City of Lost Souls (1983)

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Like Hedwig in reverse, this 1983 trans punk musical is the instant cult classic you’ve never seen! Blurring the lines between farce and documentary, City of Lost Souls follows the wily performances of trans punk legend Jayne County (in her only starring role) and Angie Stardust, who runs a boarding house and the ground-floor restaurant, “Burger Queen,” where her lodgers—Tron Von Hollywood, Tara O’Hara, Joaquín la Habana, Judith Flex and Gary—earn their keep. German film enfant terrible Rosa von Praunheim trained his lens on the trans and gender-defying Americans who sought refuge in Berlin’s '80s club scene, catching some of the most honest and alarmingly prescient intergenerational dialogs about trans life ever dedicated to celluloid in the process.

In Person: Dirty Looks founder Bradford Nordeen

Presented by The Block Museum, Dirty Looks LA, and Northwestern’s Queer Pride Graduate Student Association and the Sexualities Project at Northwestern (SPAN)

Dirty Looks is a platform for queer film, video and performance founded in 2011 by Bradford Nordeen. Using film and time-based art to illuminate queer histories and liminal spaces across Los Angeles and New York City, Dirty Looks traces contemporary queer aesthetics through historical works, presenting quintessential GLBTQ film and video, alongside up-and-coming artists and filmmakers. Dirty Looks exhibits a lineage of queer tactics and visual styles for younger artists, casual viewers and seasoned avant-garde filmgoers, alike. A nebulous collective, we have worked closely with Karl McCool, Clara López Menéndez, in addition to over 50 guest curators, through our month-long, city-spanning festival Dirty Looks: On Location.

Over the course of eight years, Dirty Looks has staged screenings at The Museum of Modern Art, The Kitchen, The Hammer, Participant Inc, White Columns, ONE Archives, Artists Space and Judson Memorial Church. DL began regular Los Angeles programming in January 2015, instating a national reach for our programs.

Contact The Block Museum of Art for more information: (847) 491-4000 or email us at block-museum@northwestern.edu