Astral Projection is a monthly screening series exploring astrology through film curated by our Box Office Manager, Nic Kaneski. Join us in celebrating the beginning of each zodiac season with a screening embodying the qualities of the sign, directed by a filmmaker of the sign. For stargazers and skeptics alike and anyone interested in the intersection of astrology, pop culture, and identity.
Dir. Donna Deitch
1985, USA, 91 min
Donna Deitch’s swooning and sensual first film, Desert Hearts, was groundbreaking upon its 1986 release: a love story about two women, produced and directed by a woman. In the 1959-set film, an adaptation of a beloved novel by Jane Rule, straitlaced East Coast professor Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver) arrives in Reno to file for divorce, but winds up catching the eye of someone new, the younger free spirit Cay (Patricia Charbonneau), touching off a slow seduction that unfolds against the breathtaking desert landscape. With smoldering chemistry between its two leads, an evocative jukebox soundtrack, and vivid cinematography by Robert Elswit, Desert Hearts beautifully exudes a sense of tender yearning and emotional candor.
Generously sponsored by IATSE 856 Manitoba.
“The film surrounds its central pairing with relationships of various complexities that rebuke the clean-cut image of the decade.” – Andrea Thompson, Chicago Reader
