Friday, January 13, 2012

From Julia...

I'm 24, so obviously I don't have a memory of seeing the film when it first came out. I found the DVD in my local library and am very thankful for it. I came out 3 months ago; most of my family members are very conservative Christians, and they're taking it about as well as I expected them to. In spite of that, I feel so blessed to be coming out in this current social climate, and I know that this new emerging world was made possible by so many brave individuals, including the people responsible for this film and its restoration. Thank you so much for your humanity, your courage, and for reminding me that I'm not alone, that we're fighting the good fight. Love, Julia

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Word is Out book released! Special event in San Francisco

SPECIAL EVENT FOR "WORD IS OUT" ON JANUARY 10, 2012 AT SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY
PLEASE ATTEND!!!

BAY AREA REPORTER

Classic queer
Author Greg Youmans will launch his Word is Out: A Queer Film Classic (Arsenal Pulp Press) at a free event on Jan. 10 at the San Francisco Public Library. The book is about the history, politics, and aesthetics of the groundbreaking 1977 gay and lesbian documentary Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives. The film was the first feature-length documentary about lesbian and gay male experience that was made by lesbians and gay men. It brings a series of intimate, individual interviews together into a national portrait of gay people during the gay-rights struggles against Anita Bryant, John Briggs and others. Word Is Out was very much a Bay Area production: its six makers (the Mariposa Film Group ) were based here, as were its community funders and most of its onscreen interview subjects.

At the book launch (Tues., Jan. 10, 6 p.m., Koret Auditorium, SFPL Main Branch), Youmans will present rarely seen Word is Out materials from the 1970s (from the Peter Adair papers, housed at the library), including clips from the video pre-interviews that the filmmakers conducted with more than 100 LGBT people before choosing the final cast. A roundtable discussion will follow with Janet Cole , who was involved in the film's promotion, as well as four of the filmmakers: Nancy Adair, Andrew Brown, Lucy Massie-Phenix, and Veronica Selver. Word is still out!