Musclefest: Underground Cinema Gets a New Home in NYC

Key facts

• Musclefest runs from 3–6 September at the Roxy Cinema in New York.
• Elizabeth Purchell is the founder of Muscle, a boutique distribution company.
• Musclefest is a four-night celebration of deep-cut restorations and underground trans and queer cinema.
• Muscle was founded to spotlight works that have unjustly faded into obscurity and champion uncompromising new gems by underground filmmakers.
• The lineup includes Elaine May's 'Mikey and Nicky' (1976), starring John Cassavetes and Peter Falk.
• Hisayasu Satō's 'Re-Wind' (1988) is an arthouse horror from Japan's pinku eiga genre.
• Ken Camp's 'The Secret Life of Patty Hearst' (1976) looks at the heiress's 'lost year'.
• Monika Treut's experimental documentaries have featured subjects like Eva Norvind and Camille Paglia.
• New works include Jason Waters' 'Crocodile Dose' (2026), Louise Weard's 'Castration Movie Chapter iii' (2026), Avalon Fast and Jillian Frank's 'Drinking and Driving' (2026), Doris Wishman's 'Dildo Heaven' (2002), Henry Hanson's 'Puppygirl' (2026), and alterotics' presentation.
• Doris Wishman is known as the 'Queen of Sexploitation'.
• Henry Hanson's 'Dog Movie' is streaming on the Criterion Channel.
• alterotics is a Chicago-based filmmaking collective.
• alterotics' breakout film is 'Rat Trap', a sci-fi odyssey starring Angel Rat.
• alterotics' presentation includes an orgy on a public Chicago beach, an interview with Anaïs Alias and Avery Jaye, AI camgirls, and a documentary about Saugatuck, Michigan.