Madrid is filled with sequins, heartbreak, punk and pride. Next Monday, April 28, at 7 p.m., the Institut français hosts the screening of The Drama Queens, the irreverent musical comedy by Alexis Langlois, within the framework of the 14th edition of the Madrid Lesbian Film Festival, in collaboration with Fundación Triángulo.
Not only will it be an opportunity to see a unique film on the big screen: the director herself, Alexis Langlois, will be present to talk with the audience and share the creative ins and outs behind this glamorous, fun and, at times, painfully honest story.
A punk ode to queer cinema
Selected in the Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival, Drama Queens is an emotional journey starring four friends—trans and drag queens—who navigate friendship, love and identity in a world that often doesn’t understand them.
The story revolves around an impossible relationship between two opposite icons: Billy Kohler, punk singer with an incendiary spirit, and Mimi Madamour, pop diva. As if they were protagonists of a queer soap opera without a happy ending, both fight against a system that not only imposes rules, but punishes the desire to live them freely.
Visually, the film is a burst of color, pop references and camp energy. But it is not just aesthetic: behind each sequence there is a sharp criticism of patriarchy, the heterosexual norm and the idea that love always saves us. What happens when we don’t even love ourselves?
Alexis Langlois: humor, politics and freedom
Langlois has earned his space within French alternative cinema with a formula as radical as it is necessary: narrative disobedience, guiltless irony and queer aesthetics in its purest form. His films not only entertain, they also make people uncomfortable, question and generate conversation.
The director works with mostly LGTBIQ+ teams, and her work brings to the fore realities that rarely have a leading place in commercial cinema. Instead of moralizing, Langlois prefers to invite the audience to think and feel, mixing melodrama with satire and politics.
Lesbian Film Exhibition: creating community from the screen
The Madrid Lesbian Film Festival celebrates its 14th edition with a clear objective: make visible narratives that escape the stereotype and that authentically reflect the lives of non-heterosexual women.
Beyond the screening, this event is also a meeting space. Because cinema, in its best forms, not only represents what we are: it also helps us imagine what we can become.
And then… queer karaoke until 11pm!
Are you left wanting more? At 9 p.m., the Institut Français cafeteria transforms into a party floor for a queer karaoke where the extravagant is welcome. From Madonna to Bad Gyal, passing through Lady Gaga or Mylène Farmereveryone is invited to unleash their inner pop star. The only requirement? Enjoy it without shame.
What if the drama is not just fiction?
While Drama Queens celebrates queer expressiveness, it also leaves open questions. To what extent can the camp aesthetic be a refuge from structural discrimination? What happens when the representation continues to be a minority, although colorful? And above all, why do we still need “safe” spaces to be who we are? The film shines, but it also bothers. And that, perhaps, is its greatest value.
