Arts & Entertainment
Virtual screening set for restored doc about queer San Francisco history
Quarantined documentary fans can get a rare glimpse at pre-Stonewall queer history next week, thanks to San Francisco’s Tenderloin Museum and Roxie Theatre, who are joining forces to present a digital screening of a rarely-seen film delving into the Tenderloin’s early queer movements during the ’60s and ’70s.
“Gay San Francisco,” created by filmmaker Jonathan Raymond, gives an unabashedly raw window into queer life decades ago. “A true mondo film with no shortage of pornographic material,” according to publicity materials, it offers “scenes from San Francisco’s thriving LGBTQ culture, interviews with gay men and transwomen, and rare pieces from a Halloween drag show at the historic On The Levee gay bar, emceed by the legendary Charles Pierce.” Tackling “gay and erotic themes with a respect and humor that was all but unheard of at the time of its shooting,” Raymond’s unusual movie “gives a shockingly complete depiction of homosexual life in […] the Tenderloin, San Francisco’s first queer neighborhood.”
The obscure documentary was discovered by filmmakers Susan Stryker and Victor Silverman, who used material from it in their Emmy-winning documentary “Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria,” after being presented with the original 16mm film by its cinematographer, Ed Muckerman. Restored from the original print and transferred to digital in a collaboration between Tenderloin Museum and California Preservation Program, this extended version features, among other new scenes, lesbian subject matter and a fetish “tickle sacrifice” scene.
The virtual event will feature an introduction by Stryker, who in addition to being a filmmaker, is a lauded historian and longtime Tenderloin Museum collaborator, She will be joined by fellow San Francisco queer history expert Kirk Frederick, the author of “Write That Down! The Comedy of Male Actress Charles Pierce” and co-author (with Christopher Stone) of an upcoming book, “The Gayest Generation,” that looks at the people, places, and events of the ’70s that propelled the Gay Rights movement forward in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Both Stryker and Frederick will participate in a Q&A immediately following the film’s screening.
Presented by TLM Online and the Roxie Virtual Theatre, “Gay San Francisco” will screen digitally on Tuesday, April 20, from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM PDT. Tickets are free, though a donation of $10 is suggested from those who have the means, and can be reserved on Eventbrite.
Celebrity News
More than 1 million people attend Madonna concert in Rio
Free event took place on Copacabana Beach on Saturday
An estimated 1.6 million people on Saturday attended Madonna’s free concert on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach.
The concert, which was the last one as part of Madonna’s Celebration Tour, included a tribute to people lost to AIDS.
Bob the Drag Queen introduced Madonna before the concert began. Pabllo Vittar, a Brazilian drag queen and singer, and Anitta, a bisexual pop star who was born in Rio’s Honório Gurgel neighborhood, also joined Madonna on stage.
Congresswoman Erika Hilton, a Black travesti and former sex worker, and Rio Municipal Councilwoman Mônica Benício, the widow of Marielle Franco, a bisexual Rio Municipal Councilwoman who was assassinated in 2018, are among those who attended the concert.
“Madonna showed that we fight important fights for the human rights of Black (people), young (people), women and LGBTQIA+ people, and against all injustice, discrimination, and violence,” said Associaçao Nacional de Travestis e Transexuais (National Association of Travestis and Transsexuals), a Brazilian trans rights group known by the acronym ANTRA, on its X account. “What they call identitarianism’ is our subversion to the retrograde and conservative tackiness that plagues the country.”
The Associated Press reported the concert was Madonna’s biggest ever.
The DC Center for the LGBTQ Community, SMYAL and Rainbow Families sponsored Gay Day at the Zoo on Sunday at the Smithsonian National Zoo. The Smithsonian observed International Family Equality Day with special exhibits and an event space.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Covering Gay Day at the Zoo for @WashBlade . Here at @NationalZooDC pic.twitter.com/LqgGNOOAiM
— Michael Patrick Key (@MichaelKeyWB) May 5, 2024
Photos
PHOTOS: Taste of Point
Annual fundraiser held for LGBTQ youth scholarship, mentorship organization
The Point Foundation held its annual Taste of Point fundraiser at Room & Board on May 2.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)