Sapphic Film Series – But I’m a Cheerleader (1999)

The Sapphic Film Series continues at Villa Vida Café with a screening of the queer cult classic But I’m a Cheerleader (1999) on Thursday, 17 September 2026, at 19:00.

Join us for a free evening of sapphic cinema, camp, satire, and community in the heart of Vienna. Whether you already know every pink-and-blue frame or you are discovering the film for the first time, you are welcome.

Date: Thursday, 17 September 2026Time: 19:00Location: Villa Vida Café, Linke Wienzeile 102, 1060 ViennaEntry: FreeFilm: But I’m a Cheerleader (1999)

A Queer Cult Classic

Directed by Jamie Babbit, But I’m a Cheerleader follows Megan, a high-school cheerleader whose family and friends decide that she must be a lesbian. As a result, they send her to a conversion-therapy camp designed to enforce heterosexuality and rigid gender roles.

However, things do not go according to plan.

Through deliberately artificial sets, exaggerated gender stereotypes, bright colours, and sharp satire, the film turns a deeply harmful subject into a critique of heteronormativity and compulsory heterosexuality. At the same time, Megan begins to understand her sexuality on her own terms.

The film stars Natasha Lyonne as Megan and Clea DuVall as Graham, alongside RuPaul Charles, Cathy Moriarty, Melanie Lynskey, and others.

Camp, Sapphic Romance and Queer Resistance

Since its release in 1999, But I’m a Cheerleader has become a beloved part of queer film culture.