Serpents of the Pirates’ Moon

We're absolutely thrilled to partner with TGirlsonFilm and Club des Femmes to present Serpents of the Pirates' Moon (1973, 93’), by the late Jean-Luis Jorge from the Dominican Republic as part of Rio Cinema's weekly queer film club Pink Palace.

Jean-Louis Jorge (1947-2000) made only two features, but these films stand apart as stylistically unique and politically subversive works of the underground queer and feminist cinema on the 1970s, a time when filmmakers from the global margins were revitalising both auteur and genre cinema in bold, surprising ways. Born in the Dominican Republic, Jorge moved to Los Angeles in the late 1960s and enrolled at UCLA, where he studied directing and befriended the likes of Charles Burnett of the LA Rebellion group of filmmakers and the Colombian Luis Ospina, who became a lifelong friend.Serpents of the Pirates’ Moon, Jorge’s master’s thesis film, combines the camp delights of Fassbinder with the surrealistic flourishes of Buñuel against the colourful backdrop of the LA demi-monde, to tell the unapologetically queer story of a woman’s interior life and personal liberation. Angel, a topless dancer (played by pioneering Mexican American filmmaker Sylvia Morales), works in a nightclub where her best friend, fellow dancer Sahdji (a Black drag performer playing a fictionalised version of himself), defends her against the criticisms of the club’s manager cum pimp, Sanchez. Meanwhile Angel’s boyfriend, Paul, the club’s bartender, is giving her a hard time back at their apartment after work. Angel begins to turn inward, entering a dissociative, fantastical dream state that ultimately leads to her striking out against her fate.Art directed with panache, and featuring luxurious long takes, transfixing colour filters and a hit pop soundtrack, Serpents of the Pirates’ Moon won the Grand Prix Cinéma d’Aujuord’hui in 1973 at France’s Festival International du Jeune Cinema, a launch pad for a new generation of filmmakers including Chantal Akerman and Werner Schroeter. Unjustly, Jean-Louis Jorge (who directed only one further feature, 1976’s Melodrama, a black-and-white homage to Valentino and silent cinema) didn’t go on to achieve similar status. Yet Serpents of the Pirates’ Moon remains, a sumptuous, memorable gem of queer pleasure and female freedom.