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Author: Isa Bulnes-Shaw

is The Frida’s Volunteer Coordinator. A former Box-Office Manager, grant-writing intern, and volunteer extraordinaire for the theater, she’s been deeply involved with the cinema since 2019. A life-long fan of movies and the arts, she is especially passionate about animation and cartoons, Isa has experience curating a local film festival, writing for the El Don newspaper, and served as head writer and editor a popular fan-made visual novel based on an award-winning cartoon. A graduate in Psychology from Cal State Long Beach with a double minor in American Studies and Art History with a passion for disco, social justice, and animals– well, she’s got a whole lot goin’ on in that noggin’ of hers.
Frida After Dark
Featured / Highlight

Frida After Dark: July 2021

Frida writing team member Isa Bulnes-Shaw gives readers the scoop on July’s Frida After Dark line-up, which also doubles as our Verhoeven Month series!

Frida After Dark
Film Criticism

Frida After Dark: June 2021

Frida writing team member Isa Bulnes-Shaw gives readers a sneak peek at Pride Month’s Frida After Dark line-up.

Scans Of Twilight Movie Companion By Catherine Hardwicke Twilight Movie 28000346 1766 1458
Film Criticism

Twilight vs New Moon: The Difference is Night and Day

“Even in the most tumultuous points in my relationship with the “Twilight” brand–no matter how much I insisted I was over it, that it was stupid and I just didn’t know any better at the time– the love for first film never disappeared.”

Cats Movie 2019
Film Criticism

Year of Cats

This year might’ve been the Year of the Rat in the Chinese zodiac, but for myself it was certainly the year of the cat.

Pasted Image 0
Film Criticism

Simply Meant To Be: A Look At Nightmare Before Christmas’ Lost Lore and Secret Endings

Take a peak at the secrets and lost lore of the Tim Burton-produced Halloween classic, The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Cameron Espisito 2
Film Criticism

Stand Up For Pride Month

In addition to the black, queer standup specials featured earlier this month, there are a good amount of LGBTQ+ comedians whose work is worth a watch. Veterans and newbies to the world of standup alike, all of the following queer comedians bring their own style and flavor to the table and are helping to make comedy better reflect the world around us, whether explicitly about queer experiences or not.

Kbell
Film Criticism

11 Standup Specials You Should Watch Right Now

While everyone should be educating (and reeducating) themselves on how to be actively anti-racist through the endless books, documentaries, and lectures laying out the plight of black people in America spanning hundreds of years; we can also support black folks by supporting their work.

Image24
Film Criticism

Movies You Didn’t Know Were Book Adaptations

The Princess Bride, directed by Rob Reiner and released in 1987, is an enchanting adventure-filled film that’s beloved by multiple generations of kids and adults alike. The fairytale story itself has been entertaining folks over a decade before that, with The Princess Bride book first published in 1973.

Frida After Dark
Film Criticism

Frida After Dark: March 2020

With not two but five audience-engaging events, the experiential aspect of FAD is really gonna shine through with YOU, the audience!

Space Jam
Animation

Cinematic Crushes: A Retrospective

In just the past decade, conversations about childhood crushes have come to the forefront of the internet, especially thanks to listicles and the web’s unstoppable ability to churn out content for even the most obscure interests.

Frida After Dark
Animation

Frida After Dark: February 2020

Spring hasn’t sprung quite yet, but February ushers in the season of love! Whether you’re going steady, happily single, or a member of the Lonely Hearts Club, this unique Frida After Dark lineup will have you seeing red in the best way possible! With “sensual” roses, painted lips, and buckets of blood abound, we’re wasting no opportunity to jam-pack all twenty-nine days!

The Lighthouse
Film Criticism

The Lighthouse: Mythic And Multifaceted

Darkness… a thrum slowly creeps its way into your consciousness as the faint wail of a foghorn sounds off and a thick curtain of grey fog appears. The faintest ghost of a vessel breeches through, and the thrumming is now a drone as we’re shown the crashing waves against the bow’s edge in time with the machinery’s rhythmic, laborious churning.

Polyester
Comedy

The Art of Stink: 7 Movies Made Better With Odorama

December at The Frida Cinema saw not one but two screenings of Polyester, John Waters’ delightfully trashy send-up of romantic melodramas.

December Frida After Dark
Animation

Frida After Dark: December 2019

Ho ho ho! Tis December once again and The Frida Cinema is celebrating the most wonderful time of the year in style! Frida After Dark’s programming continues to bring fan favorites, cult classics, and obscure oddities into the spotlight but with all the jingle bells and whistles to make things merry and bright! Whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, or nothing at all, the hilarity and madness this month is non-denominational – and as diverse as the holiday season itself!

Frida After Dark November
Comedy

Frida After Dark: November 2019

Though October is dead and gone, there’s no need to despair! The thrills and chills never stop at The Frida Cinema thanks to our most spook-tacular series, Frida After Dark! A dedicated celebration of all things cult classic and crowd-pleasing, weekend nights every month bring you all the bizarre mind-benders, macabre slashers, and zombie gore you crave all year-round.