Toshio Matsumoto’s 1969 film uses stop-motion animation, narrative dislocation, high and low-speed shooting, and more to create this transgressive classic that inspired Stanley Kubrick.

Funeral Parade of Roses (1969) feels like a true miracle for simply having been made. A headlong dive into a dazzling, unseen Tokyo night world of drag bars and fabulous divas, fueled by booze, drugs, fuzz guitars, performance art, and black mascara. An unknown club dancer at the time, transgender actor Peter gives an astonishing performance as Eddie, a hostess at Bar Genet who ignites a violent love triangle with reigning drag queen Leda (Osamu Ogasawara) for the attentions of club owner Gonda (Yoshio Tsuchiya).

This early queer text empathetically represents a community that was more often than not displayed as punch lines. Director Toshio Matsumoto’s film has become a cult classic within the trans community and has a lasting power many current mainstream trans narratives have failed to attain. Its unique blend of avant-garde visuals and non-linear narrative are able to speak to the emotionality of trans experience in a world that does not understand it.

Screened in Japanese with English subtitles.

Toshio Matsumoto  |  Japan  |  1969 |  105 minutes