Pride Month is once again upon us, and we at The Frida Cinema have come prepared with apt programming such as The Doom Generation (which will feature an in-person Q&A with actor James Duval on June 3rd), But I’m a Cheerleader, and The Watermelon Woman. Also adding to this inspired line-up is June Volunteer of the Month Annika Faustino, who has chosen Celine Sciamma’s 2019 festival hit, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, as her VOTM pick.
How did you find out about The Frida Cinema?
I found out about The Frida Cinema when I attended the Rocky Horror Picture Show in March of 2022. I stayed here from midnight until 3am, and I really loved the energy of it. I loved the scenery, I loved the people all dressed in costumes, and I really found it interesting because I’ve never seen it in a movie theater, and I just wanted to volunteer after seeing that.
What made you want to volunteer here?
I wanted to volunteer because I was doing freelance work at the time so I was always at home, so I thought The Frida Cinema would be a good environment to socialize in since everyone here likes the same things I do and I want to talk to people with the same interests as me.
Tell us a little bit about Portrait of a Lady on Fire.
Portrait is definitely one of my favorite sapphic love stories. I never really saw sapphic romance when I was younger, it’s kind of hard to find those things, but my friend Grace showed me it during COVID and after that I completely fell in love with it. It was when I started to get into more artsy movies as well, and that’s why it holds a special place in my heart, especially since that is when I started appreciating cinematography.
What were your other choices for Volunteer Pick of the Month?
My other choices were La La Land; I really like romance movies, and I would have chosen The Half of It by Alice Wu, but she doesn’t really show that movie and I just didn’t think it was possible to get it.
What is your favorite Frida memory?
My favorite Frida memory [is] definitely the Twilight Marathon, since it showed me how excited people are to go to the movies, and that crowd was really happy. I loved seeing them freak out over little things like the Team Jacob and Team Edward cookies. It was just so wholesome to see people gathering around The Frida and experiencing happiness over a marathon. It was also really packed, so it was fun.
If you could program any movie here, what would you pick?
I would do The Half of It with a Q&A with Alice Wu afterwards because I want to meet her and talk to her, because she’s an Asian lesbian director, and you don’t really see that in the field.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire screens starting Friday, June 2nd.
Friday, June 2 – 5:15pm
Saturday, June 3 – 3:30pm
Tickets