A love letter to first-run, revival, festival, and foreign films — and a theater most crowded when the audience skews gay

It’s gonna be Gay May.

The Broadway Centre Cinemas, operated by the nonprofit Salt Lake Film Society, has curated a series of six essential-viewing, queer-tailored films: “The Birdcage,” “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar,” “Saltburn,” “Pink Flamingos,” “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” “The Doom Generation,” “My Own Private Idaho,” and “Tangerine.”

Beyond the importance of prioritizing these titles on your viewing list if you may not have seen them all, we can enjoy them on a big screen, much more impactful than at home (no matter how large your TV screen is).

“Salt Lake City has a thriving queer community, and the theater is always at its busiest when there’s a queer film screening. ‘Pillion’ exceeded all expectations,” says development assistant Dani Lester, who was involved in the surely difficult selection process. (See the note on “Pillion” below.)

The Broadway is the favored film showcase because the public benefit organization’s central mission is to introduce independent and foreign films. Not manufactured formulaic studio fare. More-often-than-not can’t be seen anywhere else in town, or in conservative, religion-dominated Utah.

“We pride ourselves on showing films other cinemas pass up because our mission is to exhibit, create, and preserve cinematic experiences,” Lester adds. “While mainstream theaters prioritize crowd-pleasing blockbusters, queer films — whether first run or repertory — are at higher risk of erasure. Therefore, purposefully screening queer films will always be a priority.”

“While the big box-office numbers are exciting, what’s more memorable are the individuals who share how impactful it is to see queer stories represented on the big screen.”

There are exceptions: “We do occasionally show mainstream, first-run films, though our emphasis will always be on independent, international, and repertory film, and the mainstream films we choose to screen are still curated with our mission in mind.”

The theater’s “Gay May” moniker is internal and unofficial; the films are the Broadway’s May in-repertory films, all of which happen to be queer classics.

“We showcase independent film because at our heart, we just love film and are passionate about providing access to cinematic experience and engagement,” according to Lester.

Donations to the Broadway’s Red Carpet Club offer premiums above other loyalty movie-pass programs, with different levels and perks. (slfs.org/join-us/#redcarpetclub)

As a nonprofit, the Broadway is primarily donor-supported. “Corporate cinema chains only care about profit; they want to get you in and out and squeeze whatever value they can with no regard for the cinematic experience or quality of the film.” Sometimes showings are 35mm, but often they are new, 4K issues or restored prints.

Notably, the original, unrated director’s cut of “Pillion” was screened, without expunged elements and truncated scenes, to receive an R rating. If you’re streaming, there’s absent the full introductory alleyway oral-sex scene and the biker picnic sequence. (Yes, it’s true: The MPAA connived filmmakers to “de-shine” semen on Colin’s face.)

► slfs.org/filmsandevents