Sunday, July 19, 5:00 p.m. | "Bathing suit competition is the toughest. It's right down to the nitty-gritty. No feather, nothin', just them." Shot over five days in the lead-up to the Miss All-American Camp Beauty Pageant of 1967, THE QUEEN eavesdrops on a cadre of female impersonators as they primp, preen, sing showtunes, and turn New York upside down in search of the right wig. The pageant was promoted as a "satirical happening" and "psychedelic rewrite of Hellzapoppin'" mounted and hosted by Jack Doroshow, who held court as Flawless Sabrina. ("I'm 24 years old, but in drag I come across like 110, and I do this whole bar mitzvah mother thing.") A priceless snapshot of a pre-Stonewall underground of drag queens, gay men, trans women, and performers (including Mario Montez, muse to Jack Smith and Andy Warhol) coming together and kvetching and kvelling for the camera as if their lives depended on it, THE QUEEN remains an endlessly quotable documentary and wellspring of fashion advice. (Kyle Westphal, Chicago Film Society) 35mm from Elizabeth Purchell
Preceded by: MEET … BRADLEY HARRISON PICKLESIMER (1988. dir. Heather McAdams, USA, 32 min., In English / Format: 16mm)
Bradley Harrison Picklesimer is your favorite "redneck in sheep's clothing," proprietor of Club LMNOP, Lexington's neighborhood drag bar with the best jukebox in town. This offbeat portrait film offers Bradley a platform to share his hairdo tips, his tragic family history. and his unfiltered opinions about everything from queer youth ("a social embarrassment on every level") to Mommie Dearest herself Joan Crawford (innocent!). Initially conceived by Heather McAdams as a short documentary on Kentucky's under-the-radar drag scene, MEET … BRADLEY HARRISON PICKLESIMER grew until it became as expansive and unpredictable as its subject, an experimental collage festooned with Flintstones clips, hair cream commercials, and all the junkshop connoisseur's details that make McAdams an irreplaceable filmmaker. (Kyle Westphal, Chicago Film Society) 16mm from Chicago Film Society
Chicago Film Society Presents | Ongoing Series
Founded by projectionists in 2011, the Chicago Film Society promotes the exhibition and preservation of film in context. CFS screenings provide access to the restoration efforts of archives, studios, and private collectors, the work of artists exploring the film medium today, and the experience of seeing film projected live in a theater, with an audience. As physical artifacts, the film prints we show hold the stories told by films—but also the stories of the industries that produced them, the labs that printed them, the places where they were exhibited, and the people who watched them. Through screenings, writing, film preservation projects, and workshops, CFS works to make all of this context visible and accessible to the public. Learn more about Chicago Film Society at chicagofilmsociety.org.
The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu