1968, 35mm on DV
Curated by Kathryn Garcia and Sarvia Jasso
Cinema Village
11:59PM

Special appearance by Flawless Sabrina!
This program is ticketed. Book your tickets now: http://www.cinemavillage.com/

The original drag queen documentary, The Queen offers one of the earliest cinematic documentations of a drag ball. Depicting the 1967 Miss All-America Camp Beauty Contest for female impersonators held at Town Hall in New York and organized by “mistress of ceremonies” Flawless Sabrina, the film also features Crystal LaBeija, who would gain greater fame years later for her appearance in Paris Is Burning. The contestants get settled in their hotel rooms, gossip, share beauty secrets, and discuss their backgrounds. Topics of discussion include gay life, sex change operations, problems with the draft, and “husbands” in the service. Andy Warhol judges the competition and Mario Montez makes a guest appearance, singing “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.”

The Cinema Village is a venerable art house that has been around for decades and is virtually the last of the old Village independent cinemas that flourished during the 60s, 70s, and 80s. After several tough years, the theater was expanded into three screens and has continued its tradition of showing independent, foreign, and classic films. The Cinema Village evokes a different era when "independent" really meant it.