Join us for a screening of VIRTUE (1999), the historical experimental queer film, followed by Q&A with director Camera Obscura, moderated by August Bernadicou (The LGBTQ History Project).

A quarter-century after its release, Virtue reflects the historical moment during the 1990s in S.F. when the two worlds of tech and queer/punk collided. As a result, Virtue was received as a perplexing anomaly. On the one hand, it was a campy, polymorphously perverse satire with music. On the other hand, it was a scathing critique (exceedingly rare at the time) of Silicon Valley’s techno-utopian vision. Neither fish nor fowl, the film defied genre.

The story, reminiscent in tone of a Twilight Zone allegory, involves a strange woman with an odd accent (Hundée) who loses her husband in a graphically depicted scene of auto-erotic asphyxiation. To cope with her loss, she seeks a virtual-reality substitute (a “man chip” as she calls it). This pursuit leads her into the prurient world of tech addicts who rely on chip pushers (the drug metaphor is obvious).

The film is chock full of cameos by bohemian icons of the day, including The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Jello Biafra, Elvis Herselvis, Phillip R. Ford, and Miss X. Also included are interviews with futurists Timothy Leary, William Gibson, R.U. Sirius, and John Perry Barlow.

Director Q/A to follow moderated by August Bernadicou (The LGBTQ History Project)

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Suggested donation $10 to benefit the Bureau’s work.
All are welcome to attend, with or without donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @bgsqd.