Kamikaze Hearts

Juliet Bashore’s queer docufiction, starring Tigr and real-life girlfriend Sharon Mitchell, celebrates the the San Francisco underground in the 1980s.

‘I thought she was another dumb fucking porn slut,’ Tigr tells Juliet at the start of what looks to be a documentary about a couple navigating life as lovers in the sex industry. Is this fiction, a doc about Tigr directing her first film, or a sexed-up Bizet’s Carmen, starring her hot girlfriend ‘Mitch’? And does anyone else on screen, other than Tigr, know the answer?

Bashore cites Herzog, and there’s a wealth of polysexual, punk-rock cultural currents flowing here – from Monica Treut and Annie Sprinkle to Allan Moyle’s Times Square. Made in 1986, this was rejected by the lesbian mainstream for not being a ‘positive’ enough portrayal of queer women (and there are unsettling and almost certainly ‘real’ moments – such as the couple shooting up on screen), but after 40 years it still feels a fresh and vital milestone in queer cinema. Restoration from the original 16mm A/B camera negatives. Restored by Kino Lorber in collaboration with the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project at the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Originally screened at the BFI London Film Festival 2022 as part of Treasures.