Fireworks + Un Chant d’amour + Blood of a Poet
An Early Clue to the New Direction: Queer Cinema Before Stonewall
April 22 - May 1, 2016
This program features three essential instances of early queer cinema: Fireworks, one of Kenneth Anger’s first movies; Un Chant d’amour, the only film by writer Jean Genet; and Jean Cocteau’s Blood of a Poet, a richly imaginative allegory of aesthetic invention in which an artist journeys through the looking glass.
Pre-show reception at 7:00pm in the Furman Gallery, sponsored by The Village Voice, open to all ticketholders.
Rounding out the opening night of Film Society’s pre-Stonewall series are three essential instances of early queer cinema, beginning with Fireworks, one of Kenneth Anger’s first films. The movie develops like a fever dream, in which a young man, played by the director, ventures into the night and encounters a gang of hunky sailors, ready to rough him up. “This flick,” Anger quipped, “is all I have to say about being 17, the United States’ Navy, American Christmas and the 4th of July.” Equally oneiric is Un Chant d’amour—the only film by writer Jean Genet—a study of two prisoners in adjacent cells who share moments of great tenderness despite the wall that divides them. Both of these works, like many other experimental films, share a precedent in Cocteau’s Blood of a Poet, a richly imaginative allegory of aesthetic invention in which an artist journeys through the looking glass. Fireworks 35mm restored print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Preservation funding provided by The Film Foundation.
Fireworks
Kenneth Anger, USA, 1947, 35mm, 20m
Un Chant d’amour
Jean Genet, France, 1950, 35mm, 26m
Blood of a Poet
Jean Cocteau, France, 1932, 35mm, 55m
French with English subtitles
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