Watch Freely: Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives

About this event

The first feature-length documentary about lesbian and gay identity made by gay filmmakers, the film had a huge impact when it was released and became an icon of the emerging gay rights movement of the 1970s.Word is Out presents a mosaic of interviews with 26 gay and lesbian individuals who describe their experiences coming out, falling in and out of love, and struggling against prejudice and discriminatory laws. These interviewees – who range in age from 18 to 77, and in type from bee-hived housewife to sultry drag queen – include poet Elsa Gidlow, political activist Sally Gearhart, inventor John Burnside, civil rights leader Harry Hay, and avant-garde filmmaker Nathaniel Dorsky. But all deliver their testimony with extraordinary intelligence, grace, honesty, and conviction, creating a work of oral history that is profoundly engaging and deeply moving. Thirty years later, it is a record of the gay and lesbian experience in America near the start of the movement. Word is Out is a precious and moving document whose relevance is almost entirely undimmed today. Thanks to the then-budding talent of an incredible roster of documentary filmmakers that made up Mariposa, the film is an important demonstration of the enormous power that can be achieved through unadorned, unadulterated personal testimony. It is truth told with humor, courage and tears. Year: 1978Runtime: 2 hours 15 minutesRating: Not RatedGenre: DocumentaryA film by the Mariposa Film Group: Peter Adair, Nancy Adair, Andrew Brown, Rob Epstein, Lucy Massie Phenix, Veronica Selver.Cast: Achebe “Betty” Powell, Ann Samsell, Bernice “Whitey” Fladden, Cynthia Gair, David Gillon, Dennis Chiu, Donald Hackett, Elsa Gidlow, Freddy Gray, George Mendenhall, Harry Hay, John Burnside, Linda Marco, Michael Mintz, Mark Pinney, Nadine Armijo, Nick Dorsky, Pam Jackson, Pat Bond, Rick Stokes, Roger Harkenrider (Tom Fitzpatrick), Rusty Millington, Sally M. Gearhart, Tede Mathews

Description from richlandlibrary.com