QUEER CINEMA CLUB
Animation by Paul Twa
Queer Cinema Club is more than a film series: it’s a mission to bring Toronto’s LGBTQ folks together in celebration of some of the best queer cinema ever made.
Every month at the Paradise Theatre, curator and host Peter Knegt will be offering queers (and anyone who loves them) a classic queer film, special guests and performers, and some good old fashioned drinks and conversation in the Paradise’s lobby bar. Each film is paired with a different local queer artist, who designs an original poster for the screening (which will be available for purchase the night of the event).
Up next…
Are you ready for a Motherfest?
On two consecutive Wednesdays surrounding the Mother of all Days, we will be showing two movies that aren’t just about mothers but also star MOTHER: Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, perhaps the ultimate contemporary cinematic examples of the (admittedly extremely overused!) slang term.
On May 7th, we will be showing Luca Guadagnino’s 2009 breakout film I Am Love, which stars his muse Swinton (who learned to speak Italian AND Russian for the role) as the matriarch of a wealthy Milanese family. A luscious melodrama with tremendous style (and some queer twists!), Swinton and Guadagnino spent 11 years working to get it made and we should all be oh so grateful for their efforts. If you have not seen this on the big screen get ready to swoon.
Then on the Wednesday next door (May 14th), we will be doubling down with a film featuring a considerably more monstrous mother: Savage Grace, which stars Moore as real-life heiress and socialite Barbara Daly Baekeland, who has an intensely dysfunctional relationship with her schizophrenic gay son Antony (Eddie Redmayne). Directed by the great Tom Kalin and produced by queer cinema legend Christine Vachon, this 2007 true crime drama is a fucking wild ride that we do not recommend viewing with your own mother! (And before the film, we will be screening local filmmaker Beth Warrian’s wonderful 2022 short film Adore 😍)
Thank you so much to Kneekey Pea for creating the motherlode of dual posters for these two films, both of which will be available at the screenings. Tickets now on sale here. See you in May, you motherloving queers!