Screening times:
Saturday, April 12, 8:30 PM

John Waters | 1981 | USA | 86 min
with Divine, Tab Hunter, David Samson, Edith Massey, Mink Stole

It's John Waters' birthday this month! Born April 22, 1946, the iconic American director's five-decade filmmaking career initially cemented his status as Pope of Trash until garnering more formal recognition at institutions like The Lincoln Centre, The National Film Preservation Board and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. A selection of Waters' films will screen on Saturday nights in April at Carbon Arc!

For his first studio picture, filth maestro John Waters took advantage of his biggest budget yet to allow his muse Divine to sink his teeth into a role unlike any he had played before: Baltimore housewife Francine Fishpaw, a heroine worthy of a Douglas Sirk melodrama.

Blessed with a keen sense of smell and cursed with a philandering pornographer husband, a parasitic mother, and a pair of delinquent children, the long-suffering Francine turns to the bottle as her life falls apart—until deliverance appears in the form of a hunk named Todd Tomorrow (vintage heartthrob Tab Hunter).

Polyester is one of Waters’ most hilarious inventions, replete with stomach-churning smells, sadistic nuns, AA meetings, and foot stomping galore.

Tickets $8.75 ($8 cash at the door if available)