Pat Rocco’s Signs of Queer Life
Pat Rocco’s Signs of Queer Life
Trailblazing Los Angeles-based filmmaker and gay rights advocate Pat Rocco (1934–2018) began his moviemaking efforts as a creator of queer male erotica in the late 1960s. When the public’s appetite shifted to hardcore, Rocco pivoted to documenting moments of LGBTQ protest and collective joy in his adopted city, often appearing on camera as an always gracious (and meticulously coiffed) interviewer of his many subjects. Whether out in the streets capturing a demonstration of Barney’s Beanery in West Hollywood against their defamatory anti-gay signage (Signs of Protest), on the scene of an escalating situation with law enforcement at a gay bar (Meat Market Arrest), or capturing LA’s energetic early Pride parades (We Were There), Rocco’s films always culminate in moments of hope and a spirit of liberation that feel akin to Varda’s own joyful yet always inquisitive Weltanschauung.
Back to Main Series
Film Program
Fri, Jan 13, 2023
Hats Off to Hollywood with Lions Love (…and Lies)
Special guest: Introduction by director Penelope Spheeris
Film Program
Saturday, February 18, 2023
The Decline of Western Civilization
In person: Penelope Spheeris.