Past Film/Video | Classics

Blackstar: Autobiography of a Close Friend

(Tom Joslin, 1977)

Preceded by Fireworks (Kenneth Anger, 1947) and Oblivion (Tom Chomont, 1969)

Film still featuring two white men kissing (left). A black-and-white fragmented photo in three pieces, featuring a man holding another man who is leaning backward (right).
May 18, 2023 7:00 PM
Film/Video Theater

$7 members and adults 55 and over
$9 general public
$5 students

View our current COVID-19 protocols.

ACCESSIBILITY
We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. If you have questions about accessibility or require an accommodation such as CART captioning or ASL interpretation to participate in this event, please contact Accessibility Manager Helyn Marshall at accessibility@wexarts.org or via telephone at (614) 688-3890. Requests made by two weeks in advance will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the Wexner Center for the Arts will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.

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Tom Joslin’s notorious Blackstar headlines this evening of provocative portraits of gay history and culture.

Tom Joslin’s multifaceted, self-ethnographic chronicle of his own life as a gay man, Blackstar blends breathtaking images of the natural world with intimate portraits of his life with partner Mark Massi. (85 mins., DCP) The 1977 film is the prequel to Joslin’s searing Silverlake Life: The View from Here (1993). Blackstar is preceded by Kenneth Anger’s Fireworks, one of the most iconic entries in the history of queer cinema as well as American experimental filmmaking. Made when the director was just 17, this homoerotic and violent short was inspired by Anger’s vivid dreams following the LA Zoot Suit Riots. The owner of Los Angeles’s Coronet Theatre was arrested on obscenity charges after a screening in 1957. (13 mins., 35mm) Tom Chomont’s highly formal experimental short Oblivion juxtaposes footage of a sleeping man with bursts of erotic imagery, capturing the spirituality and sexuality found in the everyday. (6 mins., DCP)

See the complete Pioneers of Queer Cinema lineup.

IMAGE CAPTION
Left to right: Blackstar: Autobiography of a Close Friend, courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive; Fireworks, courtesy of Brian Butler.

Learn more

"It’s easy to be brazen when you’re seventeen and know what you want to do."
Kenneth Anger
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Blackstar: Autobiography of a Close Friend is newly restored in 4K by IndieCollect and the UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and IndieCollect Donors Circle.

Fireworks is preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding provided by The Film Foundation.

Oblivion is restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding through Avant‐Garde Masters Grants, which is funded by The Film Foundation and administered by the National Film Preservation Foundation.

SUPPORT FOR FILM/VIDEO PROGRAMS PROVIDED BY
Rohauer Collection Foundation

WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
Greater Columbus Arts Council
The Wexner Family
National Endowment for the Arts
Ohio Arts Council
L Brands Foundation
The Columbus Foundation
Nationwide Foundation
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Vorys, Sater, Seymour, and Pease

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Mike and Paige Crane
Axium Packaging
CampusParc
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
President Kristina M. Johnson and Mrs. Veronica Meinhard
Nancy Kramer
Larry and Donna James
Lisa Barton
Johanna DeStefano
Jones Day
Alex and Renée Shumate

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Past Film/Video

Blackstar: Autobiography of a Close Friend

May 18, 2023 7:00 PM EST
Film/Video Theater

$7 members and adults 55 and over
$9 general public
$5 students

View our current COVID-19 protocols.

ACCESSIBILITY
We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. If you have questions about accessibility or require an accommodation such as CART captioning or ASL interpretation to participate in this event, please contact Accessibility Manager Helyn Marshall at accessibility@wexarts.org or via telephone at (614) 688-3890. Requests made by two weeks in advance will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the Wexner Center for the Arts will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.

Become a Member