Hyde Park Picks — three incredible queer movies

Leeds’ friendly, local indie cinema, the Hyde Park Picture House, has selected three films to include in our Digital Pride programme. The cinema has been closed ever since lockdown began back in March, but they have been suggesting movies that can be easily streamed at home on a daily basis, using the hashtag #HydeParkPick. Laura Ager, the cinema’s Creative Engagement Officer, talks about three films that the Hyde Park Picture House would have liked to screen at the cinema for Pride this year, had that been possible.

In our first choice, romance and art entwine in Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), the sumptuous recent masterpiece from French director Céline Sciamma. One of the best events we hosted at Leeds University Union’s Pyramid Theatre earlier in the year was a screening of the film in collaboration with our friends at Birds Eye View: A Pathfinder For Films By Women. It included a special interview with director Céline Sciamma, which you can watch online.

This film can be viewed with a subscription to the streaming platform MUBI. In partnership with Hyde Park Picture House, you can currently sign up for three months of free Mubi access.

Our next selection is The Watermelon Woman (1997), a groundbreaking film for its time, a razor-sharp and clear-eyed piece of metacinema. “Sometimes you have to create your own history,” said its director Cheryl Dunye. The film follows a young, gay, black video-store employee, who is also a filmmaker, as she searches through the history of film for a forgotten black, queer actor.

Pamela Hutchinson recently wrote about the film for the queer feminist film collective Club des Femmes. In her article, she pointed to the instability of certain film histories. “Silent film historians regularly quote the fact that that 70% or so of pre-sound cinema is missing,” she said. “Some films disappear more than others — especially independent films.”

The film has a brilliant twist at the end, so we recommend you watch it before you read the article. You can stream The Watermelon Woman directly from Peccadillo Pictures or use one of the many other options.

The Watermelon Woman is a particular favourite of another of our valued collaborators, So Mayer, who has written this excellent article about this important and groundbreaking film.

Finally, we thought we’d like to revisit Barry Jenkins’ insightful coming-of-age drama Moonlight (2016), which was his first feature film for eight years. It was worth the wait, the film won the Oscar Best Picture in 2017. Three actors play the lead character Chiron as he grows from a boy to a man and each brings something special to the protagonist’s role, who must come to terms with the complications and contradictions of black masculinity and queer identity in America. You can find this film on the usual pay-per-view channels such as YouTube, Amazon Prime etc.

The film premiered at 2016’s Toronto International Film Festival, and you can watch the post-screening Q&A with the director and members of the cast.

If you can support the Hyde Park Picture House during these unprecedented times, find out how to help your local indie cinema.