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The Castro Theatre in San Francisco has been a landmark for the gay community for decades, with its facade literally the face of the Castro neighborhood, and it has hosted LGBTQ+ events and screenings, including the famous “Milk” premiere in 2008. After being closed for renovations since 2022, the historic theater is reopening with one of last year’s best queer films.
A24 announced on Wednesday, January 28, that its film “Pillion” will launch the grand re-opening of the Castro Theatre, with the venue hosting the San Francisco premiere of director Harry Lighton’s film on Thursday, February 12. Both Lighton and star Harry Melling will attend the film’s premiere.
The Castro, as part of this $41 million renovation, is now capable of hosting standing-room-only musical performances and comedy shows, and, in addition to other special repertory events, will host the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in May. The renovation helped restore the ceiling’s original artwork and the sgraffito murals alongside the theater’s hidden proscenium. It also modernized the historic chandelier, restored the neon blade sign and marquee, and it now installed a digital organ to the specifications of longtime Castro organist David Hegarty. Other improvements include new HVAC, restrooms, and ADA-accessible orchestra, stage, and dressing rooms.
The theater was originally built in 1922 by San Francisco architect Timothy Pfleuger and has influences from Spanish, Asian, Italian, and Art Deco designs.
“Pillion” stars Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Melling, with Skarsgård as a hunky, commanding, leather-clad biker who takes on Melling’s character as his submissive in a surprisingly touching BDSM romance. IndieWire’s Cannes review said that the film finds “the sweet center of a story marked by clamps, cages, and assless unitards.” It won a Gotham Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and got a DGA nomination for Lighton for Best First-Time Theatrical Feature Film.
“What makes ‘Pillion’ so thrustingly good is how much the movie teases and tantalizes us, getting off on withholding, until finally unleashing in all its graphicness once Colin is face down, plunging his mouth on Ray’s quite large, pierced cock, plunging ever deeper into Ray’s expansive kinky social world,” IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio wrote in his review.
“Pillion” opens in theaters Feb. 6.
English (US) ·