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Melissa Tamminga

@oneaprilday.bsky.social
2.3K followers 1.2K following 254 posts

She/her. Programming Director at pickfordfilmcenter.org Posts my own. Formerly Film and English faculty at Whatcom Community College. Also on Letterboxd as oneaprilday. And on IG as mdtamminga

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Reposted by Melissa Tamminga
Chase 'Hutch' Hutchinson 📽️ @eclectichutch.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
NEW: The Grand Illusion Cinema lives! The single-screen movie house that'd been in Seattle’s University District for more than 50 years before closing in January 2025 is coming home. It will be now taking over at the Varsity Theatre 📽️ My story @seattletimes.com: www.seattletimes.com/entertainmen...
A photo taken outside the shuttered Varsity Theatre on September 22, 2026 with the marquee reading COMING SOON GRAND ILLUSION.
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Mark Harris @markharris.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
This will be a catastrophe for both filmed entertainment and news, and it's a great shame that the California AG caved. Trump and his people will celebrate this news today. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/21/b...
nytimes.com
Paramount to Resolve Antitrust Lawsuit, Clearing the Way for Warner Bros. Acquisition (Gift Article)
The deal would remove the last significant hurdle the media mogul David Ellison faced to create a news and entertainment empire, home to movie studios, HBO, CBS and CNN.
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Alissa Wilkinson @alissawilkinson.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
My friend @overstreet.bsky.social nails a lot of things about NATCHEZ that I didn’t have space for (unsurprisingly) and I saw this movie a year ago and think about it on the regular. You can get it on Apple, Amazon etc for $3 and I recommend. www.jeffreyoverstreet.com/2026/09/20/n...
jeffreyoverstreet.com
Natchez: my favorite discovery of 2026 so far
In my favorite film of 2026 so far, director Suzannah Herbert gives us a tour of homes that reveal history that Americans ignore to their own peril.
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Kate Hagen 🦂 𓋹 🦂 @thathagengrrl.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
N SEARCH OF THE LAST GREAT VIDEO STORE RETURNS ✨📼✨ The piece now includes: -My ever-evolving global video store directory -Every NEW video store piece I've created since 2k18 -An updated Music Rights Hell list from @meheuck.bsky.social! Please share far + wide: blcklst.substack.com/p/in-search-...
blcklst.substack.com
In Search of the Last Great Video Store Redux
Revisit the viral piece, then go visit a video store!
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Melissa Tamminga @oneaprilday.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Will Matthew Rankin’s very specifically Canadian LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BRIAN MULRONEY end up being my favorite film at TIFF 2026? Maybe! Did I understand all the references and Canadian politics? No! I loved it anyway!
Letterboxd movie posters of most recent films watched, Alpha Gang, Purgatory, Ladies and Gentleman Brian Mulroney, and A Long Winter
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Melissa Tamminga @oneaprilday.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Yes!
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Brandon D. Wilson @geniusbastard.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
One of the year's best films is available for purchase on blu. store.oscilloscope.net/products/nat...
store.oscilloscope.net
Natchez
NATCHEZ captures an unsettling clash between history and memory in a small Mississippi town; a layered mosaic of people contending with the weight of the past in a place where it is always present.Equ...
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Melissa Tamminga @oneaprilday.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Our own Pickford preview screening tonight is sold out, and I could not be happier. A joyous delight of a film that deserves all the love.
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Jessica Ritchey @jmritchey.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Hoping Criterion gives this one a disc one day, they've done Netflix titles before, and this one deserves better than to be semi-forgotten next to a Enola Holmes movie.
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Brandon D. Wilson @geniusbastard.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Natalie Harp smiling creepily at Trump .Inde Navarrette smiling creepily as Nikki in Obsession.
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Kurt Andersen @kurtandersen.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
I’ve loved Sandy Frazier’s brilliant, hilarious @newyorker.com piece “Coyote vs. Acme” ever since it came out in 1990. And now I love the story of how it has now become a big summer movie coming out in two weeks—a story wonderfully told here by Steven Kurutz. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/14/s...
nytimes.com
Ian Frazier Wrote ‘Coyote v. Acme’ in 1990. Now It’s a Movie. (Gift Article)
With “Coyote vs. Acme,” Ian Frazier, a soft-spoken reporter and humorist, has finally gone Hollywood.
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Melissa Tamminga @oneaprilday.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Friday evening reading: “Christopher Nolan remakes the Odyssey as an Anglo-American imperial fantasy” www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/chri...
Essay by Prof. Hamid Dabashi, “Christopher Nolan remakes the Odyssey as an Anglo-American imperial fantasy,” 14 Aug, 2026“They say Nolan's Odyssey is anti-war. I don't think so - and even if it were, it would be anti-war from the perspective of a nuclear-powered white-saviour fantasy. People around the globe do not like such fantasies, and find them entirely offensive.

Nolan's Odysseus has PTSD: having first come up with the idea, then built the Trojan Horse, then caused the slaughter of his enemies, he has nightmares recalling what he has done - which is exactly how his Oppenheimer worked.

First you cause and stage the mayhem and murder of fragile humanity at your mercy; then you go and make a film about the traumas of the mass murders you have inflicted upon the world.”
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Alonso Duralde @aduralde.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
My review of Coyote vs. Acme for The Film Verdict #filmsky 📽
thefilmverdict.com
Coyote vs. Acme - The Film Verdict
This nearly-shelved Looney Tunes feature keeps the visual and verbal gags rapid-fire while also hitting its marks as a character-based legal thriller. With giant wooden mallets.
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Melissa Tamminga @oneaprilday.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Such a pleasure to host Sean Baker and Sammy Quan for a visit to the Pickford! Sean is such a real one for using his IG platform to showcase indie cinemas and support exhibitors. ❤️❤️ www.instagram.com/p/DbyDkX4kX5...
Sean Baker taking a selfie in front of the Pickford Film Center’s By St location in Bellingham, WA. Sammy Quan and  PFC staff members — Melissa Tamminga, Abby, Joey, Joris, Mica, and Gaven in the background.
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Melissa Tamminga @oneaprilday.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Such a pleasure to host Sean Baker and Sammy Quan for a visit to the Pickford! Sean is such a real one for using his IG platform to showcase indie cinemas and support exhibitors. ❤️❤️ www.instagram.com/p/DbyDkX4kX5...
Sean Baker taking a selfie in front of the Pickford Film Center’s By St location in Bellingham, WA. Sammy Quan and  PFC staff members — Melissa Tamminga, Abby, Joey, Joris, Mica, and Gaven in the background.
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Melissa Tamminga @oneaprilday.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
From the movie Brazil, the main character in a narrow room with half a desk
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Alonso Duralde @aduralde.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
As someone who literally spent the first 15 years of his sex life in a country where gay sex wasn’t legal in all 50 states, I am not here for this straight nonsense.
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Melissa Tamminga @oneaprilday.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Yikes. A bunch of these were following me, too. BLOCK.
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EMILY WILSON @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
I cannot rest from discourse. I will see that film again tomorrow. I will drink life to the lees. Again I will enjoy greatly, will suffer greatly, both with those that love me, and in Pleasantville NY. I am become a meme. Film showing: burnsfilmcenter.org/booking/the-...
burnsfilmcenter.org
The Odyssey : Jacob Burns Film Center
The Odyssey, Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Christopher Nolan, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Odysseus, Greek, Classic, Antiquity
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EMILY WILSON @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
No professional accomplishment has ever made me happier than this. theonion.com/translator-o...
theonion.com
Translator Of Original ‘Minions’ Epic Poem Slams ‘Sexless, Bloodless’ Film Adaptation
PHILADELPHIA—In a 4,500-word essay published in Harper’s Magazine, Emily Wilson, known for her popular translation of the Minions epic poem, blasted the latest film Thursday as a “sexless, bloodless” ...
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Dr. Emily Price @emilyprice.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
After several days of this discourse I’m ready to call the sexism red card. It is perfectly fine to think her argument is bad or she should have written a different genre, but way too many people are treating a translator with a PhD like she’s not smart enough to analyze a movie.
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Brandon D. Wilson @geniusbastard.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Thank you. Wild how many people are gliding past this nuance. It's not an "expert review." She's not a professor complaining about how professors are depicted in a Marvel movie. The woman has translated Homer.
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Angelica Jade Bastién @angelicabastien.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
“Without the nuances of Morton’s performance, the Circe scene as written by Nolan is rooted in men’s questionable fear of being accused of violence against women rather than the tragedy of how women navigate that very real threat to our lives.” My latest. www.vulture.com/article/circ...
vulture.com
The Odyssey’s Circe Is the Best Female Character Nolan Has Ever Written
Nolan’s never been great at writing women, but what doesn’t exist on the page Samantha Morton conjures through a tricksy, powerhouse performance.
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Casey Stegman @caseystegman.com · 27/07/2026
People who think Emily Wilson is being mean have clearly never presented a paper at an academic conference
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Melissa Tamminga @oneaprilday.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Given how many professional film critics I know have a background in English/literature, which they draw on to often brilliantly analyze film texts, I find this take so strange and disappointing. That a scholar of literature has no more expertise than a plumber to analyze a film?
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Manohla Dargis @manohladargis.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Movie lovers it’s time to nominate your faves for the LOC’s National Film Registry! It’s fun, easy and way to champion women and people of color. H/T @hellonfriscobay.bsky.social www.loc.gov/programs/nat...
loc.gov
How to Nominate Films | Film Registry | National Film Preservation Board | Programs | Library of Congress
We are accepting nominations for the 2026 National Film Registry.
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Brandon D. Wilson @geniusbastard.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
This. So much this. Nolan all over. Pretending to critique “Great Men” but actually just romanticizing them.
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EMILY WILSON @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
I wrote about the Nolan Odyssey for the LRB. I'll summarize some of my main points below, in case you don't feel like reading all that. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
lrb.co.uk
Emily Wilson · An Uncomplicated Man
As they say at the awards shows, I was humbled to learn that Christopher Nolan has read at least the first line of my...
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Jessica Ritchey @jmritchey.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Happy Birthday, James Whale. Gods and Monsters (1998) is a terrific film.
Gods and Monsters (1999) poster
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Nathalie Graham @gramsofgnats.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
BREAKING: SIFF Cinema Workers Union just walked out of SIFF Cinema downtown ahead of the 3pm sold out 70mm screening of The Odyssey. The theater seats 570 people. The 7pm showing is sold out as well. @eclectichutch.bsky.social has the story www.thestranger.com/news/siff-ci...
thestranger.com
SIFF Cinema Workers Union Walk Out of SIFF Downtown Ahead of 70mm 'The Odyssey' Screening - The Stranger
Members of the SIFF Cinema Workers Union (SCWU) walked out of the 570-seat SIFF Cinema Downtown Friday before the sold out 3 pm 70mm screening of Christopher Nolan’s fantasy epic The Odyssey. The unio...
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EMILY WILSON @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
On the language of Homeric Greek, and the language of a certain forthcoming film: here are a few simple observations.
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David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Twelve states' challenge to the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger is compact and simple: if one company controls 27% of all wide-release films & 34% of all cable channels (by viewership), it can bargain with distributors for better terms, which will filter down to higher consumer prices.
prospect.org
Challenge to Paramount–Warner Bros. Merger Focuses on Theaters, Basic Cable - The American Prospect
The lawsuit, filed by 12 states, makes the case that a merged studio will have more leverage to dictate terms to distributors, leading to higher prices for everyone.
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Daniel Benneworth-Gray @danielgray.com · 13/07/2026
Sam Neill on tackling depression and imposter syndrome when you’re between jobs.
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🏳️‍🌈 Ms. Marya E. Gates 🦩 @oldfilmsflicker.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
In DAYBREAKERS special features Willem Dafoe says he signed up for the film because if they had Ethan Hawke they must be looking for a certain caliber of performance. Sam Neill signed up after reading the first page of the script where yuppies put blood in their Starbucks. RIP you weirdo.
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the babahuck @tylerhuckabee.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
RIP
Sam Neill on why 'The Piano' (1993) is an important movie in cinema history: 

"I don't think I can overestimate how important 'The Paino' is for me in hindsight. it sits on my funny old CV like a medal on my chest. It wasn't my film. It Jane Campion's. I wasn't the star of the film. That was Holly Hunter. But there is honour to be found in the second fiddle. Or fopurth. No one notices you much, you don't get nominated for things. But you served. I was there in an important feminist film. I was there on the front line in an important New Zealand film. Neither of those labels does the film justice. It's a work of art. And look, that tiny little figure in the fabric—see down there on the right—that's me. It's a film that will always have a place in cinema history. And I served in it."

("Did I ever Tell You This: A Memeoir", Sam Neill)
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John Bleasdale @www.johnbleasdale.com · 10/07/2026
A good news story from Rome. From The New World www.thenewworld.co.uk/john-bleasda...
thenewworld.co.uk
The activists trying to save cinema, one screen at a time
Over 2,500 of Italy’s cinemas have closed since the pandemic. But a group of film enthusiasts has a plan to turn things around
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Dylan Cheung @dylancheung.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
RIP Tony Rayns, one of the few English-language critics who genuinely knew what they were talking about (most of the time) when it came to East Asian cinema, especially Hong Kong's.
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Paul Tremblay @paultremblay.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
While disappointed my plans to watch JAWS at the venerable @brattletheatre.bsky.social have been canceled because of the heat and AC issues, the theater has lost 3 days worth of revenue. If you can spare a few bucks, or the price of a ticket, please consider a donation brattlefilm.org/donate-2/
brattlefilm.org
Support The Brattle
You make The Brattle the magical place that it is. The Brattle is here today thanks to the...
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Alex Kittle @alexxkittle.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Submissions are now open for @bosunderground.bsky.social ! If you have a film that's weird, scary, inventive, experimental, silly, surreal, and/or gonzo, we want to see it! Show me something I haven't seen before! (Do NOT make me watch anything with AI tho i stg) filmfreeway.com/BostonUnderg...
filmfreeway.com
Boston Underground Film Festival
BUFF seeks films that celebrate alternative visions and sounds, offering a platform that connects filmmakers with one another and our intelligent, engaged, a...
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Bill Arceneaux (Down BY Law) @billarceneaux.com · 23/06/2026
As we kids like to say, "that's rad."
variety.com
Moviegoers Love Their Local Indie Theaters, With New Survey Showing a Boom in Younger Audiences
Independent theaters continue to be a vital asset to their communities, with a 9% increase in business in 2025, an encouraging sign for the sector.
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Melissa Tamminga @oneaprilday.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Love the little details in WIDOW’S BAY. E.g. Episode 8: 1) beginning of episode: unnamed mom tourist, having a nice time at the restaurant, w/ a map of the island 2) end of episode: she reappears, sitting in hospital waiting room w/ neck brace & arm sling Island=bad. All told in brief visuals!
Blonde woman smiling, entering restaurant, map in hand, purse on arm, jean jacket, pinkish-red summer dress. Her family has already entered and are out of frame. Same blonde woman — pinkish-red dress, jean jacket on arm of chair, now sitting in hospital waiting room with a neck brace and arm sling, looking at who is apparently her kid next to her
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Shelley Stamp @shelleystamp.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
“Editing is the final rewrite, where the poetry is written in cinema language. The film is made or broken in the editing room.” — Mary Sweeney Cinema’s great female editors get their due. www.theguardian.com/film/2026/ju...
theguardian.com
‘It’s where the poetry is written in cinema language’: the female editors behind cinema’s masterpieces
In an industry dominated by men, many women dedicate themselves to the craft of editing – as well as managing directors’ egos – to create some of the most celebrated and memorable big-screen classics
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Brandon D. Wilson @geniusbastard.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Framed it. My name is on this beautiful Bleak Week poster. Thanks @oneaprilday.bsky.social!
Framed poster of the Pickford Film Center’s Bleak Week.
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Melissa Tamminga @oneaprilday.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Very excited to talk to Xander Berkeley tomorrow night at our Bleak Week screening of SAFE. Just a handful of tickets left: www.pickfordfilmcenter.org/movie/safe-1...
pickfordfilmcenter.org
Safe (1995)
BLEAK WEEK SERIES: CINEMA OF DESPAIR. SPONSORED BY THIRD PLANET BOUTIQUE. NO RED PASSES FOR WEEKEND AND EVENING SHOWS SPECIAL GUEST Q&A (June 8): ACTOR XANDER BERKELEY FILM INTRO (June 8...
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Willow Catelyn Maclay @willowcatelyn.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Things are changing. A trans cinema for us, by us.
Castration Movie Anthology is a remarkable example of how contemporary trans cinema can be really bold and unapologetic because of the grassroots nature of its making and distribution. Can you say more about that film and its success?

    Maclay: Castration’s word-of-mouth reputation has been built almost entirely by trans people discussing it with other trans people. I think it’s important to talk here about Muscle Distribution, a company that trans film archivist and queer historian Elizabeth Purchell started a couple years ago. I think that she is doing a wonderful job centralizing these movies and presenting them to the exact right audience. Through us sharing these films online, whether through Vimeo links or Google docs, or by going to screenings at microcinemas—and Louise has been traveling across North America and Europe getting Castration Movie Anthology out there—a community experience has been created around modern trans films, and it feels not only like Muscle is catering to us but also that it’s being driven by the power that we have as viewers and consumers. Louise just started a Kickstarter for Castration Movie Anthology III—she needed many thousands of dollars and raised it very quickly. This is showing us that this type of circulation, which enables us to use our modest economic means to help get money into the hands of trans filmmakers, can succeed. Maybe we can have an ecosystem of trans films that are on a smaller scale, and it doesn’t matter so much if they break into the mainstream if the trans audience is seeing them—as long as these films are mattering to the community itself.
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Melissa Tamminga @oneaprilday.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
For anyone familiar with or recovering from conservative Christian circles where “forgiveness” for habitually abusive men is the credal norm, this demand from Platner that we accept him bc he’s “transformed” offers a stark parallel. ProPublica published one example today: bsky.app/profile/prop...
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Melissa Tamminga @oneaprilday.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
At the @pickfordfilmcenter.bsky.social this June and July, we’re thrilled to be partnering with @willowcatelyn.bsky.social on a new series, The New Trans Cinema. 🏳️‍⚧️ The films are curated and introduced by Willow. Her intro to the series can be read here: www.pickfordfilmcenter.org/pride-2026/
Screenshot of an Instagram post:  Pickford Film Center, “The New Trans Cinema,” a series of films by new and emerging queer filmmakers. Tickets online at pickfordfilmcenter.org 
 Castration Movie 3, June 18. Camp, June 25. Serpent’s Skin, July 2. Divine Hammer, July 9. The New Trans Cinema: Pride at the Pickford, Curated by Willow Maclay.

About the series: 
This selection captures an interconnected community of trans people and queer allies coming together across nations to make art in spite of these dangerous times. 
These movies are by us and for us, and made during a precarious time when the importance of community is more palpable than ever. 
The work these filmmakers are doing collectively, alongside others like Jane Schoenbrun and Vera Drew, comprise a kind of “new trans cinema,” akin to the New Queer Cinema movement that occurred in the 1990’s.
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Melissa Tamminga @oneaprilday.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
At the @pickfordfilmcenter.bsky.social this June and July, we’re thrilled to be partnering with @willowcatelyn.bsky.social on a new series, The New Trans Cinema. 🏳️‍⚧️ The films are curated and introduced by Willow. Her intro to the series can be read here: www.pickfordfilmcenter.org/pride-2026/
Screenshot of an Instagram post:  Pickford Film Center, “The New Trans Cinema,” a series of films by new and emerging queer filmmakers. Tickets online at pickfordfilmcenter.org 
 Castration Movie 3, June 18. Camp, June 25. Serpent’s Skin, July 2. Divine Hammer, July 9. The New Trans Cinema: Pride at the Pickford, Curated by Willow Maclay.

About the series: 
This selection captures an interconnected community of trans people and queer allies coming together across nations to make art in spite of these dangerous times. 
These movies are by us and for us, and made during a precarious time when the importance of community is more palpable than ever. 
The work these filmmakers are doing collectively, alongside others like Jane Schoenbrun and Vera Drew, comprise a kind of “new trans cinema,” akin to the New Queer Cinema movement that occurred in the 1990’s.
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Melissa Tamminga @oneaprilday.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
This is fantastic.
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