Summertime is always a big season at the box office, and it’s also the time for Pride Month at Milwaukee Film.
The Downer and Oriental Theatres will be hosting two, month-long film series, including Queerious, highlighting a few queer-coded classics, and the return of Summer CAMP! — celebrating over-the-top and outrageously fun films that have achieved cult status in the LGBTQ+ community.
To learn more, Lake Effect’s Audrey Nowakowski is joined by Jack Feria, GenreQueer programmer at Milwaukee Film.
Summer Camp 2
June 5: Victor/Victoria
"This is about a soprano singer who is not finding enough work. It's the 1930s. [She] meets someone and decides that she might have a better chance at getting a job if she poses as a man and, along the way, kind of falls for one of the significant figures of the club .... It's a lot of fun,” Feria says.
June 12: But I’m a Cheerleader
“It's about a teenage girl who is basically told by the adults in her life that she is queer and her response to that is, ‘But I'm a cheerleader,' the title of the film. It's so much fun and one where I'm expecting people will be saying the lines at the screen [along with the film] and we kind of encourage that,” Feria says.
June 20: She’s the He!
“Before graduation, Ethan and Alex pose as trans women in a last ditch effort to quell gay rumors. It's all a joke until Ethan realizes: she really is trans. The two must reckon with their changing friendship, coming out, and coming-of-age,” reads Milwaukee Film’s description for “She’s the He!”
June 27: Burlesque
Feria says, “After Summer CAMP! last year, there were so many suggestions for keeping it alive .... The film we heard the most was ‘Burlesque’ .... [People] want to see it in a theater to laugh at the incredible, ridiculous dialogue and the number of cameos and appearances by famous people. You have Alan Cumming, who's in the movie for 90 seconds and then disappears. That's always great. Kristen Bell is in it as well.”
Queerious
June 6: Johnny Guitar
Feria says, “This is one of Martin Scorsese's favorite movies. There is just this incredible tension between Joan Crawford and the villain of the film, who is a woman. It’s also just a genuinely thrilling Western. You can clearly see that Joan Crawford and this other woman were in love with each other – and they kind of hate each other for being in love with each other. But it's a thing that you wouldn't read into it unless you are queer or you have queer folks around you ... and that's kind of the main point of Queerius: on the surface, folks might not find these films to be immediately queer classics, but they indeed are.”
June 14: Rope
Feria says, “Rope is this great one-shot, kind of gimmick film that Alfred Hitchcock did of these two young men who, again, are clearly in love with each other, who kill someone thinking they're going to get away with the perfect murder. Knock, knock, Jimmy Stewart comes into the picture — who's kind of playing like an old queen. It's just like a really delicious sort of movie.”
June 20: The Color Purple
Feria says, “All of the films that are in Queerius might not say the word queer or gay or lesbian, but it's absolutely there. If the language isn't there, what's happening on screen, the tension, the performances of the actors are absolutely leaning towards, ‘Hey, this is a queer story.’ ‘The Color Purple’ is fantastic. I know that a lot of folks were revisiting it after the latest movie-musical version came out. It's a great one to see on the big screen.”
June 28: Challengers
“Tennis player turned coach, Tashi, has taken her husband, Art, and transformed him into a world-famous Major champion. To jolt him out of his recent losing streak, she signs him up for a "Challenger" event — close to the lowest level of pro tournament — where he finds himself standing across the net from his former best friend and Tashi's former boyfriend,” reads Milwaukee Film’s description for “Challengers.”
Additional Programming
June 12-14: Stop! That! Train!
“Two train stewardess BFFs switch from a dull railway to the luxurious Glamazonian Express. During a massive storm, they must work with snooty first-class crew and President Gagwell to prevent disaster in LA,” reads Milwaukee Film’s description for “Stop! That! Train!”
June 13: The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Feria says, “The film is performed with a full cast lip-syncing and performing as if they are in the film as well. There are props. You get to buy props as well that you'll throw at the screen and be a part of the show. You are encouraged to shout lines back at the characters that are both on screen and in the theater performing the film that you’re watching. It is a unique experience — essential to the queer experience, I would say.”
June 19: WMSE Presents Friday Night Freak Show: ‘Paris Is Burning’
Feria says, “’Paris is Burning’ is just nonstop iconic scenes that I think, if you’re a fan of ‘RuPaul's Drag Race’ and you haven't seen this documentary, you're going to watch and just say over and over again, ‘that's where that comes from? .... ‘Friday Night Freak Show’ is so much fun. There's a live DJ that performs about 1/2 hour set before the film begins. Then you settle in for one of the greatest documentaries of all time in the greatest place to watch movies.”
Milwaukee Film is a financial supporter of WUWM.
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