BAM’s Queering the Canon series returns with a ‘Totally Radical’ agenda

By Joshua Encinias

Queering the Canon returns to Brooklyn Academy of Music for the third year running from April 6 to 10. And this time, the film series is prepared to get “Totally Radical.”

That, anyway, is the theme for this year’s slate of movies, which toy with the notion of what’s considered normal in motion pictures. “Canon” is of course a word frequently used in regards to religious texts or … franchises like “Star Wars.” A canon is essentially a collection of works considered representative of a period or genre. “Totally Radical” aims to blow a hole through that idea, with queer narratives from across the past six decades.

“Singing in the Rain” might top the list of the most popular mainstream musical fan favorites, for example, but here organizers make the case that 1993’s “Zero Patients,” a dark comedy musical about the AIDS epidemic, is just as integral to the queer canon.

Programmed by NewFest, New York’s longest running LGBTQ movie organization, Queering the Canon’s goal is to showcase venerable queer filmmakers to new audiences. This year’s series offers a wealth of riches and welcomes veteran filmmakers Gregg Araki (“The Doom Generation”) and Silas Howard (“By Hook or by Crook”) for in-person Q&As.

“As friends rewatched their favorite classic queer films during the pandemic, it gave us the idea to introduce older queer movies to a new generation of moviegoers,” says Nick McCarthy, NewFest’s director of programming.

NewFest’s annual tentpole film festival showcases the best in current queer moviemaking. That includes everything from the mundane, to movies you might be afraid to show grandma. Queering the Canon launched in 2021 with the theme “BIPOC New York,” highlighting Black, indigenous, and filmmakers of color from Staten Island to the Bronx. Last year’s theme was rom-coms. And now, in response to anti-LGBTQ legislation expanding across the country, Queering the Canon is getting radical.

“What does radical mean to queer people? It means change, activism, and being free in yourself,” says McCarthy. “We see being a queer person, now, as a radical act.”

The movies programmed for “Totally Radical” honor the freedom of expression to be one’s queer self, however that looks.

Tickets for “Totally Radical” are available for in-person screenings at BAM and also to stream nationwide.

NewFest programmers Nick McCarthy and Kim Garcia walked us through the highlights of this year’s line-up.

“Doom Generation” director’s cut (1995)
Director: Gregg Araki
Nick McCarthy: We have the New York premiere of “The Doom Generation” 4K restoration, which also includes scenes that were previously cut from the film. Until recently, this film had not been seen in its complete form since it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1995. It’s a powder keg of youth culture, teen nihilism, setting the tone for a film that is transgressive but poppy and jubilant in its own kind of sinister ways. We knew that it was a radical act to make this very aggressive film about the fear that queer folks may feel in public spaces and bringing that in a full-throated, very queer, spit in the face of authority vibe.

“Born in Flames” (1983)
Director: Lizzie Borden
Kim Garcia: “Born in Flames” is a dystopian vision of a socialist government that’s come to power, but intersectional issues of racism, sexism, and homophobia are still rampant. The movie shows different radical lesbian groups coming together to really engage and subvert what the government is ignoring and continues to ignore. There’s an iconic scene of a woman being sexually assaulted and a group coming to interrogate and stop that situation from happening. That’s incredibly powerful and empowering for people and we’re showing its amazing 35mm restored print.

“By Hook or by Crook” (2001)
Director(s): Harry Dodge and Silas Howard
Nick McCarthy: It’s a powerful story about two transmasculine outcasts who find their way to each other. They navigate love, their distance and disconnection from their own biological families, and how they find comfort in each other in acts of radical tenderness.

“Funeral Parade of Roses” (1969)
Director: Toshio Matsumoto
Kim Garcia: This series isn’t just radical stories, but also radical forms they can take. “Funeral Parade of Roses” came to mind as a film that is radical both in its story with a kaleidoscopic analysis of identity, but also the first-person documentary-style interviews included within the film were groundbreaking at the time. It’s something we’re starting to see inspire more and more contemporary filmmakers. The movie’s form also presents a balance to some of the more straightforward narratives we included.

“Zero Patience” (1993)
Director: John Greyson
Nick McCarthy: We absolutely saw a place for this because it directly confronts misinformation that was spread around the AIDS and HIV epidemic. We’ve been calling it an alt pop, punk musical. And we couldn’t think of a more radical kind of appellation than a phrase like that. It’s great to see this barnburner of a film that confronts how the government scapegoated Gaëtan Dugas as HIV “Patient Zero.” Is actually a movie of reclamation and redemption.