Brattle Theatre

40 Brattle St. Harvard Square Cambridge, MA

Phone: 617-876-6837

We are very excited to be partnering with the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge once again this year.

The Brattle shows the best in classic, cutting-edge, foreign, and art-house films. They also show first-run films and new releases of classic films, but their specialty is a repertory programming format consisting of films from a particular director, genre, or subject shown over the course of a week, or on the same weekday throughout the month. Visit our Series Archive to learn more about past repertory programs.

Movies have been shown at the Brattle Theatre since 1953, when Bryant Haliday and Cyrus Harvey Jr. started things off with a screening of the German film, Der Hauptmann von Köpenick (The Captain from Köpenick). Haliday and Harvey later founded Janus Films for the purpose of distributing foreign films nationwide. Learn more about Janus Films and the Brattle Theatre on the Timeline page, or read this essay about the first 100 years of the Brattle.

The Brattle Theatre seats 225.

Parking is scarce in Harvard Square, please consider taking the Red Line to screenings at the Brattle.

Programs

Past

eCupid Cambridge Opening Night Film.

May 6, 2011 - 6:00pm, Brattle Theatre

We are proud to present the world premiere of J.C. Calciano's new film eCupid. J.C.'s last feature film Is it Just Me? was a smash hit at last year's festival and we are honored to be hosting the world premiere of his new film at the Brattle.

We are also celebrating our Cambridge opening night with the city mayor, the Honorable David P. Maher, will be in attendance. Filmmaker and actors will be present as well. And please join us at OM after the screening to celebrate the start of the festival! OM is at 92 Winthrop Street in Harvard Square. More info

Past

Kink Crusaders

May 6, 2011 - 8:00pm, Brattle Theatre

What’s your idea of kinky sex? Hot wax? Whips? Leaving the lights on? Go behind the scenes at annual International Mr. Leather competition, where thousands of men from around the world have gathered for over 30 years to compete for this title of Kink community leadership.
Co-presented by New England Leather Alliance More info

Past

Hua Wei Mei (Bad Romance).

May 7, 2011 - 1:00pm, Brattle Theatre

Please join us for the U.S. premiere of Francois Chang's beautiful story of love and life in Beijing.

Co-presented by MAP for Health More info

Past

This is Who We Are: Documenting LGBT Life

May 7, 2011 - 2:30pm, Brattle Theatre

As we all know, us gays come in all shapes and sizes and are all over the world! This program of shorts takes us around the US and even to China to tell the stories of LGBT people living their lives. From the constant struggle to participate in New York City's St. Patrick's Day Parade to the celebration of being queer in Shanghai, and to the wilds of Alaska, we are everywhere and lving our lives sometimes takes a struggle. More info

Past

Bloomington

May 7, 2011 - 5:00pm, Brattle Theatre

Student meets professor. Student crushes on professor. The crush might be mutual. Bloomington is a fresh and twisty take on the coming-of-age drama. Jackie is a former child actress attending college in search of independence. But as she connects with a seductive professor, her “normal” college experience gets turned upside down. Attending a Midwestern college, far away from Jackie’s home in California, she’s singled out for her fame from Neptune 26, the popular sci-fi show she was once a part of. She’s not exactly close with her parents, but being alone for the first time is over-whelming. When she meets the mysterious Professor Catherine Stark at a department mixer, the two connect quickly, forming an instantly intense relationship

Feature is preceded by Cyclicity More info

Past

Open

May 7, 2011 - 7:30pm, Brattle Theatre

This feature debut takes us on two parallel road trips in which travellers try to find love in the twin cities. Quiet, contemplative and with a dream-like quality, Open reveals secret places in the city, emotional intimacies and the wonder and strangeness of the human body through beautiful camera work. More info

Past

International Short Films

May 8, 2011 - 11:30am, Brattle Theatre

Once again the Boston LGBT Film Festival brings you the best of short films from around the world. This year our program takes you from Nigeria to New Zealand and around the world. More info

Past

I Am

May 8, 2011 - 1:00pm, Brattle Theatre

Having lost the opportunity to tell her mother that she is a lesbian, a young Indian filmmaker in search of answers, travels across India to meet with parents of other gay and lesbian South Asians. I Am is a personal and revealing film that journeys to a landscape where being gay was until recently a criminal and punishable offense. With courage, determination, and humor, families share untold stories that have thus far remained in the realm of secrecy and silence. It is a unique and groundbreaking film that defies the very genre of documentary filmmaking.

Co-presented by MAP for Health More info

Past

Transgender Shorts Program

May 8, 2011 - 5:00pm, Brattle Theatre

Please join us for this amazing program of short films created by, for, and about the transgender community. More info

Past

A Marine Story

May 8, 2011 - 7:30pm, Brattle Theatre

A Marine Story stands up to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell honestly with this unflinching look at the policy’s effects on gays and lesbians in uniform.

Preceded by the short film: Don't Ask, I Won't Tell Dir by April Wilson.

Co-presented by Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. More info

Past

Bisexual Revolution and Other Shorts

May 9, 2011 - 5:30pm, Brattle Theatre

Putting the "B" in LGBT we bring you the bisexual program. In He, She, We we find out what happens when a handsome young man leaves his older female lover for a man. Is it over or is there another way? Vera wonders what to do when she is invited to the straight wedding of her ex-girlfriend in Bye Bi Love. And in Santiago from the Other Side Lucia waits for just the right moment to tell Santiago that she is pregnant only to discover that he is a little too busy. To cap it off we bring you the film that unleashed a firestorm of debate when released in France. Bisexual Revolution brings together archival footage, cinematic excerpts and star-studded interviews with international academics and artists to deconstruct the hetero-homo polarization of sexuality.

Co-presented by Bisexual Resource Center More info

Past

Grown Up Movie Star

May 9, 2011 - 7:30pm, Brattle Theatre

In Grown Up Movie Star writer-director Adriana Maggs and star Tatiana Maslany (who won a Special Jury prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival for her performance) flawlessly capture the recklessness and confusion of adolescence. Maggs makes a memorable feature debut with this character-driven melodrama that is funny, touching and pitch-perfect in its evocation of a contentious father-daughter relationship. More than that, it also portrays a sexy, poignant portrait of the ecstasy, agony and frustration of sexual awakening — whether it happens at 13 or 40. More info

Past

European Short Films

May 10, 2011 - 5:30pm, Brattle Theatre

As part of our focus on New European Cinema we bring you some of the best short films from across the Atlantic which happened to cross our desks! As the European Union grows so does our selection of films. More info

Past

Silent Stories

May 10, 2011 - 7:30pm, Brattle Theatre

This program brings together various films that deal with the difficulties of being a queer person who is forced to leave their home countries due to persecution simply for being who they are.

We are proud to have Amnesty International c-present this program. They will be present at the screening and providing information about how you can be active in supporting the LGBT struggle in Uganda. You can learn more here. More info

Past

Mary Lou

May 11, 2011 - 5:30pm, Brattle Theatre

In Mary Lou, Eytan Fox (The Bubble, Walk on Water, Yossi & Jagger) brings to life a modern fable with a catchy musical message and a story based on the songs of Israeli pop legend Svika Pick.

One could think of this film as the Israeli Glee but it is oh so much more than that. Part Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, part Mamma Mia, Mary Lou is a heartfelt story that rises about its sugar coating to tell a story of love, life and being true to yourself…all set to music!

Co-presented by The Boston Jewish Film Festival. More info

Past

"I Can Feel It, But I Don't Get It."

May 11, 2011 - 8:30pm, Brattle Theatre

These pieces, all influenced by histories of cinema and contemporary video art explore various seen and unseen forces: materials, logics and pressures that ambiguously ooze into the frame of the story through often unspoken and unsettling means.
Lucas Michael's El Maragato Barometrica is a quiet video, sans dialogue, shot in Uruguay on a cell phone camera that documents a flooded house, a truck, it's attached hose, men at work and a slow, unexplained labor process. The eye witness immediacy of the low end video suggests a moment of crisis and delay on the brink of containment or collapse.

Stanya Kahn's It's Cool, I'm Good follows an androgynously bandaged character with mysteriously attained full body injuries who speaks to the camera from a bed in a hospital, to strangers at a fast food picnic table, in the belly of a world full of contaminated water, pus filled wounds, littered streets and corporately engineered hot dogs.

Flipping by photo after photo throughout the decades at a break neck clip, the 1970's, 80's, 90's and 200's provide the backdrop of memories of embarrassing teen hairdos, social and familial tensions and various cheap photo technologies in Allyson Mitchell's My Life in 5 Minutes. Master paradigms hover and lurk as the narrative glides and lingers through moments of assimilation and refutation amidst swirling colors and inventive lo-fi animated techniques.

Falling in Love with Chris and Greg: Episode 2 Road Trip! TV Special by Chris Vargas and Greg Youmans uses the iconic American Road Trip, a typically liberating and transcendent cinematic motif, in which a gay/trans couple drive from the west coast into the American heartland chafing and squirming more vigorously under the social, political and biological possibilites of marriage as they pummel toward Vegas--chomping high-fructose snacks, sweating and swapping Native American vocabs as they go.

-by Jeannie Simms More info

Past

FIT

May 12, 2011 - 6:00pm, Brattle Theatre

Join us for our youth screening event! We are very proud to be screening the area debut - and another film in our Spotlight on UK Cinema - of Rikki Beadle-Blair's Fit. Created by the UK's Stonewall project to raise awareness of bullying and homophobia. Fit originated as a play to be performed in schools across Britain and was adapted into a highly successfulm film that has screened at festivals worldwide. We are really excited to be screening this film.

Co-presented by Discover Roxbury More info

Past

Last Fast Ride: The Life, Love, and Death of a Punk Goddess

May 12, 2011 - 8:00pm, Brattle Theatre

Straight from Slamdance Film Festival comes an intense look at the life of a punk rock star who died before her time. If you were part of any punk scene in the early nineties, be in in SF, Boston, or Portland, you knew someone like Marian Anderson: driven, talented, sexy, and troubled. Please join us for this astounding documentary that shines a light on a musician who burned bright but all too briefly.

Co-presented by Queer Women in Music, Boston More info

Past

Sexy Men's Shorts: Dirty Drawings with Happy Endings

May 13, 2011 - 6:00pm, Brattle Theatre

Join us for a program that is certain to entertain. From a sexy retelling of life in the Military to a documentary on artists who draw erotic nudes, this program explores the complications arising from sexy men. More info

Past

We Are the Night

May 13, 2011 - 8:00pm, Brattle Theatre

Who doesn’t like lesbian vampires? Lets celebrate Friday, the 13th with one of the best vampire films you’ll ever see! 18 year old Lena is trouble. Her home life is terrible. She is caught by the police trying to rip off a Russian mobster and she doesn’t know what to do with herself. One night she sets off to an underground disco at an abandoned amusement park in Berlin. She catches the eye of a beautiful woman, but not just any woman. Louise is the leader of a vampire pack. And she wants Lena. This begins one of the most exciting vampire films in ages. Forget Twilight! This is the film you want to see. !

Co-presented by Goethe Institut Boston. More info

Past

Gays Behaving Badly!

May 13, 2011 - 10:00pm, Brattle Theatre

Space cops, werebears, zombies and more! We continue our celebration of Friday the 13th with a late night program aimed directly at your love of horror, gangsters, slash fiction, and all around weirdness. These shorts are just plain queer and we love them! More info

Past

Out at Annapolis

May 14, 2011 - 4:30pm, Brattle Theatre

Especially relevant considering the current debate surrounding “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Out of Annapolis is a riveting look at the lives of some of the U.S. Naval Academy’s lesbian and gay alumni. More info

Past

Wishmakers of West Hollywood

May 14, 2011 - 6:30pm, Brattle Theatre

Join us for the World Premiere of local filmmaker Dave Grotell's feature film The Wishmakers of West Hollywood! Three young gay men arrive in Los Angeles to fulfill their dreams and aspirations, during a summer which will change their lives. In a world of You Tube celebrities, unemployment, downward mobility, and socializing through Facebook, they make a wish in a fountain to find love, fame, and transcendence. Will any of them do it?

Please join us at OM following the screening for a reception for the filmmaker. More info

Past

Judas Kiss

May 14, 2011 - 8:30pm, Brattle Theatre

Failed filmmaker Zachary Wells is convinced by his friend, hotshot director Topher Shadoe, to replace him as a judge in Keystone University’s annual film festival. His first night, Zach hooks up with a student at a bar. He’s shocked the next morning when the same student walks into an interview calling himself Danny Reyes — the name Zach went by when he attended Keystone. More info

Past

The Game of Juan's Life

May 15, 2011 - 11:30am, Brattle Theatre

The Game of Juan’s Life explores two hours in the life of Juan Reyes, a live-sex performer at an underground gay bar, who has decided to leave Manila and go back home to his home province. On the day of his departure, he will take us with him as he makes life decisions- big and small. More info

Past

Still Around

May 15, 2011 - 1:00pm, Brattle Theatre

We are proud to offer the World Premiere of this remarkable film. 16 filmmakers created 15 films that speak about living and thriving with HIV/AIDS at the 30th anniversary. Including films directed by: Emmanuelle Antolin, Daniel Cardone, Leo Chiang, Deborah Craig, Robert Dekkers, Veronica Duport Deliz, Jörg Fockele, Stuart Gaffney, Amir Jaffer, Sade Huron, Tim Kulikowski & Ian Wolfley, Rick Osmon, Anne Siegel, Marc Smolowitz and Debra A. Wilson

Executive Producers: Marc Smolowitz, Jörg Fockele

Marc Smolowitz and Jörg Fockele in attendance. Screening will be followed by a round table panel discussion on 30 years of HIV/AIDS. Panel to be announced shortly. More info

Past

Special Halloween Screening! Area Premiere of Unhappy Birthday

October 24, 2011 - 7:00pm, Brattle Theatre

Join us on October 24th for a special Queer Halloween! We'll be screening the area premiere of Unhappy Birthday directed by Mark Harriott and Mike Matthews.

Inspired by British horror cult classics such as The Wicker Man and Hammer House of Horror!

British TV hunk David Paisley co-stars in this sexy, creepy tale of a young man and his secret gay lover who conspire to surprise their friend Sadie on her birthday. Arriving for their getaway on the remote isle of Amen — Rick, Jonny and Sadie meet the mysterious Corinne. This wild queer British thriller has been compared to such cult classics as The Wicker Man and Let’s Scare Jessica To Death

Filmed entirely on location in Northumberland in the North East of England and on the stunning tidal island of Lindisfarne, Unhappy Birthday is led by a young British cast, including David Paisley (Holby City, Casualty) Jill Riddiford (Our Friends in the North), Christina De Vallee and Jonathan Keane, with a cameo by trash horror legend David McGillivray. More info

Past

Assi Azar at the Brattle Theatre!

November 6, 2011 - 1:00pm, Brattle Theatre

Please join us for this very special screening of the documentary Mom & Dad: I Have Something to Tell You directed and starring Assi Azar. Assi Azar is the host of Israel Big Brother and in 2009, Out Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential gay people in the world.He will be in attendance at the screening to talk about his experiences coming out as a television personality. More info