Slapstick Cult Classic: But I’m a Cheerleader

classified 15

part of Slapstick Festival 2026

Film

Sat 7 Feb 2026 14:00

Waterside 3 Event Space, Watershed

Director
Jamie Babbit
Details
85 mins, 1999, USA
Primary language
English

As Slapstick 2026 continues its exploration of comedy that challenges convention and pokes fun at society’s sacred cows, this collaboration with Switch and Queer Vision celebrates one of the most subversive satires of modern times.

In But I’m a Cheerleader, Natasha Lyonne plays Megan, a wholesome all-American girl whose picture-perfect life implodes when her parents suspect she’s gay and ship her off to “True Directions,” a pastel-coloured conversion camp run by the hilariously zealous Cathy Moriarty, with RuPaul as the reformed ex-gay counsellor in high heels.

Gloriously camp, defiantly funny, and deeply compassionate, Jamie Babbit’s film turns religious moralism and societal constraint inside out. A perfect companion to this year’s Slapstick strand examining hypocrisy, resistance and rebellion from W.C. Fields to the modern day.

Join Harriet Taylor, Producer of Queer Vision and Director of SWITCH, in conversation with comedian Robin Ince for a lively post-screening discussion on humour as resistance, the film’s enduring legacy and why laughter remains as one of the bravest acts of liberation.


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