Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £6.99 a month
Kamikaze Hearts
Juliet Bashore’s queer docufiction, starring Tigr and real-life girlfriend porn star Sharon Mitchell, was shot in and celebrates the heady days of the San Francisco underground in the 1980s.
Director: Juliet Bashore
Overview
‘I thought she was another dumb fucking porn slut,’ Tigr tells Juliet at the start of what looks to be a documentary about a couple navigating life as lovers in the sex industry. Is this fiction, a doc about Tigr directing her first film, or a sexed-up Bizet’s Carmen, starring her hot girlfriend ‘Mitch’? And does anyone else on screen, other than Tigr, know the answer? Bashore cites Herzog, and there’s a wealth of polysexual, punk-rock cultural currents flowing here – from Monica Treut and Annie Sprinkle to Allan Moyle’s Times Square. Made in 1986, this was rejected by the lesbian mainstream for not being a ‘positive’ enough portrayal of queer women (and there are unsettling and almost certainly ‘real’ moments – such as the couple shooting up on screen), but after 40 years it still feels a fresh and vital milestone in queer cinema. Restoration from the original 16mm A/B camera negatives. Restored by Kino Lorber in collaboration with the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project at the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Originally screened at the BFI London Film Festival 2022 as part of Treasures.
Related
Tchaikovsky's Wife Tchaikovsky's Wife
Biopic 2022 144 mins Director: Kirill Serebrennikov
Award-winning director Kirill Serebrennikov (Petrov's Flu) charts the tumultuous relationship between the 19th-century composer and his wife, in this poignant and powerful biopic.
Nezouh Nezouh
Drama 2024 104 mins Director: Soudade Kaadan
Enchanting feminist coming-of-age drama, from award winning Syrian director Soudade Kaadan.
The Turin Horse The Turin Horse
Drama 2011 155 mins Director: Béla Tarr
Béla Tarr’s devastating, starkly pared-down final feature, inspired by Nietzsche.
Werckmeister Harmonies Werckmeister Harmonies
Drama 2000 147 mins Director: Béla Tarr
A stuffed whale sparks social apocalypse in this haunting cinematic masterpiece from Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky.
The Man from London The Man from London
Drama 2007 139 mins Director: Béla Tarr
Tilda Swinton stars in this profoundly nocturnal Georges Simenon adaptation.
Pandora's Box Pandora's Box
Drama 1928 134 mins Silent Director: G.W. Pabst
Louise Brooks dazzles as the iconic showgirl who leaves a trail of destruction in her wake, in one of the great silent films of the Weimar era.
Pressure Pressure
Drama 1978 121 mins Director: Horace Ové
Hailed as Britain's first black feature film, Pressure is a hard-hitting, honest document of the plight of disenchanted black youths in 1970s London; now available in its new restoration.
SCALA!!! SCALA!!!
Documentary 2023 96 mins Director: Jane Giles and Ali Catterall
Engrossing tribute to London’s legendary Scala cinema, aptly subtitled: Or, the incredibly strange rise and fall of the world’s wildest cinema and how it influenced a mixed-up generation of weirdos and misfits.
The Loveless The Loveless
Drama 1981 79 mins Director: Kathryn Bigelow and Monty Montgomery
In the first (credited) feature from both star Willem Dafoe and director Kathryn Bigelow, a gang of rebellious bikers cause small-town mayhem.
Eastern Condors Eastern Condors
Crime 1987 98 mins Director: Sammo Hung Kam-bo
Sammo Hung directs and stars in this high-kicking tribute to The Dirty Dozen, which sees ten convicts offered amnesty if the undertake a deadly mission behind enemy lines in Vietnam to destroy a top-secret munitions dump
Thundercrack! Thundercrack!
Comedy 1975 160 mins Director: Curt Mcdowell
One dark and stormy night a group of strangers take refuge in a remote house, and then… Not for the easily offended.
City of Lost Souls City of Lost Souls
Comedy 1983 90 mins Director: Rosa von Praunheim
Jayne County, Angie Stardust and Tara O'Hara star in Rosa von Praunheim's trans-punk groteskes-musical.
Tchaikovsky's Wife Tchaikovsky's Wife
Biopic 2022 144 mins Director: Kirill Serebrennikov
Award-winning director Kirill Serebrennikov (Petrov's Flu) charts the tumultuous relationship between the 19th-century composer and his wife, in this poignant and powerful biopic.
Nezouh Nezouh
Drama 2024 104 mins Director: Soudade Kaadan
Enchanting feminist coming-of-age drama, from award winning Syrian director Soudade Kaadan.
The Turin Horse The Turin Horse
Drama 2011 155 mins Director: Béla Tarr
Béla Tarr’s devastating, starkly pared-down final feature, inspired by Nietzsche.
Werckmeister Harmonies Werckmeister Harmonies
Drama 2000 147 mins Director: Béla Tarr
A stuffed whale sparks social apocalypse in this haunting cinematic masterpiece from Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky.
The Man from London The Man from London
Drama 2007 139 mins Director: Béla Tarr
Tilda Swinton stars in this profoundly nocturnal Georges Simenon adaptation.
Pandora's Box Pandora's Box
Drama 1928 134 mins Silent Director: G.W. Pabst
Louise Brooks dazzles as the iconic showgirl who leaves a trail of destruction in her wake, in one of the great silent films of the Weimar era.