The Metrograph, NY’s newest and hottest Art house theater is showing a series of movies in August under the banner ‘On Fire Island.’ The program celebrates the unique gay summer destination that queer New Yorkers have been flocking too in droves for decades now. During this time this 30-mile-long sandy utopia has been witness to the happy days of the sexual revolution, and survived the devastation when the AIDS epidemic cut though swathes of so many gorgeous young men in their prime, to the current day when it is still the go-to place to have fun and escape the unbearable summer heat of the city.
It kicks off with the iconic adult feature Boys In The Sand from Wakefield Poole starring porn actor Casey Donavan, and which was shot on Fire Island and caused a great deal of notoriety when it opened in 1971 and made the resort an international tourist destination and introduced gay sex positivity to straight audiences.
Andy Warhol’s My Hustler from 1965 starring Paul America is probably the funniest of all Warhol movies. Shot on Fire Island, it covers the activities of the “Dial A Hustler” service, as an older man seeks a young hustler for a companion, and is wonderfully bitchy and bitter.
Parting Glances which was filmed in 1984 was one of the very first movies to deal with the AIDS pandemic. Shot over 24 hours, it is the story of a gay couple who are not just dealing with dramatic developments in their own lives, but also caring for Nick one of their ex-lovers who has AIDS. With its realistic look at urban gay life, and starring a young Steve Buscemi in his breakthrough role Parting Glances is now considered a seminal important movie in the history of LGBT cinema.
Also being screened as part of the program is Last Summer about a summer vacation on Fire Island when a sort-of threesome goes horribly wrong with violent results. Plus Sticks & Stones, a sort of Fire Island low-budget version of Boys In The Band.
ON FIRE ISLAND
August 11 to August 12
Labels: 2017, culture, film festival, Fire Island, Metrograph
