Sergei/Sir Gay

Partly returning to the approach and subject matter of his survey of queer representation in classical Hollywood, The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender (1997), Mark Rappaport brings together suggestive snippets from various Eisenstein masterpieces, the great Soviet filmmaker’s often homoerotic drawings (signed by “Sir Gay”), and footage from Gene Kelly, Kenneth Anger, Fred Astaire and Jean Genet movies. Voiced from “beyond the grave” by the Soviet director himself, this provocative and playful re-examination of moments from Battleship Potemkin (1925), “Que Viva Mexico” and Ivan the Terrible (1994) once again reveals a rich subtext hiding in plain sight.