Must-See: Dirty Looks' Strange Little Films

Courtesy of Dirty Looks.

"Right now I'm looking at a lobster person," says Bradford Nordeen, eyeing never-before-seen reels from underground filmmaker Jack Smith. The founder of Dirty Looks, an experimental queer film platform started in 2010, Nordeen jumped at the chance to review the material when a Smith scholar proposed it over drinks. Now he'll be showing it twice this fall (September 28 at New York's Abrons Art Center and November 6 at Los Angeles's Human Resources) and, on October 30, hosting a screening of rare movies starring occultist and Kenneth Anger muse Marjorie Cameron atop L.A.'s Ace Hotel. This latter event, along with an interactive bazaar in December inspired by the 1970s gay hanky code, offers a new expression for Dirty Looks. "We're presenting boundary-pushing moving images," says Nordeen, "but working them into a weirdo holiday pop-up or witchy rooftop moment."

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