“Pink Narcissus”

Date/Time
Date(s) - 15th Mar 2025
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm

Location
Billy Wilder Theater

Categories

• Supporter - LA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BOOK SIGNING: 6:30p
SCREENING: 7:30p

Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event.

 

 

Join the UCLA Film & Television Archive, Tom of Finland Foundation and Queer Film Los Angeles for the west coast premiere of a new restoration of James Bidgood’s Pink Narcissus. Join us in-person for a Q&A with Michael Lumpkin and author Kelly McKaig (James Bidgood: Dreamlands). 

In 1963 — the year of Scorpio Rising, Flaming Creatures and Warhol’s first films — physique photographer James Bidgood began working on an ambitious homoerotic film fantasy he called Pink Narcissus. For over six years, he filmed his star, Bobby Kendall, using 8mm Kodachrome and later 16mm Ektachrome stock on numerous lavish sets, most built in the confines of his cramped Manhattan apartment.

After many delays, the film’s backers grew tired of waiting for a finished film and dropped Bidgood from the project. Bidgood repudiated their version, and when Pink Narcissus was released in 1971, his credits for producing, directing, writing and photography were listed as “Anonymous.” Nearly 30 years later, Bidgood reclaimed his role as the visionary creator of the Queer cinema classic and became a major influence on artists ranging from Pierre et Gilles to David LaChapelle and Steven Arnold. Now, over 60 years after Bidgood began crafting his sumptuous opus, the UCLA Film & Television Archive presents its 4K restoration in this West Coast restoration premiere.