You have the right to remain silent…dead silent.
Prepare to question everything you thought you knew about roundhouse kicks, thongs, and katana beheadings as Samurai Cop is finally coming back to The Frida Cinema! And as an extra special added bonus, stick around after the screening for an in-person Q&A with the stars of the film: Matthew Karedas, Cranston Komuro, and Gerald Okamura!
Joe (Matt Hannon, Sylvester Stallone’s one-time bodyguard) is the Samurai Cop, a rock of a man who will do literally whatever it takes to punish criminals—even if that means taking dozens of innocent lives in the process. Teamed with a truly hilarious partner (Mark Frazer), Joe embarks on a mindmelting sex-and-violence-fueled adventure against evil ninjas, drug dealers, and genre legend Robert Z’Dar (Maniac Cop)!
Directed by prolific Iranian ex-pat Amir Shervan, this reckless and outrageous gem is a true treasure of the trash-action pantheon! Don’t miss out!
Our guests will be setting up when doors open at 5pM for a meet-and-greet signing opportunity. The film will start at 7PM. Q&A will be around 8:45PM!
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She’s not “a lot”. You’re just underprepared.
Horsegirls, an official selection of the Tribeca Film Festival in 2025, is coming to The Frida Cinema! And make sure to stick around after the screening for a very special Q&A with the films writer and director, Lauren Meyering!
The film stars Lillian Carrier as Margarita, a 22-year-old autistic woman navigating early adulthood, a new job, and her mother’s uncertain health diagnosis. When she discovers the world of competitive hobby horsing, it becomes the unexpected lifeline that helps her find her footing and grow into her independence.
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Let the love feast begin.
We’re concluding Gregg Araki’s legendary Teen Apocalypse Trilogy with Nowhere, a delirious, end-of-the-millennium fever dream that’s turned up to eleven.
In Los Angeles, a colorful assortment of bohemians try to make sense of their intersecting lives. The moody Dark Smith, his bisexual girlfriend, her lesbian lover and their shy gay friend plan on attending the wildest party of the year. But they’ll only make it if they can survive the drug trips, suicides, trysts, mutilations and alien abductions that occur as one surreal day unfolds.
The most visually audacious entry in the trilogy, Nowhere is Araki experimenting with science fiction, queer romance as a euphoric celebration of outsiders, making it the perfect culmination of one of the boldest trilogies in American independent cinema.
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Sex. Violence. Whatever.
The explosive second chapter of Gregg Araki’s Teen Apocalypse Trilogy, The Doom Generation is back on our big screens with a new 4K restoration!
After an impulsive encounter with the mysterious drifter Xavier, teenage couple Amy Blue and Jordan White are pulled into a violent cross-country odyssey filled with escalating chaos. As the trio drifts from one surreal nightmare to the next, Araki transforms the American road movie into a candy-colored vision of a society on the verge of collapse.
A nihilistic fever dream that only he could dream up, The Doom Generation cemented Araki’s reputation as one of independent cinema’s true provocateurs. Wildly funny and shockingly violent, it remains one of the defining films of 1990s counterculture.
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Don’t worry, you’ll like it.
Gregg Araki’s long-awaited return to the big screen, I Want Your Sex, is coming to The Frida Cinema!
When fresh-faced Elliot (Cooper Hoffman) lands an exciting job for renowned artist, icon and provocateur Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde), his fantasies come true as Erika taps him to become her sexual muse. But Elliot soon finds himself out of his depth as Erika takes him on a journey more profound than he ever could have imagined, into a world of sex, obsession, power, betrayal and murder.
More than thirty years after the Teen Apocalypse Trilogy shocked independent cinema, I Want Your Sex proves Araki hasn’t lost his appetite for challenging audiences, reminding us why he is one of American cinema’s most fearless and singular voices.
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Another homo movie by Gregg Araki.
The unhinged first chapter in the groundbreaking Teen Apocalypse Trilogy, Totally F***ed Up, is back at The Frida Cinema!
Shot on grainy 16mm with the raw energy of a punk mixtape, the film follows six queer teenagers searching for connection while navigating a world that seems determined to reject them. Told through diary confessions, the film captures the exhilaration and uncertainty of growing up on the margins at the height of the AIDS crisis.
An independent filmmaking landmark, Totally F**ed Up announced Gregg Araki as one of American cinema’s boldest new voices. More than thirty years later, its restless spirit and unapologetic celebration of queer youth remain every bit as vital, making it the perfect place to begin our journey through one of the most singular filmographies of the last three decades.
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Shhhh..Maddie’s Secret is finally sneaking its way to The Frida Cinema!
Comedian, writer, and actor John Early’s critically acclaimed directorial debut stars himself as Maddie, a plucky dishwasher who leaps to viral superstardom at a trendy food content creation company. While her life seems picturesque–complete with an adoring husband (Eric Rahill), ride-or-die best friend (Kate Berlant) and a cupboard full of woman-owned ethically-sourced chili crisp to boot–mounting professional pressures threaten to reawaken a hidden secret from her troubled past.
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For our final screening in our Broadway Thursdays: Segerstrom Center at The Frida series, we’re dying to bring you the wickedly funny cult classic Death Becomes Her!
Longtime rivals Madeline Ashton and Helen Sharp will stop at nothing to outshine one another, until a mysterious potion promises youth and beauty forever. But immortality comes with a few unexpected side effects, and their decades-long feud quickly descends into increasingly outrageous acts of revenge, all while their bewildered plastic surgeon Ernest Menville is caught in the middle.
Years ahead of its time, Death Becomes Her blends razor-sharp satire with groundbreaking visual effects and gloriously camp performances from Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, Bruce Willis, and Isabella Rossellini. It’s the kind of deliciously over-the-top crowd-pleaser that only gets better with age.
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Celebrate Art House Theater Day 2026 with a 4K restoration of Car Wash, also celebrating 50 years since its initial release!
This day-in-the-life cult comedy focuses on a group of friends working at Sully Boyar’s Car Wash in the Los Angeles ghetto. The team meets dozens of eccentric customers — including a smooth-talking preacher, a wacky cab driver and an ex-convict, while cracking politically incorrect jokes to a constant soundtrack of disco and funk. Some of the workers find romance as the day moves along, but most are just happy to get through another shift.
Fueled by a stacked cast that includes standout comedic turns from Richard Pryor and George Carlin, the film moves to the rhythm of its era’s funk-infused soundtrack and loose, improvisational energy. Light on its feet but rich in character, Car Wash turns an ordinary job into a day-long portrait of exhaustion and unexpected joy.
Art House Theater Day (AHTD) is an annual program of AHC that brings audiences together to celebrate all that art house theaters, and independent film, contribute to our cultural landscape: ambitious and innovative art that provokes, challenges, entertains, and inspires.
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Not all girls want to play with dolls.Not all girls want to play with dolls.
See It On 16mm is back at The Frida with Todd Solondz’s painfully funny coming-of-age comedy-drama Welcome to the Dollhouse.
Seventh-grader Dawn Wiener occupies an unenviable place in the social hierarchy: ignored at home, ridiculed at school, and perpetually caught between childhood and adolescence. As she stumbles through the everyday cruelties of suburban life, Dawn struggles to find connection in a world that seems determined to leave her behind.
A mix of cringe-inducing humor and heartbreaking honesty, Welcome to the Dollhouse captures the awkwardness of adolescence more vividly than almost any film before or since. Writer-director Todd Solondz refuses to sentimentalize growing up, finding comedy in life’s most uncomfortable moments.
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