Sapphic Culture Club

Are you wearing an intricately patterned sweater? Great. Do you already have a glass of wine? Perfect, have some more! 'Cause today we're talking about the 2011 Swedish lesbian movie Kyss Mig (A.K.A. Kiss Me or With Every Heartbeat ).  We're gonna talk about... Character arcs! 🌈 THE CHEMISTRY! 💘 Why are the men so horrible?? 🤦‍♂ Running or swimming away from your problems! 😥 How easy it i...

Put on your gayest cowboy duds and throw your vintage convertible into reverse because we're kicking off our season of the Portrait survey's top 10 lesbian or queer films with the 80s sapphic classic, Desert Hearts . Some of the things we cover: CAY'S ENTRANCE! 😍 Questionable sexual dynamics 😬 Desert Vibes!🌵 The ending! 🚂 👀 Differences between the book and the movie!👩‍👧 And more! Portrait o...

We're back! And this season we'll be watching each of the top 10 films from Portrait of a Survey on Fire's favorite lesbian and queer films. First up: Desert Hearts!🌵💕  Transcript for this episode Join the conversation on Instagram and Twitter Check out @portraitofasurveyonfire on Instagram for more about the list and the survey results!

For our season finale, we're joined by Portrait of a Survey on Fire's Baby Djojonegoro and Heather Petrocelli to talk about their process, preliminary findings, and some of the incredible responses their survey has received. Episode transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wLX-Wg6Yj-sm9avm8EHKzhn_cgscQrbFRggNEXE3q7o/edit?usp=sharing Links from the show: Now You See Me , Céline’s New Yorker...

It's time we talked about the most sapphic content SNL has ever aired: the Totino Pizza Roll trilogy, written by and starring Vanessa Bayer, co-written by Sarah Schneider and Chris Kelly with a key guest appearance by Kristen Stewart. We'll also discuss Act III's uncanny parallels with Portrait of a Lady on Fire . What are you hungry for? Episode transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19oz...

Now that 2021 is officially behind us, we asked you to take a look back and tell us what media carried you through the year. We also talk about how almost 1 out of 4 of us are "not a fan" of Carol (!) and whether our sapphic hopes for Tár will eventually be dashed by reality. Episode transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BsUcZuYjoDPr-H54QaWOzsA1TxaWv511MNJZrUWDTTQ/edit?usp=sharing Portra...

Joyous 🎄Carol🧤 Season, y'all! Welcome to Carol episode 1 of 2. A lot of you had a lot of things to say about this 2015 masterpiece, so this episode's all about the things you loved, liked, and didn't like. Big thank you to everyone who wrote in and contributed your thoughts and opinions! Transcription (Coming soon!) Links from the show: On Film's Obsession with Lesbian Photographers: http://www....

Today we're celebrating the 10th anniversary of Pariah , a gorgeous, sweet, and important film that follows a Brooklyn teenager trying to figure out who she is both with and apart from her friends and family. Dee Rees' debut was an instant and rare classic when it premiered in 2011: beautifully written, shot, and acted. Join us in relishing how great it holds up 10 years later.  Episode trans...

We've got 10 films and TV shows (plus some honorable mentions) we're anticipating with, um, varying degrees of excitement. Join us as we discuss Tampa Baes , Passing , Dickinson , Kristen Stewart's gay ghost hunting show(???), and much more. And of course, as always, please let us know anything on your radar / from outside the US that we missed! Links for the shows and movies we mentioned 10. Tamp...

We noticed that the last episode put us over 70k plays! WHAT. Wow! To celebrate this milestone, we're gonna talk about the podcast itself and answer your questions about it. "But I thought this was a podcast about lesbian themes in films, TV, books, music, and anywhere else sapphics roam!" you say? Well, it's sapphic because we're sapphic. So, please enjoy this inherently sapphic conversation abou...

First, we provide instructions for creating your very own DIY (Dyke-It-Yourself) spirit board. Then...do you DARE join us as we summon a sapphic from BEYOND THE GRAVE (but within the California region)?? This kind spirit also gifted all who listen a VERY IMPORTANT Halloween message. Do not miss these wise words from the afterlife. Episode transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KGLGn4UNwVM...

A live, in-person (masked!) discussion about Céline Sciamma's most recent feature film Petite Maman , which premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival on Oct. 9. Try to catch it in a theater if you can! Here are the upcoming show dates to the best of our knowledge (some of which are virtual!): USA: 15 October (Chicago International Film Festival) USA: 23 October (Montclair Film Festival) USA: 26 O...

It's the month that contains Halloween at the end of it, so OF COURSE we must fill the entire preceeding 30 days with creepy stuff. We kick things off by talking about our fave LESBIAN GHOSTS in their many manifestations. Our haaaaunting discussion will cover Rebecca (1940), The Uninvited (1944), Portrait of a Lady on Fire (you may have heard of it), The Haunting of Bly Manor , and "San Junipero"....

Who makes up Portrait Nation? Where do we live? Why did this movie resonate with us and in what ways? How has it affected our lives? Baby Djojonegoro, Heather Petrocelli, and Amie Pascal have put together what they hope will be a far-reaching survey of the Portrait community in order to let the entertainment industry, other institutions and decision-makers, and the rest of the world know we exist...

We have reached into our sapphic mail satchel and retrieved mail about the following things: Is there any significance to the moments in Portrait of a Lady on Fire where we first learn Marianne, Héloïse, and Sophie's names? What are Noémie, Adèle, and Céline up to these days? A clarification about the "lesbians come out and get a toaster oven" joke. Doesn't Adèle sing in KOMPROMAT's "De mon âme à...

We're excited to finally interview Rose Dela Cruz, whose art ranges from doodles to comics to delicate watercolor paintings. As Portrait fans, we're lucky to have her fan art as part of the Portraitverse. Her imaginary scenes and character antics are funny and sweet and keep the POALOF fire burning. In the interview she shares the journal entry she wrote after she first watched Portrait, the weird...

Want to catch up on the first season of The L Word: Generation Q *very* quickly before Season 2 starts?? We're gonna untangle ALL THE PLOTS from Season 1 and talk about what might happen in Season 2. 💎 Bette and Tina? 👯 Sophie and...Dani?  🚲 Finley? 💇🏻‍♀️ Shane and...?? 📺 Alice and Nat...and Gigi? 🎨 Micah and Jose? 💕 Angie and Jordi! Also ghosts. Episode transcript: https://docs....

Our resident historian Laura is back to answer some of your questions about nuns and #conventlife! Did women choose to go into convents? Were convents really places of female equality? Were women allowed out of the convent? In Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Héloïse says it's a life that has advantages. What were those "advantages" like? What else did they do for fun? WAS there fun?? OMG. SO MANY QUES...

In this episode, we attempt to answer some listener questions about Portrait of a Lady on Fire ! Is the minimalism in costume and set design because it's mostly a memory? Are Marianne and Héloïse's fathers both dead? Is to be free to be alone? Why do Héloïse and Marianne hide in the cave to kiss? And a bonus question! If you could only have one for the rest of your life - fries or chips? (Includes...

One of the things we've loved most about Portrait of a Lady on Fire as a phenomenon has been the fan art, and some of the most delightful fan art has come from Teryn, a.k.a. @badportraitfanart who, in their own words, has "never liked visual arts" and yet has made over 100 artworks to date, 99 of which are scenes from Portrait and are now available as a book. On top of that, they've donated all of...

Our third co-host, Valerie Complex, joins us to talk about what went right and what went wrong with TWO movies this time: The Affair (also known as The Glass House) and I Care A Lot, both of which happen to be centered on yellow-haired women and brown-haired women who love each other and are either terrible people or have a mostly terrible existence. Enjoy! Follow Valerie! Twitter: https://twitter...

We're back! And what better way to kick things off than (Laurel FINALLY) GETTING TO SEE PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE IN A THEATER? (No offense, Hulu, Apple, Criterion DVD, or Criterion Blu-ray.) Big thanks again to Baby for putting this screening together.  And a Sapphic bonus! Enjoy the first installment of our new segment, GAYSMR. The book Baby mentioned: The Sea of Light (https://www.penguin...

Retourne-toi, everybody. It's getting gayer.

For the last episode of the season, we asked for your ideas about what queer media should be now that we're living in a post-Portrait world, and, in true Portrait Nation style, you answered very thoughtfully and generously. So, here's nearly an hour's worth of things we want more of (as well as some things we'd like less of) and a bunch of FANTASTIC new story ideas. Thank you all very much for sha...

A lightly edited audio version of our Mar. 13 livestream (Video: https://www.instagram.com/p/CMX9ojpoF5k/). This episode's topics: If we could change or add one thing to Portrait, what would it be? 🙈 How long we're planning on doing the podcast 🎙 IRL who has more BDE (big dyke energy) in our romantic relationships? (LOL.) 🦆 The first queer media that resonated with each of us 🌈 Our favorite ice...