“Sister, sister, oh so fair, why is there blood all over your hair?” If you, like so many of us, frequently find yourself asking this same question, then don’t worry: The Cans Film Festival‘s screening of Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?, taking place next Tuesday 2/23 at Macri Park has all the answers you seek.
The inspiration for the The Cans Film Festival (a new series of queer, monthly movie screenings at Macri Park every third Tuesday of the month) struck after curators Ben Miller and Dan Kessel (a former Bushwick Daily editorial fellow), witnessed queen Crimson Kitty’s mash-up of Ariana Grande and samples from the film Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? at Bushwick’s internationally renowned drag festival Bushwig last summer.
“Any queen worth her salt knows her references. After the show we got to talking and realized how crucial it would be to have a community-based queer film series in Brooklyn. Thankfully, it was easy to get started — the folks who run Macri Park (and Metropolitan and many other lovely places) are delightfully accessible and responsive,” Kessel tells Bushwick Daily.
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? is described on the event’s facebook page as an “absolute horror show” from 1962 in which a former child star (Bette Davis) torments her disabled sister (Joan Crawford) in a decaying Hollywood mansion. In other words: “hag horror” cinema doesn’t get much better than this. Make the commute into Williamsburg for the cheap Tecate (Macri Park is offering a $2-per-can special), but stay for the impressive meltdowns, the melodrama, and the shoulder pads — all the ingredients for a night of utopian queerness (going up on a Tuesday).
“We want the experience to be hilarious yet also perhaps illuminating – a place where folks can get a little drunk, meet some people, learn where that reference comes from, and build their repertoire of timeless camp queer films across multiple genres and decades.”
The best part? Admission to the event is free. As Ben and Dan promise: “Parakeets are served, songs are croaked, & YES EYEBROWS YES.” Turn up and turn out, Bushwick.
The Cans Film Festival’s screening of Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? takes place this February 23rd at 8pm at Macri Park, 462 Union Avenue, Williamsburg, off of the Lorimer stop on the L train, or the Metropolitan Avenue stop on the G train. RSVP on Facebook, subscribe to their monthly e-mail and follow on Twitter and Instagram.