Join us at the Leather Archives & Museum for a screening of First Impressions and Beautiful by Night on Thursday, March 14th!
The Leather Archives & Museum will be hosting a screening of two exquisite short documentaries taking us behind the scenes for frank, tender glimpses into the lives, loves, and the artistry of drag performers. The recently re-discovered and preserved First Impressions (Pat Lehman, 1977, 25 min.) gives performers at a Denver drag club a platform to speak with candor and humor as they prepare for the evening’s performance, a precious and rare document of drag and queer life in the 1970s. James Hosking’s acclaimed Beautiful by Night (2014, 29 min.) is a loving portrait of three older drag performers at Aunt Charlie’s Lounge in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district as they share their musings on art, aging, and self-acceptance.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion on drag history with Chicago performers Irregular Girl and Kinley Preston along with filmmaker James Hosking and curator and co-chair of Gerber/Hart Library & Archives, James Conley. The event is a partnership between the Leather Archives & Museum, Media Burn Archive, and Gerber/Hart Library & Archives.
Notes: Attendees must be 18 years of age or older to attend. Admission is free, and allows full access to the Leather Archives & Museum’s exhibitions. Arrive early to check out the exclusive pop-up exhibit on Chicago drag history curated by Gerber/Hart specifically for this event. In order to enter the building, guests need to ascend a flight of stairs. If you have accessibility needs, please contact info@mediaburn.org at least a week in advance so that we can advise and assist you. Visit https://leatherarchives.org/museum/plan-your-visit to learn more about visiting LAM.
Learn more about the event, films, and speakers here: Drag History Movie Night