Part of Mario Montez, Superstar
Sunday, November 13, 2011, 6:30 p.m.

In this rare and special discussion program, Montez will be joined onstage by Agosto Machado, one of the stars of the New York experimental theater scene, for a conversation following the screening of two of Montez’s greatest film performances.

Screen Test #2
Dir. Andy Warhol. 1966, 66 mins. This hourlong Warhol film is supposedly a screen test for playwright Ronald Tavel’s version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. We hear Tavel off-screen as he goads Montez—the result is an entertaining and fascinating encounter between the writer and actor, with Montez working to maintain his dignity, humor, and most of all, glamour.

Lupe
Dir. Jose Rogriguez-Soltero. 1966, 50 mins. With Mario Montez, Charles Ludlam. This visually dazzling celebration of the life and death of the Mexican-born actress Lupe Velez is an ecstatic explosion of color, music, and camp performance, a one-of-a-kind classic that serves as a love poem to the underground star Mario Montez who designed his own sensational costumes and took immense cultist pleasure in identifying with the tragic Chicana star.

Free with Museum admission.