Marlon Riggs’s poetry of protest . . . Plus: The comedy that launched Ab bott and Costello

Marlon Riggs explored race and sex on-screen in innovative, intersectional nonfiction films that continue to inspire contemporary artists. NEWSLETTER - OCTOBER 16, 2020 What’s Playing A guide to the Criterion Channel. If you haven’t already subscribed,[click here]( for a 14-day free trial and explore the more than 2,000 titles and thousands of supplemental features available to stream. [Race, Sex & Cinema: The World of Marlon Riggs]( Filmmaker, gay-rights activist, poet, professor, provocateur: the late, great artist Marlon Riggs (1957–94) spoke truth to power through his work in bracingly eloquent fashion. Working at the height of the AIDS crisis and the conservative culture wars of the 1980s and early ’90s, Riggs—who was diagnosed with HIV in 1988—defied a culture of silence and shame to create formally innovative, often joyously expressive works about race, sexuality, identity, and representation that collapsed the divide between personal essay and documentary. Curated by guest programmer Ashley Clark, this comprehensive retrospective celebrates an essential artist whose work, more than twenty-five years after his death, remains every inch as resonant. Plus: [Inspired by Marlon Riggs]( five shorts by contemporary Black and queer artists that are infused with Riggs’s generous spirit. Looking for a place to start? Riggs’s groundbreaking, Emmy-winning documentary Ethnic Notions traces the stereotypes that have fueled anti-Black racism through American history, revealing how they continue to exact a devastating toll. Then, his controversial, formally imaginative essay film Tongues Untied explores the experience of gay Black men, drawing on the work of poet Essex Hemphill to celebrate their resilience in the face of persecution. We’re Here to Help If you have questions, comments, or feedback about the Criterion Channel, please reach out to channelhelp@criterion.com! We’d love to hear from you. [Watching the Polls]( Get out there and vote, America! This wining ticket of campaign classics examines the once-every-four-years, can’t-look-away spectacle that is our political theater of the absurd. [Someone’s Watching]( Contemporary masters Bong Joon Ho and Michael Haneke mimic the unblinking eye of the surveillance camera in these two sinister explorations of violence and paranoia. [Films by Jenni Olson]( Queer-cinema memoirist Jenni Olson introduces a selection of her ruminative essay films, which interweave reflections on landscape, lesbian identity, sexuality, and cinema. [Twisted Sister]( Sibling bonds turn sour in this diabolical double bill, featuring Joan Crawford and Bette Davis in a camp classic and Brian De Palma’s first foray into Hitchcockian suspense. [Buck Privates]( Comedy legends Bud Abbott and Lou Costello turn the military inside out in this World War II farce, the film that made them one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1940s. EDITION #1039  [Town Bloody Hall]( Norman Mailer debates women’s lib with a quartet of female thinkers in this intellectual cage match captured by Chris Hegedus and D. A. Pennebaker. SUPPLEMENTAL FEATURES: Audio commentary featuring Hegedus and Germaine Greer, archival interviews with Greer and Mailer, and more. For further information on Criterion and our products, please visit our website at [criterion.com.]( To start streaming the Criterion Channel, please visit [criterionchannel.com.]( If you are not already on our mailing list and would like to be added, please [click here]( to register at [criterion.com.]( To unsubscribe, [click here.]( © 2020 The Criterion Collection :: 215 Park Ave S. New York, NY 10003