection is Barbara Forever, Brydie O’Connor’s documentary about lesbian filmmaker, former San Franciscan, and Frameline Award winner Barbara Hammer — the talent behind pioneering, revelatory movies that include Dyketactics (1974) and Nitrate Kisses (1992). Hammer inspired many queer artists in her wake, and Barbara Forever, playing Thursday, June 25, 8:45 p.m. at the Castro Theater, pays deserved tribute to her and her filmography. A San Francisco-focused documentary with a more humorous bent is Hunky Jesus — director Jennifer M. Kroot’s joyful saga of the drag-tivists in the habit-clad Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, including interviews with significant sisters and a few of their friends, plus archival footage from their early days. Hunky Jesus plays on Friday, June 26, 6 p.m. at the Castro Theater and will be followed by a Pride Weekend Kickoff Party with a contingent of sisters at 8:30 p.m. in The Chapel (777 Valencia Street).
Taking a more serious view of a San Francisco institution, Fire Within is a look at the important work done by the leaders and parishioners of Glide Memorial Church on behalf of homeless queer and trans denizens of the Tenderloin. Directed by Laetitia Jacquart and Corinne Sullivan, Fire Within screens on Monday, June 22, 2 p.m. at the Roxie. There will also be a special presentation by Peabody Award-winning documentarian and Frameline programmer Peter L. Stein: San Francisco on the Queer Screen: 50+ Years of Gay by the Bay, a clip show of Bay Area-based LGBTQ+ filmmakers talking about their lives and experiences, slotted in on Monday, June 22, 5:15 p.m. at the Roxie.
Other expected highlights are a conversation with ubiquitous Emmy-winning actor, filmmaker, and playwright Colman Domingo (Sing Sing, Disclosure Day. Michael, The Color Purple, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, et al.), moderated by Variety‘s Jazz Tangcay, on Saturday, June 27, 1:30 p.m. at the Castro Theater; and the closing night film, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, directed by Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow) and starring Hannah Einbinder (Hacks) as a young director trying to resurrect the moribund Camp Miasma slasher franchise and Gillian Anderson (The X-Files, Sex Education) as a reclusive actress who appeared in the first installment of the horror series. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma will have its West Coast premiere on Saturday, June 27, 8:15 p.m. at the Castro Theaters, preceded by Schoenbrun receiving the Frameline Queer Lens Award for Filmmaking.
Introductions and revivals
Among the notable new movies to be shown at Frameline50: I Want Your Sex (Friday, June 19, 6:15 p.m. at the Castro Theater), a sex comedy from acclaimed filmmaker Gregg Araki with Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman as a rebellious artist and her frustrated assistant; Girls Like Girls (Thursday, June 18, 5:45 p.m. at the Castro Theater), a Sapphic teen romance written and directed by actress, singer and author Hayley Kiyoko; Leviticus (Wednesday, June 17, 9 p.m. at the Roxie), a queer coming-of-age horror movie from screenwriter-director Adrian Chiarella; Maddie’s Secret (Thursday, June 25, 3 p.m. at the Castro Theater), a dramedy about a wannabe chef, written, directed and starring John Early; and Montreal, My Beautiful, (Thursday, June 25, 5:30 p.m. at the Vogue Theater) a late-in-life lesbian love story featuring San Francisco’s Joan Chen in the lead.
There are too many new movies on the festival schedule to spotlight all of them here, but they’re listed in detail at the Frameline website, along with screening times and locations. Meanwhile, a number of important films that were presented at past Frameline fests will be honored by revivals at the 50th go-round. They include Bound, Lana and Lilly Wachowski’s sexy tale teaming Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly as a gangster’s moll and an ex-convict in love and on the run; Desert Hearts, Donna Deitch’s lesbian romance; Cruising, William Friedkin’s thriller with Al Pacino as an undercover detective investigating crime in the Manhattan S&M scene; Paris Is Burning, Jennie Livingston’s documentary about the Harlem drag ball competition, now celebrating its 35th anniversary; and Caravaggio, Derek Jarman’s historical drama about the life of the baroque painter and bisexual libertine Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, with Tilda Swinton as one of the artist’s favorite models and sexual partners.
The continued mainstreaming of LGBTQ+ stories in popular media, as seen with well-regarded movies such as Blue Moon, The History of Sound, The Wedding Banquet, and Ponyboi, and the cult TV series Heated Rivalry, doesn’t mean that Frameline50 is any less relevant or necessary today. It could be argued that the festival’s half-century run was significant in raising public awareness to the point where movies made with queer characters and themes are no longer as uncommon as in more repressive times. With a considerable and vocal segment of modern society devolving into bigotry and actively expressing homophobia, it’s more important than ever for Frameline50 to continue its mission and give a platform to the next generation of LGBTQ+ filmmakers.
Tickets for all Frameline50 programs are currently on sale at frameline.org.
