Queer|Art, New York City’s home for the creative and professional development of LGBTQ+ artists, is pleased to announce the upcoming Fall season of Queer|Art|Film, presented in person from September 19th – December 5th. Queer|Art|Film returns once again to the IFC Center with a season curated by multidisciplinary artists Heather Lynn Johnson and Sarah Zapata. Each month Queer|Art invites their favorite queer artists to present a film that inspired them, then holds a fascinating post-screening Q&A that illuminates the film and its impact on our guest’s work and life.

Bloodsisters: Leather, Dykes, and Sadomasochism

1995. 77 min. Directed by Michelle Handelman

Tickets here.

Interdisciplinary artist Tamara Santibañez presents Bloodsisters: Leather, Dykes, and Sadomasochism, a deep dive into a community of Leatherdykes in San Francisco in the mid-90s. This debut documentary by filmmaker Michelle Handelman presents a rough collage of kink and BDSM practices, leaning into forms of play not often shown, even in queer films. From images of needle play to shots of extended BDSM scenes to tops directly addressing the audience as their submissives, the film is unflinching in its portrayal of this leather scene. Through collected interviews, an image of a community that is grappling with questions of forbidden desires, gender & sexual fluidity, and the politicization of their very existence begins to emerge. Between the bright colored overlays and the iconic 90s fashion (mullets everywhere!), the film itself transforms into a kind of a time capsule, documenting a moment in queer history in all its messy, complicated, campy glory.