Tuesday, August 11, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Vidiots, Los Angeles
We’re firing up our 16mm projector for a night of the best of puberty’s pitfalls and adolescence at its most awkward with a program of long-forgotten and laughably outdated short films from the 1940s through the 1980s about humanity’s cringiest life stage with menstrucation’s finest, endearing Mormon comedy shorts, mid-century slut-shaming primers, and more! Sex ed doesn’t get any better than ***Dear Diary: A Film About Female Puberty ***(1981). The crowd-pleasing BYU comedy short ***The Phone Call*** (1977) wants you to know that even geeky, karate and bassoon-loving Mormon fast food workers deserve love, and with a little self-confidence and a great ginger-fro, they just might get it! Plus, another sensational menstrucational treat: ***Linda’s Film on Menstruation*** (1974) complete with a menstrual game show, the mid-century mental hygiene primer ***Are You Popular? ***(1958) to gently remind you to not slut it up, and a special surprise cartoon from the **[A/V Geeks Archive](https://avgeeks.com)** that will have you rethinking everything you knew about the mouse! Arrive early to explore all the gross but necessary things that happen to the growing boy in the third edition of ***Boy To Man*** (1984). Everything screened on 16mm film. Featuring: ***Dear Diary, a film about female puberty*** (Color, 1981, 26 min) *The Welcome to the Dollhouse* of puberty primers! Our incredibly awkward thirteen-year-old protagonist offers a narrative alternative to the facts about female puberty. Our homely heroine encounters peer pressure from her boy-crazy friends, changing sex roles, and making out with a pillow with a smiley face, all while she waits to become a woman. A bonafide crowd pleaser and the absolute top tier of menstrucational film! ***The Phone Call*** (Color, 1977, 28 min) 30 years before *Napoleon Dynamite*, this BYU-sponsored “comedy” follows an awkward teenage boy with Art Garfunkle’s hairstylist and a penchant for karate and bassoons as he works up the courage to ask his crush for a date. The Mormons want you to know that nice guys can finish first! An audience favorite starring Marc McClure (Jimmy Olson from the Christopher Reeves *Superman* series). ***Linda’s Film on Menstruation*** (Color, 1974, 18 min) *“It means that blood is falling out of my uterus!”*** A goofy sex education classic with two groovy teens from the mid-seventies. Judy is a regular 15 year old girl going through what every woman goes through at some point, her first monthly visitor. Her 16 year old boyfriend hasn’t got a clue, and quite frankly she doesn’t really either. Thankfully there’s an obnoxious cartoon to explain it all to them! If that doesn’t work, maybe the menstruation game show will hammer home the facts. Also featuring actor Jonathan Banks from *Breaking Bad*. Plus more magic from the legendary **A/V Geeks** archive! Doors will open at 6:30pm and the pre-show will begin at 6:40pm, so grab your popcorn early! Due to the rare nature of these films, condition will vary. **Sweet 16mm** is a monthly screening of short films that demonstrate the special magic of the medium of 16mm. Ranging monthly from experimental to animation, educational, promotional, and ephemeral, we seek to spread the gospel of 35mm’s cheap and portable cousin and a physical media often overlooked and underrated. Sit in the room with the projector and behold the magical analog obscurities that we dig out monthly on glorious 16mm celluloid!