Chocolate Babies
- Wed, Oct 7
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*Limited Walk-Up shows no longer have online tickets for sale. A limited number of tickets will be available at the box office 45 minutes before a show's start time, on a first-come first-served basis. Standby tickets will be available when Walk-Ups are sold out.
Director: Stephen Winter Run Time: 83 min. Format: 4K Digital Release Year: 1996
Starring: Bryan Webster, Claude E. Sloan, Dudley Findlay Jr., Jon Kit Lee, Suzanne Gregg Ferguson
Screenwriter: Stephen Winter
Producers: Jason Kliot, Joana Vicente
Vidiots and One Institute are thrilled to welcome writer/director Stephen Winter for a special 30th Anniversary screening of the new 4K Restoration of the radical and riotous New Queer Cinema treasure Chocolate Babies!
A frenetic debut feature from writer/director Stephen Winter, Chocolate Babies unleashes a world of anarchic camp and unapologetic Black queer power in one of the hidden gems of New Queer Cinema, ripe for rediscovery and ready to be introduced to new audiences. Through a campaign of fabulous surprise attacks, an underground band of radical queer HIV+ activists, addicts, and drag queens take to the streets of New York City to combat conservative politicians and government apathy towards the AIDS crisis.
For the film’s 25th anniversary, Frameline has commissioned a 4K restoration of Chocolate Babies in partnership with the National Film Preservation Foundation, the UCLA Film & Television Archive, and the Outfest Legacy Project. Following its festival run in the mid-1990s (playing at SXSW, the Berlinale, and Frameline21), Chocolate Babies struggled to secure major distribution due to its radically independent Black queer vision, but eventually found a home at Frameline Distribution who championed the film and continued to bring it to new audiences. Frameline proudly presents the world premiere of this pristine restoration in rich color and vivid detail like never before.
Chocolate Babies is presented by Vidiots and community programming partners One Institute as part of the 2026 Circa: Queer Histories Festival, presented by One Institute.
About One Institute:
Founded in 1952, One Institute (formerly ONE Archives Foundation) is the oldest active LGBTQ+ organization in the country, dedicated to telling LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS history and stories through education, arts, and social justice programs. Our one-of-a-kind exhibitions and public programs connect LGBTQ+ history and contemporary culture to effect social change. Through unique K-12 teacher trainings, lesson plans, and youth mentorship programs, we empower teachers and students to bring queer history into classrooms and communities. As the independent community partner of ONE Archives at the USC Libraries, we promote the largest collection of LGBTQ+ materials in the world.