PBS proves you don’t have to go to the cinema to enjoy thought-provoking documentaries with two intriguing new offerings this September. Its critically-acclaimed American Masters series turns the spotlight on Billie Jean King. Once considered the world’s top tennis player, King changed the sport forever in the 1970s after winning the famed “Battle of the Sexes” match against Bobby Riggs. American Masters: Billie Jean King will be on cable’s WLIW World on Sep 13. Meanwhile on the 16th, PBS’ POV series premieres The World Before Her, a film that won last year’s World Documentary Competition at the Tribeca Film Festival. In this movie, a woman competes to win the title of Miss India, while another works as the head of a fundamentalist camp for Hindu girls. The World Before Her shows how both women reflect the heart of a country divided.
Summer is over, but you can still find some serious heat down at your local movie theater with Blue is the Warmest Colour, the sexy French drama that stunned all when it won the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes. The plot—based on the graphic novel Blue Angel—involves a teenage girl’s erotic fantasies about an older woman, a blue-haired art student she randomly sees on the street. But what will happen when the object of her daydreams falls in love with her? Lea Seydoux and Adele Exarchopoulos star. It opens in NYC Oct 25, but if you simply can’t wait until then—we understand—then you’ll have a chance to see it at the 51st Annual New York Film Festival, which starts Sep 27 at Lincoln Center.
From Sep 25-Oct 6, the Brooklyn Academy of Music will showcase the work of the late, great Divine in a career retrospective entitled—what else?—I Am Divine. It will feature the actor’s memorable films with camp director John Waters, including such gross-out classics as Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble. This series will also include the New York premiere of I Am Divine, a 2013 doc which answers the question: How does a chubby, awkward gay boy turn into one of the cinema’s most glamorous and filthy drag queens?
Another interesting offering for queer film fans is Four, a new independent film about an African-American man exploring his sexuality at the same time his daughter is doing the same. The film has already received a lot of buzz, with star Wendell Pierce garnering an Independent Spirit nomination for his powerful performance. Look for it in theaters starting Sep 13.
And just in time for Halloween, Julianne Moore and Chloe Grace Moretz star in Kimberly Peirce’s remake of Brian De Palma’s Carrie. The supernatural horror film, based on the Stephen King novel, focuses on an outcast teenager who has the unusual ability to move things with her mind. She then uses this power to punish her cruel classmates and nut job of a mother—all on the night of the big prom. Carrie begins her reign of terror Oct 11 at a theater near you.
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