FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Denver Film Media Contacts:
Keith Garcia: keith@denverfilm.org
Marty Schechter: marty@schechterpr.com
(SCIENCE FRICTION assets link, SCIENCE FRICTION trailer available on Denver Film Youtube Channel)
DENVER – MAY 22, 2025 – Denver Film today announced the launch of its upcoming June repertory film series – Science Friction – a celebration of queer, trans, and binary-breaking visions in science fiction cinema.
This series ranges from mind-bending multiverses like the Wachowski Sisters’ CLOUD ATLAS and and the Daniels’ EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE to camp classics starring intergalactic icons – BARBARELLA (Jane Fonda), TANK GIRL (Lori Petty), and EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY (Geena Davis). Queer heroes rise across Gotham City with a special double feature presentation of BATMAN FOREVER and BATMAN & ROBIN in addition to a screening of Vera Drew’s THE PEOPLE’S JOKER, which reimagines the Batman universe as an aspiring clown grapples with her gender identity and combats a fascistic caped crusader. Neon dreams (and nightmares) unravel in Jane Schoenbrun’s psychological horror I SAW THE TV GLOW, Slava Tsukerma’s cult film LIQUID SKY, and Bertrand Mandico’s sapphic space-western AFTER BLUE. Science Friction also includes special screenings of queer director Joel Schumacher’s THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING WOMAN – starring lesbian icon Lily Tomlin – on 35mm film and a guest appearance by Philip R. Ford, director of the musical space odyssey VEGAS IN SPACE. All films will screen exclusively at Denver Film’s year-round home the Sie FilmCenter, 2510 E. Colfax, throughout June.
“Get ready to blast off to another cinematic dimension where people float among the stars, camp permeates the atmosphere like a pink fog, and sexuality is a thing of beauty, dissection and even trouble,” said Sie FilmCenter Artistic Director, Keith Garcia. “With stellar performances from Halle Berry, Uma Thurman, and Naomi Watts in her first American film and unique queer visions from directors Bruce LaBruce, Joel Schumacher, and many more, set your phasers to stunning because things are about to get out of this world!”
The full schedule and tickets are on sale now at denverfilm.org. Ticket prices range from $12 – $15 for General Admission with deeper discounts available to Denver Film Members.
The story is a time-shifting weave of six interlinking narratives, with diverse settings from the savagery of a Pacific Island in the 1850s to a dystopian Korea of the near future. Action, mystery and romance weave dramatically through the story as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and a single act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution. Based on the best-selling novel Cloud Atlas written by David Mitchell. Featuring an all-star cast led by Tom Hanks and Halle Berry. Future. Present. Past. Everything is connected.
AFTER BLUE
Director: Bertrand Mandico, Friday & Saturday, June 6 & 7, 9:30 p.m.
In a faraway future, on a wild and untamed female inhabited planet called After Blue, a lonely teenager named Roxy (Paula Luna) unknowingly releases a mystical, dangerous, and sensual assassin from her prison. Roxy and her mother Zora (Elina Löwensohn) are held accountable, banished from their community, and forced to track down the murderer named Kate Bush. Haunted by the spirits of her murdered friends, Roxy sets out on a long and strange journey across the supranatural territories of this filthy paradise. The newest vision from Bertand Mandico (The Wild Boys) plays like an lesbian El Topo (in space!) with stunning 35mm in-camera practical effects, otherworldly set pieces, and a dazzling score by Pierre Desprats.
I SAW THE TV GLOW
Director: Jane Schoenbrun, Saturday, June 7 at 12 p.m.
Teenager Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious late-night TV show — a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen’s view of reality begins to crack.
EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY
Director: Julien Temple, Sunday, June 8 at 12 p.m.
If you’re searching for an irresistibly fun cult classic with an out-of-this-world cast, you’ve found it! Earth Girls Are Easy follows the misadventures of three furry aliens — played by Jeff Goldblum, Jim Carrey, and Damon Wayans — whose spaceship crash-lands into a pool owned by Valerie, a valley-girl manicurist (Oscar® winner* Geena Davis). Befriended by Valerie and given human makeovers, the extraterrestrial trio embarks on a wild weekend filled with partying, police pursuits, and, yes, interplanetary love.
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Directors: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Tuesday, June 10 at 7 p.m.
Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as Daniels, the film is a hilarious and big-hearted sci-fi action adventure about an exhausted Chinese American woman (Michelle Yeoh) who can’t seem to finish her taxes. When an interdimensional rupture unravels reality, she must channel her newfound powers to fight bizarre and bewildering dangers from the multiverse as the fate of the world hangs in the balance.
THE VISITOR
Director: Bruce LaBruce, Friday & Saturday, June 13 & 14, 9:30 p.m.
London, today. A refugee washes up naked in a suitcase on the bank of the Thames. The enigmatic, sexually fluid stranger introduces himself to a bourgeois, upper class family. He is invited to stay on as an employee. The Visitor soon seduces each member of the family in a series of explicit sexual encounters. He will turn their world upside down as they are able to redefine themselves in new, radical ways.
BARBARELLA
Director: Roger Vadim, Saturday, June 14 at 12 p.m.
BARBARELLA is marked by the same audacity and originality, fantasy, humor, beauty and horror, cruelty and eroticism that make comic books such a favorite. The setting is the planet Lythion in the year 40,000, when Barbarella (Jane Fonda) makes a forced landing while traveling through space. She acts like a female James Bond, vanquishing evil in the forms of robots and monsters. She also rewards, in an uninhibited manner, the handsome men who assist her in the adventure. Whether she is wrestling with Black Guards, the evil Queen, or the Angel Pygar, she just can’t seem to avoid losing at least a part of her skin-tight space suit!
THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING WOMAN on 35mm Film
Director: Joel Schumacher, Tuesday, June 17 at 7 p.m.
The loveable and laughable Lily Tomlin stars in the high-spirited comedy The Incredible Shrinking Woman. Exposed to a bizarre mix of household chemicals, ordinary housewife and mother Pat Kramer (Tomlin), develops a strange illness – she begins to shrink. Baffling doctors and struggling to take care of her family, Pat’s diminishing size captures the hearts of the American people but also the attention of an evil group of scientists plotting to take over the world!
LIQUID SKY
Director: Slava Tsukerman, Friday & Saturday, June 20 & 21, 9:30 p.m.
The story of a weekend in New York’s hyperrealist, queer, neon, drug fueled, dangerous, and dystopian 1980s featuring cast of underground models, electroclash singers, shrimp-obsessed housewives, scumbag clubbers, addicts, necrophiliacs, and a German Ufologist. Deadpan humor and eroticism, satire and horror, camp and realism make LIQUID SKY several bolts of lightning striking the same bottle.
TANK GIRL
Director: Rachel Talalay, Saturday, June 21 at 12 p.m.
After a comet disrupts the rain cycle of Earth, the planet has become a desolate, barren desert by the year 2033. With resources scarce, Kesslee (Malcolm McDowell) — head of the powerful and evil Water & Power Corporation, the de facto government — has taken control of the water supply. Unwilling to cower under Kesslee’s tyrannical rule, a pair of outlaws known as Tank Girl (Lori Petty) and Jet Girl (Naomi Watts) rise up, joining the mysterious rebel Rippers to destroy the corrupt system.
BATMAN FOREVER + BATMAN & ROBIN Double Feature
Director: Joel Schumacher, Sunday, June 22 at 12 p.m.
BATMAN FOREVER – Jim Carrey stars as criminal genius, The Riddler, and Tommy Lee Jones plays Two-Face. Together, these criminal kingpins present a threat that only the Dynamic Duo–Batman (Val Kilmer) and Robin (Chris O’Donnell)–can stop. And Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman comes to Gotham as the alluring Dr. Chase Meridian, who may steal the heart of Batman Forever. Based upon Batman characters created by Bob Kane and published by DC Comics.
BATMAN & ROBIN – Superstars George Clooney and Arnold Schwarzenegger face off as the coolest–and the cruelest–villain to ever stalk Gotham City comes after its courageous caped crusaders, Batman & Robin. When the evil Mr. Freeze (Schwarzenegger) teams up with toxic Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman) to freeze Gotham City and destroy its residents, the end appears near for superheroes Batman (George Clooney) and Robin (Chris O’Donnell). But with the arrival of Batgirl (Alicia Silverstone), the dynamic duo becomes a transcendent trio in this fourth episode of the blockbuster theatrical series.
VEGAS IN SPACE with director Phillip R. Ford in-person
Director: Phillip R. Ford, Tuesday, June 24 at 7 p.m.
Would you change your sex to save the entire universe? The fabulous Captain Tracy Daniels would! Disguised as showgirls from Earth, Daniels and her fierce space crew travel to the “babes-only world” of VEGAS IN SPACE. Once there, they must Dance! Dance! Dance! to save the universe! This movie has more wigs than Wigstock, more makeup than a Miss America pageant, and all the fabulousness of THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT. With tongue planted firmly in cheek and outfits that would make RuPaul jealous, these cross-dressing divas are more fabulous than Julie Newmar, and shine brighter than a supernova. One of the first truly queer midnight movies, VEGAS IN SPACE is a campy, psychedelic, and loving homage to 1950s and ‘60s B-movie sci-fi with an all-drag cast!
THE PEOPLE’S JOKER
Director: Vera Drew, Friday & Saturday, June 27 & 28, 9:30 p.m.
This revolutionary DIY parody film and hilarious reimagining of the classic autobiographical coming-of-age story follows an unconfident, closeted trans girl as she moves to Gotham City to make it big as a comedian by joining the cast of UCB Live – a government-sanctioned late night sketch show in a world where comedy has been outlawed. As mainstream success eludes our heroine, leading her to unite with a ragtag team of rejects, misfits, and a certain love interest named Mister J, “Joker the Harlequin” is born again as a confident (and psychotic) joker on a collision course with the city’s fascist caped crusader. Vats of feminizing chemicals, sexy cartoon interludes, scarecrow psychiatrists, CGI Lorne Michaels, and psychedelic gender dysphoria all play supporting roles. Helmed by writer/director/editor/star Vera Drew and using her own life experiences as a basis for the film, THE PEOPLE’S JOKER is a deeply personal journey that’s as much documentary as it is parody.
THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW
w/ Colorado’s Elusive Ingredient Shadowcast, Director: Jim Sharman
Sing, shout and dance-along to a screening of the 1975 late-night cult classic while a LIVE shadowcast immerses you in a performance amid the on screen performances, taking your watching of the film to a whole new level!
The movie is not terribly plot heavy but if you must know:
Sweethearts Brad and Janet (Barry Bostwick & Susan Sarandon), stuck with a flat tire during a storm, discover the eerie mansion of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), a transvestite scientist. As their innocence is lost, Brad and Janet meet a houseful of wild characters, including a rocking biker and a creepy butler. Through elaborate dances and rock songs, Frank-N-Furter unveils his latest creation: a muscular man named ‘Rocky’.
Denver Film has been transforming and entertaining the Colorado community through the power of diverse voices in film since 1978. Operating as the region’s only membership-based, 501(c)(3) nonprofit film institution, Denver Film has grown into a signature cultural organization in the West, screening international and independent movies found nowhere else in the region.
Serving more than 100,000 patrons annually through 600-plus screenings that include year-round programming at Denver Film’s flagship home the Sie (pronounced SEE) FilmCenter, the annual Denver Film Festival celebration, the iconic Film on the Rocks program at Red Rocks Amphitheater, and Spotlight Festivals including CinemaQ, Women+Film, and the Colorado Dragon Boat Film Festival. Spotlights highlight underrepresented communities and foster inclusivity. Denver Film works to build resilience across all of its programming and events by amplifying diverse voices, promoting equity, and fostering community connections.
For more information or to explore the full suite of Denver Film programming, events, and ticketing visit: denverfilm.org.
