Decades before RuPaul’s Drag Race and Paris is Burning, there was The Queen. Newly restored in glorious 4K, join us for a 50th anniversary screening of “the mother of all drag documentaries” and a special drag brunch with Toronto’s original pageant queen, Fontaine!
Go back in HERstory to the 1967 Miss All-America Camp Beauty Pageant and see the ground-breaking film that brought competitive drag to the world. Director Frank Simon takes us backstage to kiki with the contestants as they rehearse, throw shade, and transform into their drag personas in the lead-up to the big event. Organized by LGBTQ icon Flawless Sabrina months before the Stonewall riots, the New York City competition boasted a star-studded panel of judges including Andy Warhol, Edie Sedgwick and George Plimpton. But perhaps most memorable is an epic read calling out the pageant scene’s racial bias delivered by Crystal LaBeija, who would go on to form the infamous voguing clan, House of LaBeija. Oh henny! Unleash your inner diva and celebrate the scintillating history of drag with this unmissable queer classic.
“Makes gender itself seem like an urgent performance.” – The New Yorker
"Extraordinary." – The New York Times
Doors open & food served: 11:00 AM
Performance + Film: 12:00 PM
Tickets
Film + light brunch, including coffee and a specialty cocktail
$20 (Members: $15, $13, $7)
Promotional Partners: Lavender
Media Sponsor
