Death by Unnatural Causes. 1990. USA. Directed by Karen Bellone, Lisa Rinzler. With Sally Norvell, Kid Congo Powers, Hank Dittmar, Liz de Luna, Larry Fessenden. 4K digital restoration courtesy of IndieCollect, funded by the HFPA Trust and IndieCollect donors to the Jane Fonda Fund for Women Directors. World premiere. 18 min.
Greetings from Washington, D.C. 1981. USA. Directed by Lucy Winer. Produced by Robert Epstein, Frances Reid, Greta Schiller, Lucy Winer. Digital restoration by the UCLA Film & Television Archive in conjunction with the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project, with laboratory services provided by Metropolis Post, Audio Mechanics; courtesy of Women Make Movies. New York premiere. 28 min.
Tricia’s Wedding. 1971. USA. Directed by Milton Miron (credited as “Sebastian”). Screenplay by Milton Miron, Robert Patteson, Kreemah Ritz. With Goldie Glitters, The Cockettes. Digital restoration by the UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding provided by Frameline and Outfest, with laboratory services by Roundabout Entertainment, Inc.; courtesy of Frameline. New York premiere. 33 min.
From the AIDS crisis to the turbulent years following the Stonewall uprising, this program covers two decades of protest, expression, and loss. In the elegiac Death by Unnatural Causes (1990), Karen Bellone and Lisa Rinzler capture the rage and bewilderment over the untimely passing of so many friends. Featuring Kid Congo Powers and music by downtown New York exemplars such as Arto Lindsay, Marc Ribot, and John Lurie, the film’s avant-garde aural energy is matched by cinematographer Rinzler’s striking visuals, which are all the more distinctive in IndieCollect’s vibrant restoration.
The Outfest UCLA Legacy Project continues to expand LGBTQ+ history through their restoration efforts, including this important work by trailblazing queer filmmakers Rob Epstein, Frances Reid, Greta Schiller, and Lucy Winer. The group chronicled the first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, held on October 14, 1979, in Greetings from Washington, D.C. (1981).
In Tricia’s Wedding (1971), another restoration from the UCLA Film & Television Archive, San Francisco’s famed hippie troupe the Cockettes put on a drag parody of First Daughter Patricia Nixon’s wedding in an anarchic and fun piece of political theater. It was so incendiary that alarmed Nixon staffers screened it in the White House bomb shelter!
Terry Lawler, who was an interviewer and locations director on Greetings from Washington, D.C., will moderate the post-screening conversation on Tuesday, January 24. Lawler, the former Executive Director of New York Women in Film & Television, is currently the director of the CinemaStreet Women’s Short Screenplay Competition and a media consultant.