In Outfest’s absence, let Queer Rhapsody fill up your movie plans

This weekend kicks off Queer Rhapsody, a new series of screenings for contemporary LGBTQ+ cinema, which runs from Friday, July 19 through Sunday, July 28.

The series fills a gap left by Outfest’s recent public troubles, which was one of the most prominent film circuits for queer media in L.A. But the creators of Queer Rhapsody aren’t looking for it to be a replacement.

Instead, they’re focused on making this effort as community focused as it can be.

How Queer Rhapsody began

May Hong HaDuong, director of the UCLA Film and Television Archive, started thinking about it nine months ago when it became evident LGBTQ+ films wouldn’t have a stage like previous summers.

The desire also comes at a time when gay and transgender needs have been politicized across the country. HaDuong, who was raised in a conservative area of Huntington Beach, says film can bring like-minded folks together and allow them to see a new world on screen.

“I viscerally on a day-to-day level think about this in terms of the community I grew up in and the people who may not have spaces to be themselves,” HaDuong said. “My immediate reaction out of the pain and sorrow of that is what can we bring and come together for that?”

Enter, Queer Rhapsody.

To build and curate the lineup, she reached out to Martine McDonald to be the series’ creative director and senior programmer. McDonald used to work for Outfest prior to last year’s dramatic staff layoff, but she isn’t interested in following any templates.

“As programmers and community engaged citizens and cultural workers, it wasn’t about any particular institution, but it was just an opportunity to amplify and celebrate,” McDonald said.

What to expect from the series

Queer Rhapsody will showcase more than 50 narrative, documentary short, and feature films. You can get tickets here. HaDuong and McDonald highlighted a few.

Documentaries and features:

• On opening night, viewers can check out director Drew Denny’s documentary feature film Second Nature, narrated by Elliot Page. The film follows trans biologist Joan Roughgarden as she meets scientists exploring how more than 1,500 animals engage in same-sex behavior.
  
• Director Julia Fuhr Mann’s Not a Competition But I'm Winning also explores the experiences of historically excluded LGBTQ+ athletes.
  
• Director Silas Howard's feature film, Darby and the Dead. A queer prom party will follow the showing on July 23.
  
• Feature film The Queen of My Dreams from director Fawzia Mirza, called a “strong and magnetic” debut by HaDuong. It’s about a Pakistani Canadian young woman who travels home after her father’s death and explores her memories by traveling through time in a Bollywood-esque dream sequence of flashbacks.

Sets of shorts:

• Queer Sanctuaries, which showcases where LGBTQ+ people find belonging, including a documentary on local favorite Stud Country, the gay country dance night at Club Bahia.
  
• Love in focus: Black Queer Rhapsody, a collection which focuses on Black queer films that feature drag queens, Black elders and coming of age stories.

A film still from Fawzia Mirza's "The Queen of My Dreams."

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Courtesy Baby Daal Productions

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The team hasn’t decided whether or not the series will be annual. HaDuong agrees that this isn’t about replicating what’s come before, but rather serving a passionate community of film lovers who need a new spot.

“I’d be remiss not to say things are happening in this city and we are all affected by it,” HaDuong said. “Honestly, when we think about queer cinema, we think not about any single organization, any single type of film, any single filmmaker, but that sort of rhapsody that we do feel when we’re in a theater with each other.”

The team also includes more folks with serious resumes.

Queer Rhapsody’s senior programmer Moi Santos is the manager of equity, impact and belonging at the Sundance Institute; senior programmer Daniel Crooke comes from the Vancouver Queer Film Festival and is a former Outfest programmer; and associate programmer Natalie Jasmine Harris has a film showing that’s also played at Sundance.

A film still from director Justice Jamal Jones' "How to Raise a Black Boy," a short that's showing in Black Queer Rhapsody.

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Courtesy Teri Bond

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Where you can watch

Theaters have been picked from across the city to reach as many folks as possible.

You can check out showings at each of these five spots:

• American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood
• American Cinematheque at the Los Feliz 3 in Los Feliz
• Eagle Theatre at Vidiots in Eagle Rock
• Oculus Hall at The Broad in downtown L.A.
• The Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum in Westwood

Billy Wilder Theater showings are free, but tickets are on a first come, first serve basis. They suggest that you get to screenings at least an hour in advance to claim a spot.