“Come Back to the Five and Dime” was chosen by Jack Pierson, part of the Boston School of photographers whose work has been heavily influenced by gay culture.

Sachs ask a notable figure to pick an inspirational film. The screening was part of the monthly Queer/Art/Film series started in 2009 by the filmmakers Adam Baran and Ira Sachs, whose “Keep the Lights On,” about a closeted lawyer and his lover, had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this year. The film’s gay cred is considerable: besides starring Cher - goddess to drag queens everywhere - it features Karen Black as a sympathetic transsexual character. It wasn’t the latest gay rom-com that had packed them in but rather “Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean,” Robert Altman’s 1982 film, based on Ed Graczyk’s 1976 play, about female friends who reunite at a Texas Woolworth’s on the 20th anniversary of James Dean’s death. IN front of the IFC Center in the West Village on a recent Monday night a largely gay crowd waited in line for a sold-out screening.