BY HOOK OR BY CROOK
2001. USA. 98 min. Directed by Harry Dodge & Silas Howard. DCP!
Tonight we are thrilled to screen BY HOOK OR BY CROOK, the very queer and scrappy tale of outsider buddies written, directed by, and starring the brilliant Harry Dodge (2008 Whitney Biennial) and Silas Howard (Transparent, A Kid Like Jake). Winner of the Best Feature Audience Award at SXSW in 2001, BHOBC tells the story of two trans-butches, Shy (Howard) and Valentine (Dodge), who collide by chance and stumble into a series of shenanigans in the San Francisco streets. For tonight’s presenter, filmmaker Elisabeth Subrin (Shulie; A Woman, A Part) the film “anticipates the genderqueer/trans cinema explosion, and amazingly stands the formal tests of time.” Join us for this rarely viewed film with its unique vision, clever dialogue, and effusive charm.
As always, our screening will be followed by drinks and discussion at Julius Bar (159 West 10th St. at Waverly), the oldest gay bar in New York City!
ELISABETH SUBRIN
Elisabeth Subrin is a New York-based filmmaker, screenwriter, and visual artist who creates conceptually driven projects in film, video, photography and installation. Working across experimental and narrative forms, her projects seek intersections between history and subjectivity, investigating the nature and poetics of psychological "disorder," the legacy of feminism, and the impact of recent social and political history on contemporary life and consciousness. Her award-winning short films, video art and installations have screened and exhibited widely in the US and abroad, including solo shows at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Vienna International Film Festival, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Harvard Film Archives, Cambridge, The San Francisco Cinematheque, and Film Society of Lincoln Center. In February, 2016 Subrin premiered her first feature narrative film, A Woman, A Part, that she wrote and directed, released theatrically in 2017 and out now on Netflix and Showtime. In 2012, her film Shulie was included in the British Film Institute’s Sight&Sound once-a-decade international critics’ poll for “The Greatest Films of All Times.”
ELISABETH SUBIN ON BY HOOK OR BY CROOK
“BHOBC anticipates the genderqueer/trans cinema explosion by 15 years, and amazingly stands the formal test of time as well. It's scrappy and badass, but constructed so tightly and with incredible commitment to emotional depth. But beyond its themes, I love the film for its emotionally deep and sexy representation of irreverently queer and gender non-conforming characters. I was blown away by how well its aged, and I can't believe how many people I know have never even heard of it.”