The Queen

The Queen (1968)

A vibrant piece of queer history.

In 1967, New York City is host to the Miss All-American Camp Beauty Pageant. This documentary takes a look behind the scenes, transporting the viewer into rehearsals and dressing rooms as the drag queen subculture prepares for this big national beauty contest. Jack/Sabrina is the mistress of ceremonies, and their protégé, Miss Harlow, is in the competition. But, as the pageant approaches, the glamorous contestants veer from camaraderie to tension.

Date of release
1968-06-17
TMDB
6.4 / 10 (37)
Runtime
1h 8m
Genres
Documentary
Director
Frank Simon

Casting

Interesting facts

The Queen is a 1968 American documentary film directed by Frank Simon and featuring Flawless Sabrina. The film documents the experiences of drag queens who organized and participated in the 1967 Miss All-America Camp Beauty Contest, held at New York City's Town Hall.

Production

Pop artist and underground filmmaker Andy Warhol, who had attended one of Sabrina's early pageants in Pittsburgh, helped Sabrina secure financing and connect with executive producers. He arranged for Sabrina to receive $10,000 from the owner of Casey's restaurant in Greenwich Village and introduced her to producers whom he believed would give the project greater credibility.

The film was shot over approximately five days, with additional camera crews brought in at different stages of production. Most of the footage was filmed as events unfolded, although several scenes were staged or improvised within defined situations.

The production used Auricon cameras for much of the filming. A second camera crew worked for three days and a third for two days; on the final day, two additional crews filmed from the balcony to capture the pageant from a wider perspective.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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