Shanghai Express
In this pre-Code classic, Marlene Dietrich stars alongside Anna May Wong as courtesans aboard a train bound for Shanghai that is hijacked by rebels. Also aboard the train is Captain Donald Harvey (Clive Brook) a former love of Dietrich’s Shanghai Lily. Nonetheless, it is the palpable chemistry displayed between Lily and Wong’s Hui Fei that is enthralling. Dietrich has long been considered a bisexual icon; she made no secret of her sexual fluidity, and she shattered gender norms by presenting equally masculine and feminine in her way of dressing offscreen.

Content advisory: This film contains a performance with a white actor in yellowface.

Preceded by
Meeting Two Queens
An experimental short by filmmaker Cecilia Barriga, who cuts and re-edits scenes from studio pictures featuring Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich. A precursor to modern day fancams found on social media platforms, Barriga reimagines Garbo and Dietrich cast as lovers in a fictional film.