Palm Springs broadcast pioneer’s LGBTQ+ documentary to premiere at Cinema Diverse Saturday morning
The award-winning film by Nicholas Snow, “Tinseltown’s Queer: 30 Years Later,” showcases three decades of LGBTQ+ representation in media.
A Palm Springs resident’s documentary chronicling 30 years of LGBTQ+ representation in media is set to make its world theatrical premiere at the Cinema Diverse film festival on Saturday at 9:30 a.m.
Nicholas Snow’s “Tinseltown’s Queer: 30 Years Later” has already garnered recognition, winning Best Feature Film at the LGBTQ+ Toronto Film Festival.
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The film, which runs 150 minutes, will screen at 9:30 a.m. at the Camelot Theaters as part of Cinema Diverse, the Palm Springs LGBTQ+ Film Festival.
Snow, a multimedia entertainment activist, created the original “Tinseltown’s Queer” public access television show in 1993. The program reached up to 600,000 households across four cable systems in the Los Angeles metropolitan area throughout most of the 1990s.
“The editorial mission of Tinseltown’s Queer was to examine the relationship between the entertainment industry and the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement, thereby positively impacting the movement itself,” Snow said. “I’ve been a multimedia entertainment activist ever since. It’s been my life’s work.”
The documentary features archival television clips of Hollywood stars and champions of the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement. Snow’s guests included LGBTQ+ icons Quentin Crisp, Robin Tyler, and Melissa Etheridge, as well as celebrities like Drew Carey, Christine Baranski, and Hugh Hefner.
Snow, who came out as gay at 21, taped the first episode of “Tinseltown’s Queer” on April 28, 1993, just three days after the March on Washington for LGBTQ+ rights.
The filmmaker’s journey into LGBTQ+ media activism began long before mainstream representation in popular culture.
“Long before Will & Grace, Brokeback Mountain, Queer Eye or RuPaul, there was Nicholas Snow and Tinseltown’s Queer,” Snow says.
In preparing for the 30th anniversary of his groundbreaking show, Snow inadvertently created this documentary. The film combines his media savvy with queer activism, showcasing the evolution of LGBTQ+ representation in entertainment over three decades.
Snow is currently known as the creator, producer, and host of PromoHomo.TV, an online television network streamed across multiple social media platforms. He was featured in The Post’s “Palm Springs Profiles” in April 2022.
The premiere offers audiences a unique perspective on the intertwining of entertainment and civil rights activism and provides an opportunity for local audiences to engage with a piece of LGBTQ+ media history created by one of their own.
Details: Tickets for the screening are $14.50 and available online through the Cinema Diverse website here.
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