Screening
NEWFEST x The Film-Makers' Cooperative: Donna Deitch's "Desert Hearts" (40th Anniversary)
On October 12th at 6:30pm, The Film-Makers' Cooperative co-presents NEWFEST's 40th anniversary screening of Donna Deitch's landmark feature film DESERT HEARTS. Deitch has been a filmmaker-member of the Coop since the early 1970s, and we are honored to be a community partner for NEWFEST for the second year in a row.
The Film-Makers' Cooperative is thrilled to be a community partner for NEWFEST: The New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival, for the second year in a row! Since our founding in 1961, the Coop has been committed to amplifying the work of filmmakers on the margins, especially artists within the LGBTQIA+ community.
The Coop began distributing avant-garde shorts by the legendary Donna Deitch in the early 1970s. Deitch was generous enough to visit the Coop earlier this year, on June 7th, when we screened a program of her works in our collection (titled Donna Deitch: Early Works) followed by a special screening of her rarely-shown feature documentary from 1998, Angel on My Shoulder. We are therefore ecstatic to co-present NEWFEST's 40th anniversary screening of Deitch's landmark film DESERT HEARTS, which was one of the first mainstream narrative features to portray a lesbian relationship in an authentic and non-sensationalistic manner.
The year is 1959 and Professor Vivian Bell has arrived in Reno, Nevada for a divorce. There she meets Cay Rivers, a backwards-driving, jean short-wearing sculptor/casino employee who is brazenly herself. These two opposing forces circle around each other, falling in lust and love, Cay daring Vivian to take a risk for something more.
Nearly four decades since its release, join us in revisiting a film that was ahead of its time and beyond time. From an overwhelming kiss in the rain to one of the best sex scenes ever put on film, DESERT HEARTS redefined what queer women could expect from our movies. The romance crackles with possibility, but its love story goes beyond this central pair — it’s also about the bonds of friendship, the challenge of family, and the importance of embracing the entirety of oneself.
This screening will take place on October 12th at 6:30pm at BAM Rose Cinemas. This event will be followed by a Q&A session, guest moderated by Shayna Maci Warner, with Donna Deitch in attendance.