It's a Matter of Pride: A LGBTQ+ Film Series Comes to Bay Street Theater

Over the years, there have been a lot of film series presented on the East End. And while many important and socially relevant issues have been addressed in the movies screened as part of a series or at various festivals, there has never been a local film series focused exclusively on the LGBTQ+ community.

Until now.

This Sunday, January 26, at 4 p.m., Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor will screen the 2014 film “Pride” as the kick off to the Hamptons Pride Film Series 2025, five films being presented in the coming months by Hamptons Pride, the nonprofit community organization founded on the East End in 2021.

“I love Bay Street and the fact they’re giving us the chance to do this is a big deal,” said Tom House, founding director and president of Hamptons Pride.

Screenings will continue at Bay Street on the last Sunday of each month, with the exception of the final film in the series, which will be shown over Memorial Day weekend on Saturday, May 24. In addition to “Pride” this weekend, the other titles are: “Torch Song Trilogy” (1988) on February 23; “The Miseducation of Cameron Post” (2018) on March 30; “Moonlight” (2016) on April 27; and “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” (2001) on May 24.

“I love movies and I love music, so this is something I’m able to tie together,” explained House, who added that some of the films screening at Bay Street in the months ahead also have great soundtracks, which he is eager to share with audiences.

“I’m creating song lists from the movies to play in the lobby, so people can hear what they will hear in the movies and then listen to them afterwards,” he noted.

Besides the music, there are also a lot of positive messages to share in the films. For example, Matthew Warchus’s comedy/drama “Pride,” which is set in the summer of 1984, tells the story of an unlikely friendship between striking Welsh miners and a London-based team of gay activists who come to the small town to help the miners fight their cause.

“It’s based on a true story from 1984. The leader of a London-based gay/lesbian activist group is following the mining strike in Wales and realizes the right thing to do is help them,” House said. “These are a bunch of homophobes and don’t want their support. They start out hating and being afraid of each other, but then realize they have a common enemy in Margaret Thatcher and have had some of the same experiences.

“It’s the perfect film to start the series, because it’s an LGBTQ+ allies film,” House continued. “We’re not just celebrating and commemorating people on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, but also allies and super allies of the past and present. I always follow that with one day, we hope that means everywhere.”

As he was rescreening the film recently as a contender for the upcoming series, House realized that in addition to having a great message, “Pride” also has a great soundtrack.

“There’s lots of new wave-era music,” he said. “One of the really charming characters is played by Dominic West, who’s a really good dancer. The Welsh guys realize they can become chick magnets with dance lessons.

“It’s not just funny, but moving. When I was creating the playlist and editing out the down beat tunes, I was crying,” he added. “Here are people learning to find common ground and help each other. When I think of the current political climate, it’s sad.”

The second title of the series, “Torch Song Trilogy,” began life as a collection of three plays that first came to the stage in 1982. The film, which screens February 23, is directed by Paul Bogart and stars Harvey Fierstein, who also wrote and starred in the stage version. In both, Fierstein played Arnold Beckoff, a gay man working as a female impersonator in 1970s New York City who is looking for love and acceptance. His attempt to start a family hits a tragic bump and his disapproving mother only exacerbates things.

“It’s a terrific story with twists and turns and better than I remember, but you have to stay with it because some of it doesn’t age particularly well,” House said. “Anne Bancroft plays his homophobic mother and it stars a young Matthew Broderick who looks like a little boy.”

“Local drag queens will help me host that night,” House added.

While a lot of gay-themed films focus on relationships between men, House stressed that it was important to him that the series also include movies about other members of the LGBTQ+ community, including women and people of color.

To that end, Desiree Akhavan’s 2018 coming-of-age film “The Miseducation of Cameron Post,” which screens on March 30, tells the story of Cameron (played by Chloë Grace Moretz) a teenager who is sent to a Christian gay conversion therapy center after her relationship with another girl is discovered. This is a film that speaks to a younger demographic and House hopes that audiences in their 20s and 30s turn out for this one.

Then on April 27, the 2016 film “Moonlight,” directed by Barry Jenkins, will be shown at Bay Street. The film won the Academy Award that year for Best Picture (after an uncomfortable on-stage mix up with “La La Land” during the awards ceremony), Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay, and it covers three stages in the life of Chiron, a young Black man struggling with his homosexuality as well as physical and emotional abuse.

“The main character is played by three actors,” House said. “It’s a hard film, about drug addiction and is about a Black man coming of age.”

While initially, the Hamptons Pride Film Series was planning to present four films between now and April, House noted that recently a fifth was added to the schedule for May — “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” another selection that began life as a stage production.

“Hedwig and the Angry Inch” is a 2001 rock musical film based on the 1998 play of the same name, which opened Off-Broadway in 1998 and premiered on Broadway in 2014. John Cameron Mitchell, who wrote the script and directed the film, also stars in it. Mitchell appeared in the original stage production as well, and wrote the book for the musical with Stephen Trask penning the music and lyrics.

“Hedwig and the Angry Inch” tells the story of Hedwig Robinson, a gay East German rock singer, whose music is stolen by Tommy, Hedwig’s young protégé, who runs off and becomes a successful rock star on his own. Hedwig, who had been forced to undergo sex reassignment surgery, takes to the road with her band, the Angry Inch, to trail Tommy’s tour. As one might expect, the film is full of music, specifically tunes informed by 1970s glam rock numbers.

At the end of the day, House is excited to be bringing the Hamptons Pride Film Series to life at Bay Street and with this wide range of LGBTQ+ films, is hopeful that the lineup will attract a large swath of the East End community.

“Bay Street is giving us a wonderful opportunity to create a fun and engaging new social outlet, just in time for the long winter months,” House said. “In the before-dinner hour on last Sundays, we hope to grow what will become a vibrant community film series, and will work to make each screening one you won’t want to miss.”

Also coming up is the Fourth Annual Hamptons Pride Parade in East Hampton, which will be held on Saturday, June 7, with a free concert in Herrick Park afterward. House will be making a special announcement about the event at this Sunday’s film screening.

“Pride,” a 2014 film directed by Matthew Warchus, will screen at 4 p.m. on Sunday, January 26, at Bay Street Theater as part of the Hamptons Pride Film Series 2025. Tickets are $10 ($15 day of screening) at baystreet.org, 631-725-9500 or at the Bay Street Theater box office on Long Wharf in Sag Harbor. For more information visit hamptonspride.org.