Su Friedrich Selects
List
Su Friedrich Selects
Desert Hearts (1985)
List
BY
Su Friedrich
Su Friedrich’s 1996 documentary Hide & Seek plays at Metrograph July 3 and July 10, as part of Pioneers of Queer Cinema. She will be in attendance for a Q&A following the July 3 screening.
Filmmaker Su Friedrich shares six of her favorite titles from the series Pioneers of Queer Cinema, which opens at Metrograph July 1.
1. Desert Hearts—dir. Donna Deitch, 1985
One of my all-time favorite lesbian movies because it’s so sexy from start to finish. How could she resist that hot cowgirl? She couldn’t.
2. Blue Diary—dir. Jenni Olson, 1998
Jenni does a great job at revealing the inner workings of her mind while giving us beautifully shot images of a city she knows and loves so well, and making those two elements coexist in such subtle ways.
The Watermelon Woman (1996)
3. The Watermelon Woman—dir. Cheryl Dunye, 1996
Cheryl accomplished a difficult task, which was to mix various genres to tell a fascinating story about her character. It also has a great sex scene.
4. A Comedy in Six Unnatural Acts—dir. Jan Oxenberg, 1975
I’m fond of this film as one of the first lesbian films I saw—way back in the day—which took a comical yet loving look at how lesbians were seen by society at the time.
A Comedy in Six Unnatural Acts (1975)
5. The Times of Harvey Milk—dir. Rob Epstein, 1984
Seeing it at that time, when there were still so few documentaries about LGBT activists, it was tremendously empowering, and also a timely warning about what can happen to someone who’s as courageous as Milk was.
6. Tongues Untied—dir. Marlon Riggs, 1989
Marlon died before he could make more great films, but we’re very fortunate that he was with us long enough to make this phenomenal, moving, radical portrait of Black gay men.
Su Friedrich has directed 25 films and videos since 1978, which have been featured in 21 retrospectives at major museums and film festivals, have been extensively written about, and won numerous awards. Her DVD collection is distributed by Outcast Films.
Tongues Untied (1989)
