• Stage Mother

    Directed by Thom Fitzgerald
    USA | 93 minutes | World Premiere | Queer Cinema Today

  • Stage Mother

    Directed by Thom Fitzgerald
    USA | 93 minutes | World Premiere | Queer Cinema Today

  • Stage Mother

    Directed by Thom Fitzgerald
    USA | 93 minutes | World Premiere | Queer Cinema Today

A conservative church choir director (Jacki Weaver) inherits a drag club in San Francisco from the son from whom she became estranged when he came out. Lucy Liu and Adrian Grenier also star in this touching, funny and lyrical dramedy.

film synopsis

Sometimes it takes a tragic event to lead a person to happiness. That’s what happens to Maybelline (Jacki Weaver), a conservative Texas church choir director who has been estranged from her son Rickey since he came out a decade earlier. When Rickey dies unexpectedly, Maybelline finds herself the unlikely inheritor of his San Francisco drag club, and the new boss to an eclectic — and anarchic — group of performers. Even Rickey’s best friend Sienna (Lucy Liu, at her very best) thinks his mother should just go home. Despite pressure from her husband, Maybelline decides to stay in the Bay Area and turn her musical talents toward saving her son’s club from bankruptcy, and possibly alleviate the crushing guilt she feels for rejecting him years earlier. Funny and touching, director Thom Fitzgerald’s lyrical comedy-drama boasts a fiery supporting cast, including Mya Taylor (Tangerine, PSIFF 2015) and drag superstar Jackie Beat.

film details

Director: Thom Fitzgerald
Producers: J. Todd Harris, Anne Clements, Brad Hennig, Laurie Kraus Lacob, Doug Pettigrew
Screenwriter: Brad Hennig
Cinematographers: Thomas M. Harting CSC
Editor: Yaniv Dabach
Music: Warren Robert
Cast: Jacki Weaver, Lucy Liu, Adrian Grenier
Country: USA
Language: English
Year: 2019
Running Time: 93 minutes
Premiere Status: World Premiere
Director Filmography: Cloudburst (2011), 3 Needles (2005), The Event (2003), The Hanging Garden (1997)
Primary Company: Film Mode Entertainment

director biography

guests in attendance

Writer Brad Hennig, producer J. Todd Harris, co-producer Bradley Littlefield, and actors Jacki Weaver, Jackie Beat, Allister Macdonald, and Oscar Moreno are expected to attend on January 4 and 5.

2020 Film Festival