What’s Reeling Out This September!

September 2022 and ReelOut enters pumpkin spice season and the return of the students with some great films each Thursday as part of our “You’re The Inspiration Queer Movie Socials”.

We’ll be now offering these FREE films at 6pm rather than 8pm starting September 1st and ALL screenings moving forward will be at our Library space at Trellis 844a Princess Street.  Everyone is always welcome!

September 1st 6pm But I’m A Cheerleader

Directed by Jamie Babbit/USA/85min/1999

Megan (Natasha Lyonne) is an all-American girl. She’s a cheerleader and has a boyfriend, but she doesn’t like kissing him very much, and she’s pretty tactile with her cheerleader friends, and she only has pictures of girls up in her locker. Her parents and friends conclude that she *must* be gay and send her off to “sexual redirection” school, full of admittedly homosexual misfits, where she can learn how to be straight. Will Megan be turned around to successful heterosexuality, or will she succumb to her love for the beautiful Graham (Clea DuVall)? Featuring an All-Star supporting cast including RuPaul, Mink Stole, Michelle Williams, Cathy Moriarty and Melanie Lynskey.

September 8th 6pm Outrageous

Directed by Richard Benner/Canada/96min/1977

Robin Turner is a gay hairdresser. He hates his job. He loves old movies and will do his customers’ hair in the style of an iconic movie star if they’ll let him, and even if they don’t. At his apartment, he is harboring his medically diagnosed schizophrenic friend, Liza Connors, who can no longer stand being institutionalized. After Liza convinces Robin to attend a drag ball dressed as Tallulah Bankhead, Robin begins to feel liberated to follow her dreams of becoming a drag queen.

 

September 15th 6pm Go Fish

Directed by Rose Troche/USA/83min/1994

After leaving behind her girlfriend to attend college in Chicago, young lesbian Max West (Guinevere Turner) is introduced to Ely (V.S. Brodie), a slightly older woman with quirky habits. While Max and Ely quickly develop an attraction to each another, a poorly timed phone call from Max’s long-distance girlfriend, Kate, brings things to an abrupt halt. Meanwhile Max’s roommate, Kia (T. Wendy McMillan), helps her girlfriend, Evy (Migdalia Melendez), cope with some tough times at home.

September 22nd 6pm Beautiful Thing

Directed by Hettie Macdonald/UK/90min/1996

A tender love story set during a hot summer on a South-East London housing estate. Jamie, a relatively unpopular lad who bunks off school to avoid football, lives next door to Ste, a more popular athletic lad but who is frequently beaten up by his father and older brother. Such an episode of violence brings Jamie and Ste together: Sandra (Jamie’s mum) offers refugee to Ste, who has to ‘top-and-tail’ with Jamie. Hence, the story tells of their growing attraction for one another, from initial lingering glances to their irrefutable love, which so magnificently illustrated at the end of the film. It deals with the tribulations of coming to terms with their sexuality and of others finding out, in light of Sandra’s unwavering loyalty and defence of Jamie and the fear of repercussion should Ste’s family find out. The plot is set against sub-texts of Sandra’s desire to manage her own pub, and thus escape the estate, and of her new relationship with her hippy boyfriend Tony; and of Leah, the brassy girl next door who has been expelled from school and spends her time listening to Mama Cass records and tripping on a variety of drugs.

September 29th 6pm My Beautiful Laundrette

Directed by Stephen Frears/UK/97min/1985

Much of the Pakistani Hussein family has settled in London, striving for the riches promised by Thatcherism. Nasser and his right hand man, Salim, have a number of small businesses and they do whatever they need to make money, even if the activities are illegal. As such, Nasser and his immediate family live more than a comfortable lifestyle, and he flaunts his riches whenever he can. Meanwhile, his brother, alcoholic Ali, once a famous journalist in Pakistan, lives in a seedy flat with his son, Omar. Ali’s life in London is not as lucrative in part because of his left leaning politics, which does not mesh with the ideals of Thatcherism. To help his brother, Nasser gives Omar a job doing menial labor. But Omar, with bigger plans, talks Nasser into letting him manage Nasser’s run down laundrette. Omar seizes what he sees as an opportunity to make the laundrette a success, and employs an old friend, Johnny – who has been most recently running around with a gang of white punks – to help him. Johnny and Omar have a special relationship, but one that has gone through its ups and downs, the downs fostered by anti-immigration sentiments of white England. Omar and Johnny each have to evaluate if their ideals of success are worth it at all cost.