Film & TV Lunch Club: June 2020 - Pride
Pride, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Tangerine
The titles to watch/discuss for this month’s theme of ‘Pride’ in order to celebrate all things LGBTQ+ and to mark Pride Month are below. You can watch just one or all of them, as well as supplementing with your own TV and film choices if you wish – please see the long list of 'Optional Extras' below for suggestions.
🏳️🌈 June Selection 🏳️🌈
Pride Official Launch Trailer | Pathe UK
1. Pride (2014; Dir: Matthew Warchus) Biography/Comedy/Drama: U.K. gay activists work to help miners during their lengthy strike of the National Union of Mineworkers in the summer of 1984.
2. The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018; Dir: Desiree Akhavan) Drama: In 1993, a teenage girl is forced into a gay conversion therapy center by her conservative guardians.
3. Tangerine (2018; Dir: Sean Baker) Comedy/crime/drama: A hooker tears through Tinseltown on Christmas Eve searching for the pimp who broke her heart. Review here, but may contain spoilers so don't read until after you've watched!
🎬 Optional Extras 🎬
Other notable films/TV shows suggested for the theme:
o Milk - The story of Harvey Milk and his struggles as an American gay activist who fought for gay rights and became California's first openly gay elected official.
o Young Soul Rebels - Youth culture meets identity politics in this part-thriller, part-gay love story set in London in 1977, days before the Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations.
o The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - Two drag performers and a transgender woman travel across the desert to perform their unique style of cabaret.
o The Danish Girl - A fictitious love story loosely inspired by the lives of Danish artists Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. Lili and Gerda's marriage and work evolve as they navigate Lili's groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer.
o Moonlight - A young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood.
o Call Me By Your Name - In 1980s Italy, romance blossoms between a seventeen-year-old student and the older man hired as his father's research assistant.
o Kontrola / Control - Polish web series that follows the relationship between two women, Natalia and Majka (Episode 1 here).
o Love is Strange - After Ben and George get married, George is fired from his teaching post, forcing them to stay with friends separately while they sell their place and look for cheaper housing -- a situation that weighs heavily on all involved.
o Certain Woman - The lives of three women intersect in small-town America, where each is imperfectly blazing a trail.
o A Fantastic Woman - Marina, a transgender woman who works as a waitress and moonlights as a nightclub singer, is bowled over by the death of her older boyfriend.
o My Own Private Idaho - Two best friends living on the streets of Portland as hustlers embark on a journey of self discovery and find their relationship stumbling along the way.
o Mysterious Skin - A teenage hustler and a young man obsessed with alien abductions cross paths, together discovering a horrible, liberating truth.
o Blue is the Warmest Colour - Adèle's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire and to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adèle grows, seeks herself, loses herself, and ultimately finds herself through love and loss.
o The Children's Hour - A troublemaking student at a girls' school accuses two teachers of being lesbians.
o Love, Simon - Simon Spier keeps a huge secret from his family, his friends and all of his classmates: he's gay. When that secret is threatened, Simon must face everyone and come to terms with his identity.
o Dating Amber - Two school friends decide to start a pretend straight relationship in an effort to fit in.
o Circus of Books - In 1976 a couple take over an adult book store, and the store becomes the biggest distributor of gay porn in the United States.
o Paris is Burning - A chronicle of New York's drag scene in the 1980s, focusing on balls, voguing and the ambitions and dreams of those who gave the era its warmth and vitality.
o Queer Eye - A new Fab Five set out to help people refine their wardrobes, grooming, diet, cultural pursuits, and home décor.
o Boy Erased - The son of a Baptist preacher unwillingly participates in a church-supported gay conversion program after being forcibly outed to his parents.
o San Junipero (Episode from Black Mirror - Season 3, Episode 4) - When Yorkie and Kelly visit San Junipero, a fun-loving beach town full of surf, sun and sex, their lives are changed.
o Carol - An aspiring photographer develops an intimate relationship with an older woman in 1950s New York.
o Disobedience - A woman returns to her Orthodox Jewish community that shunned her for her attraction to a female childhood friend. Once back, their passions reignite as they explore the boundaries of faith and sexuality.
o But I'm a Cheerleader - A naive teenager is sent to rehab camp when her straitlaced parents and friends suspect her of being a lesbian.
o 120 battements par minute / 120 BPM - Members of the advocacy group ACT UP Paris demand action by the government and pharmaceutical companies to combat the AIDS epidemic in the early 1990s.
If you would like to recommend other films, TV shows or documentaries for the long list, please let me know.