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avatar for Joshua Grannell (AKA Peaches Christ)

Joshua Grannell (AKA Peaches Christ)

Joshua Grannell is the creator and programmer of the SF Underground Short Film Festival. He attended film school at Penn State University, where his senior thesis film Jizzmopper: A Love Story won the Audience Award upon graduation. It was during the production of this film that his drag character Peaches Christ was born played by Joshua himself. After graduation, Joshua moved to San Francisco, inspired by the tales of the Cockettes and the bohemian, underground art scene at the time. Spending his days managing several Landmark Theatres' movie houses in the Bay Area, and his nights immersed in the burgeoning alternative drag world of Trannyshack, Joshua soon blended the two into its own unique world, that of Midnight Mass.

A summer series of classic and contemporary cult cinema, Midnight Mass ran for 12 years at Landmark’s Bridge Theatre and became the most successful midnight movie series in the nation, with much of the notoriety coming from Joshua’s infamous pre-show extravaganzas. From the films of Doris Wishman and Jack Hill, to the new classics like Purple Rain and Showgirls, Midnight Mass is a pilgrimage, a house-party, street theatre and a movie screening all rolled into one. Special guests have included Elvira, Linda Blair, John Waters, Tura Satana, Mink Stole, Ru Paul and Mary Woronov, amongst many celebrated others.

Peaches Christ has been featured on VH1’s Totally Gay!, AMC’s “Movies That Shook the World”, Gus Van Sant’s Academy Award-winning film Milk, HBO’s original series Looking, and the upcoming feature film Diary Of A Teenage Girl starring Kristen Wiig and Alexander Skarsgard. In 2007 HDNet provided Peaches Christ with her own national TV series, entitled “Midnight Mass With Your Hostess Peaches Christ” executive produced by Mark Cuban. In 2007, to celebrate a "Decade Of Peaches Christ" in San Francisco, the prestigious DeYoung Museum mounted a retrospective party celebrating the artwork created for and inspired by Peaches Christ. In 2010, Ms. Christ is the face of a city-wide marketing campaign celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the SFMOMA.

Joshua Grannell is also the writer and director of the feature film All About Evil. The movie is a loving homage to the cult films Joshua loves so much, as well as a celebration of surviving neighborhood movie houses. The movie suggests we should go to any length to save these old theatres... any length whatsoever. The award-winning dark comedy gore film stars Natasha Lyonne, Thomas Dekker, Cassandra Peterson, Mink Stole, and Peaches Christ herself. As part of the film's unique theatrical release, the film went on a cross-country tour (a la William Castle) and featured the "Peaches Christ Experience in 4-D" as part of its presentation. Peaches and pals joined stars from the movie to create a fully-realized stage-show spooktacular that preceded festival screenings and city premieres. The film has received rave reviews from genre critics and fans world-wide and has won a number of film festival awards. The film is now available on DVD and screens regularly on cable television (NBC / Universal’s Chiller Network).

Today, Peaches Christ's movie events have outgrown the original Midnight Mass format and for the past several years she's produced mega-events at the historic SF movie palace, the Castro Theatre. These events draw over 1,000 attendees to each new production and have featured special guest stars Cloris Leachman, Appolonia, Barry Bostwick, Sharon Needles, Pam Grier, Patricia Quinn and more.

Joshua Grannell is currently the CEO and President of Peaches Christ Produtions, an LLC devoted to the future branding and world-domination of Peaches Christ. He’s also a professor teaching filmmaking and performance through character creation at the prestigious San Francisco Art Institute. Joshua is currently developing a new feature film; a wicked dark comedy set in an old San Franciscan church run by former child stars.