The Abbotsford Film Society (AFS) ends its regular 2023-24 season on Friday, June 28 with a screening of John Cameron Mitchell’s 2001 cult classic Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
AFS president Aaron Dawson says the film was a natural choice for the month of June.
“Hedwig and the Angry Inch is an iconic piece of queer cinema. We wanted to include some queer content for Pride Month in June,” he said.
The film follows the life of Hedwig, a gender-queer punk-rock singer from East Berlin who tours the U.S. with her band.
Throughout the film, she tells her life story as she follows the former lover/band-mate who stole her songs. Dawson feels that in some way, the film is more relevant today than when it first came out.
“Gender identity and the issues surrounding it are at the forefront of society today,” he said. “The film grapples with the ideas of gender identity and dysphoria, that feeling that you don’t belong in the body you occupy, which is why it has resonated so strongly with people in the queer community."
Hedwig and the Angry Inch was first conceived as a musical, debuting off-Broadway in 1998 and making its way to Broadway and London’s West End in the 2000s.
The musical garnered dozens of awards, including an Outer Circle Critics Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical, Obies for both Mitchell and his writing partner Stephen Trask, and a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.
Building on this success, Mitchell and Trask turned the musical into a film, which won several awards, including Best Director and Audience Awards at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001. That same year, Mitchell received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
While the film deals with challenging content, Dawson said it is also very funny.
“Hedwig does what good films dealing with heavy subject matter do – using humour as a coping mechanism to help get the weight of the subject matter across in a way that’s more accessible,” he said.
Dawson believes this will be a popular screening and encourages film lovers to get their tickets in advance.
Doors open at 7:30 p.m. at The Banquet Room (at Emmanuel Mennonite Church, 3471 Clearbrook Rd.), and the film starts at 8 p.m. Admission is $7 and tickets are available online at abbotsfordfilmsociety.com or at the door.
Guests are encouraged to use the Clearbrook Road entrance to the parking lot and enter on the north side of the building.
