Francis Francine

Historia

Frank di Giovanni, elevator operator, was the first of the Andy Warhol transvestite superstars. Francine had been intended as the star of Flaming Creatures, 1962, but disappeared partway through filming, leaving Mario Montez the throne. He was given star treatment in the Andy Warhol/Paul Morrissey film Lonesome Cowboys, 1968, as a the transvestite sheriff. The camera lingers as he puts on drag and makeup. This in a cowboy village partly owned by John Wayne.

Películas

Escape From Rented Island: The Lost Paradise of Jack Smith
Himself (archive footage)
In his essay film, Jerry Tartaglia, longtime archivist and restorer of the film estate of queer New York underground, experimental film, and performance legend Jack Smith, deals less with Smith’s life than with his work, analyzing Smith’s aesthetic idiosyncrasies in 21 thematic chapters. It's a film essay about the artist’s work, rather than a documentary about his life. An unmediated vision of Jack Smith, an invitation to join him in his lost paradise.
Coming Attractions
“Coming Attractions” looks backward into the memories and forward into the future of Francis Francine, an elegantly dowdy transvestite of, and indeed beyond, a certain age. The memories, haunted by a Spirit of Seductions Past (played by a quite glorious naked young lady who fortunately bears absolutely no resemblance to Francis Fran cine) suggest a generally lurid life of sumptuous sex and questionable liaisons. The future, presented by an ancient fortune teller with a wonderful crystal ball that holds a lively go‐go dancer and that seems to mediate between interchanging black and white halves of the screen, follows Francis Francine through the reactivation of an ancient affair, to her death (a jealous ex‐lover) and her triumphant entrance into a pastoral paradise that looks like a cross between several scenes from “81/2” and “The Embarkation for Cythera” in drag.
No President
Smith's third feature film was originally titled "The Kidnapping of Wendell Willkie by the Love Bandit," in reaction to the 1968 Presidential Campaign. Willkie was a liberal Republican who ran against FDR in the 1940's. It mixes B&W footage of Smith's creatures with old campaign footage of Willkie. The climax of the work appears to be the "auctioning" of the presidential candidate at the convention. - Flicker
Lonesome Cowboys
Sheriff
Five lonesome cowboys get all hot and bothered at home on the range after confronting Ramona Alvarez and her nurse.
Chumlum
Ron Rice's Chumlum is one of those films in which the conditions of its construction are integral to the experience of watching it. It is a record of a cadre of creative people having fun on camera, playing dress-up, dancing, flirting, lazing around.
Flaming Creatures
Francis Francine
Polémico filme rodado en blanco y negro, tildado de obsceno en su época, cuyo tema principal es la ambigüedad sexual y que reúne a un grupo de andróginos, travestis y drag queens en una orgía. "Flaming Creatures", referencia indiscutible del cine experimental de los años 60, es la única película que nos ha quedado de Jack Smith, autor de varios cortos y considerado precursor del cine de Andy Warhol.
Normal Love
Pink Fairy
The feature length Normal Love is Jack Smith’s follow up to his now legendary film Flaming Creatures. This vivid, full-color homage to B-movies is a dizzying display of camp that clearly affirms Smith’s role as the driving force behind underground cinema and performance art of the post-war era. The cast includes Mario Montez, Diane de Prima, Tiny Tim, Francis Francine, Beverley Grant and John Vaccaro. Smith was known to constantly re-edit the film, often during screenings as it was still unspooling from the projector. This print has been restored under the supervision of Jerry Tartaglia and is provided by Filmmakers Co-operative in New York City.