Pink Narcissus

(Dir: James Bidgood, 1971)

The entire film is an extended day-dream, in which a young man’s erotic fantasies cluster like a bunch of juicy glistening grapes. He is a hustler who dreams of harems, of plenty, of power, impossibly beautiful men, and luxuriousness, in a technicolour world. A bona fide underground film, Pink Narcissus was shot in the 1960s with no money and a cheap camera, mostly in the flat of its director James Bidgood. But Bidgood was a photographer, and he had worked as a drag queen, so he could find the perfect frame, and he knew all there is to know about the alchemy of costume and makeup. Bidgood got random young men to act in the film, none of whom were actors. But many were sex workers, professionals in becoming, and they turned themselves into gods. Bringing together MGM musicals and his own New York, Bidgood gave birth to a brave new queer world in film.

SEASON 9: OFF THE WALL!

Join us as we celebrate the weird and wonderful and forgotten heritage of unclassifiable queer films. Unique propositions, with just one thing in common: a touch of divine madness.

Queer films have been thrilling and enlightening audiences since the prehistory of cinema (two women kissing in 1888 in Muibridge’s Plate 444, or two men dancing together in 1895 in Dickson’s Experimental Sound Film), and will continue to do so in the future of cinema (see Ximena Cuevas’ experimental lesbian videoart, or Yobert Yang’s cottaging simulation videogame The Tearoom, of 2017). Queer-friendly and LGBTQ filmmakers have made movies in every genre: romance, documentary, thriller, fantasy, drama, adventure, horror, musical. AND they have also made movies that are impossible to classify… Because they don’t want to be classified. Because they rather invent their own genres. Because they want to use a secret code. Because they don’t care if they’re seen as camp, mad, fab, or ‘gas’. The word “queer” originally meant ‘weird’. Join us as we celebrate the weird and wonderful and forgotten heritage of unclassifiable queer films. Unique propositions, with just one thing in common: a touch of divine madness.