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Playland directed by Georden West
Playland directed by Georden West

Georden West’s Playland is a “genre-defying queer dreamscape” docu-fiction set in Playland Café, Boston’s oldest and most notorious gay bar.

Starring in the film are Lady Bunny, Danielle Cooper, Maine Anders, Aidan Dick, Gatekeeper Adrian, Jet Sprat, José Lapaz-Rodriguez, Mason Caminiti, Miranda Quinn, Kelly Mittendorf, and Constance Cooper

Following the world premiere at Rotterdam Film Festival, Playland will screen in North America at Tribeca, Frameline, and Provincetown Festivals.

The ghosts of barflies’ past haunt Playland, “a transdisciplinary work of queer bricolage” by filmmaker Georden West. The film takes place inside the empty husk of the Playland Café, Boston’s oldest and most notorious gay hangout space. The cafe shut down in the late ‘90s, but West stages one last bawdy night on the town for the generations of drag queens, disco DJs, leatherdykes, and sissies who made Playland their home, creating an atemporal zone where queer ancestors can come out to play.

Featuring storylines set in 1943, 1965, 1977, and 1992, Playland takes a multimedia approach to storytelling. The film combines archival audio and home video footage with artistically realized vignettes that combine refined aesthetics and bold stylization. (There’s a floor show as well, of course.) At turns wistful, joyful, and brimming with righteous anger, Playland embraces the criminal queerness of the past, paying tribute to groundbreaking gay elders and creating a nostalgic fantasia of an era that had its beauty as well as its black eyes. –– Casey Baron, Tribeca Film Festival

Watch the first trailer for Playland.

Filmmaker Georden West is a multimedia artist. Georden was a 2021-22 Fine Arts Work Center Visual Arts Fellow. They are a 2021 Academy Gold Women’s Fellowship Finalist and won gold at the 46th Annual Student Academy Awards. They are one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film.”

TRIBECA SCREENINGS:
North American Premiere
Thursday June 8, 11:30 AM – AMC 19th St East – P&I Screening
Friday June 09, 5:15 PM – Village East by Angelika
Saturday June 10, 9:30 PM – AMC 19th St. East 6
Friday June 16, 6:30 PM – Village East by Angelika

PROVINCETOWN SCREENINGS:
Thursday June 15, 11 AM – Waters Edge 1
Saturday June 17, 8:30 PM – Art House 2

FRAMELINE SCREENINGS:
Thursday June 22, 8:15 PM – Roxie Theater

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