If nostalgia is the impossibility of a return to origin, queer nostalgia is the salvage of a symbolic past. These filmmakers borrow an alternative reading of Hollywood stars, figures who are also sites for mining, appropriation, and excess. These divas suggest private and collective mythologies that work against linear conceptions of time and history. This program proposes a new constellation of Latinx American fascination with Hollywood glamour, with campy starlets and performative extravagance. Ecuadorian bon vivant Eduardo Solá Franco’s Encuentros imposibles queers Hollywood’s Herculean heroes, while José Rodríguez Soltero’s Lupe evokes mythological fantasies. Teo Hernandez’s Estrellas del ayer pays homage to Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Lupe Vélez, Marlene Dietrich; and Horacio Vallereggio offers a raunchy and provocative interpretation of Olga Guillot, “the Queen of the Bolero.”

—Luciano Piazza, cocurator, Ism, Ism, Ism

This program is part of the touring series Ism, Ism, Ism: Experimental Cinema in Latin America; the related catalog is available in the Museum Store.