It’s not Santa Ana Pride weekend at The Frida without a screening or two of Hedwig And The Angry Inch! And this year, the showings are completely free!
Raised a boy in East Berlin, Hedwig undergoes a personal transformation in order to emigrate to the U.S., where she reinvents herself as an ‘internationally ignored’ but divinely talented rock diva, inhabiting a ‘beautiful gender of one’.
At a time when few films dared to center queer and trans experiences with this much raw honesty and visual style, Hedwig and the Angry Inch carved out a space that felt radical and necessary.
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Join us for some free screenings of The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert as we celebrate Santa Ana’s official Pride weekend!
Two drag queens and a transgender woman contract to perform a drag show at a resort in Alice Springs, a town in the remote Australian desert. As they head west from Sydney aboard their lavender bus, Priscilla, the three friends come to the forefront of a comedy of errors, encountering a number of strange characters, as well as incidents of homophobia, whilst widening comfort zones and exploring new horizons.
Released at a time when positive queer representation in film was still rare, Priscilla broke ground simply by putting LGBTQ+ characters front and center—and letting them shine.
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Our 21st Century Cult series sticks to the cheerleader theme as we present the mother of em all: Bring It On!
The Toro cheerleading squad from Rancho Carne High School in San Diego has got spirit, spunk, sass and a killer routine that’s sure to land them the national championship trophy for the sixth year in a row. But for newly-elected team captain Torrance, the Toros’ road to total cheer glory takes a shady turn when she discovers that their perfectly-choreographed routines were in fact stolen.
Bring It On may have started as a seemingly light teen comedy about competitive cheerleading, but over two decades later, it stands as a sharp, enduring satire of cultural appropriation and privilege while masquerading as a bubble gum pop teen movie!
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Our In Defense Of Series pick for June comes via Isa as she has chosen the underrated musical Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band!
A small town band makes it big, but loses track of their roots, as they get caught up into the big-time machinations of the music biz. Now, they must thwart a plot to destroy their home town. Built around the music of The Beatles, this musical uses some big name groups like Peter Frampton and Aerosmith.
Few films have been more gleefully panned, misunderstood, or prematurely written off than Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the 1978 jukebox musical that dares to turn The Beatles’ most iconic album into a surreal, candy-colored rock opera. Dismissed by critics as a misguided cash-in, the film has long existed as a cultural punchline. But behind the glitter, kitsch, and chaos lies an ambitious, bold, and strangely hypnotic cinematic artifact that deserves a closer look. Isa says “give it a chance!”
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Emma Seligman’s chaotic teen romp Bottoms is back at The Frida Cinema just in time for our Pride Month programming!
PJ and Josie are unpopular, gay, and desperate—to hook up with hot cheerleaders before graduation. Their solution? Start a high school fight club for girls, marketed as a “self-defense group” but fueled by unchecked teen delusion and deeply questionable motives. What begins as a messy ploy for clout becomes something that’s equal parts tender and violently cathartic.
This is not a coming-out story. No one’s asking for tolerance. Everyone’s already gay, and they’re busy bleeding, making out, and throwing fists.
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For the first time in The Frida Cinema’s history, we are finally playing Juno!
Juno MacGuff (Elliot Page), a smart, sarcastic 16-year-old in the Minneapolis suburbs, finds herself unexpectedly pregnant after a casual hookup with her shy best friend, Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). Opting against abortion but not ready for motherhood, Juno sets out to find the perfect adoptive parents—a seemingly put-together yuppie couple played by Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman.
Written by Diablo Cody in her Oscar-winning debut, Juno pairs quippy, stylized dialogue with sincere emotional beats, carving out a space in indie film where teenage girls are allowed to be complicated, self-aware, and funny without being reduced to tropes.
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When down-and-out guitarist Dewey Finn (Jack Black) is kicked out of his band and on the brink of eviction, he hatches a desperate plan: pose as his roommate and take a job as a substitute teacher at a prestigious prep school. Totally unqualified but totally undeterred, Dewey discovers his fifth-grade students are musical prodigies—and decides to secretly transform them into…the School Of Rock!
What starts as a scam turns into a mission, as Dewey teaches the kids not just how to shred, but how to channel their frustrations, find their confidence, and challenge the rigid world around them. With the Battle of the Bands as their target, School of Rock becomes a high-decibel anthem to self-expression.
Directed by Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Before Sunrise) and written by Mike White of White Lotus fame, School of Rock strikes a perfect chord between anarchic comedy and heartwarming sincerity. Jack Black’s performance is a full-force, career-defining blend of physical comedy, genuine musicality, and chaotic charisma.
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Glitz and glamour has officially entered our Technicolor Summer series as we present a weekend of the 50s classic How To Marry A Millionaire!
Three ambitious New York models—Schatze Page (Lauren Bacall), Loco Dempsey (Betty Grable), and Pola Debevoise (Marilyn Monroe)—decide to pool their resources and rent a luxurious Manhattan penthouse, not for comfort, but as a strategic base of operations to catch rich husbands.
Beneath the surface, the film gently satirizes postwar materialism and gender roles, while still delivering the charm of a traditional romantic comedy. Each of the three leads brings distinct comedic timing and personality, especially Marilyn Monroe, whose physical comedy as the glasses-averse Pola steals the show.
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Edit: due to the ongoing situation in both Los Angeles and Santa Ana, Freddy Macdonald will no longer be able to join us for the Q&A at this screening. Apologies in advance!
An official selection at SXSW and SITGES, the clever new caper film Sew Torn is making its way to The Frida Cinema for one night only! And make sure to stick around after the screening for a Q&A with writer/director Freddy Macdonald!
A seamstress gets tangled in her own thread after stealing a briefcase from a drug deal gone bad. In an escalating game of cat and mouse, her different choices lead to drastically different outcomes along the way.
In 2021, Freddy Macdonald graduated as the youngest Directing Fellow to ever attend AFI. His AFI thesis film, Shedding Angels, won a Student Academy Award and was shortlisted for a student BAFTA.
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No Pride Month programming would be complete without a film from Pedro Almodóvar. This year, we’ve chosen All About My Mother!
Manuela (Cecilia Roth), a nurse and single mother, watches her teenage son die tragically in a car accident on his 17th birthday. Grieving and desperate to find closure, she leaves Madrid to search for the boy’s estranged father—now a transgender woman named Lola—who is unaware of ever having a son.
Almodóvar’s signature blend of melodrama, bold color palettes, and layered female characters shines in this emotionally charged and compassionate film. Themes of gender fluidity, chosen family, loss, and rebirth make this one of the definitive LGBTIA+ films of the 90s.
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