Midsumma Movies: The Wiz

This landmark 1978 film adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name is an all-Black, Afrofuturist reimagining of The Wizard of Oz. Diana Ross (soon to record “I’m Coming Out”) as Dorothy heads an all-star cast, including a teenaged, pre-solo career Michael Jackson; legendary singer, actor and civil rights activist, Lena Horne; America’s ‘poet laureate of television’, Nipsey Russell; and iconic comedian Richard Pryor. Produced by Universal Pictures and Motown Productions, The Wiz was scored by 28-time Grammy Award-winner Quincy Jones, and boasts a soundtrack of glorious gospel, soul and R&B-infused bangers. Director Sidney Lumet – ever one of the most socially engaged of Hollywood filmmakers, known for 12 Angry Men (1957) and Network (1976) – was among the first Hollywood filmmakers to provide sympathetic, nuanced representations of out gay/ bisexual and trans characters in 1975’s Dog Day Afternoon. Here he piloted the production of a film that “in the ‘Emerald City Sequence’ alone has informed everything from the black queer ballroom scene to Béyonce” (Gerrick D. Kennedy, Los Angeles Times). Head to the Square to enjoy the closing night of Midsumma Movies, with The Wiz on the Big Screen. Presented by Melbourne Queer Film Festival in partnership with Fed Square and Midsumma.