June is LGBTQ Pride Month – a moment to celebrate the struggles and triumphs of the LGBTQ community. For over thirty years, POV has showcased films by and about LGBTQ individuals, highlighting the community’s experiences, history and accomplishments. Celebrate Pride Month in your community with these five films, available to screen through the Community Network, and deepen your conversations with each film’s companion materials.
Memories of a Penitent Heart by Cecilia Aldarondo
Filmmaker Cecilia Aldarondo suspected that there was something complicated about her uncle’s death. Memories of a Penitent Heart excavates a buried conflict around her Miguel, who died at a time when AIDS was synonymous with sin. Through interviews with members of her Catholic family and Miguel’s former partner, the film is both a tribute and a cautionary tale of how faith can be used and abused in times of crisis. A co-presentation with Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB).
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Out in the Night by blair dorosh-walther
In 2006, New York City tabloids reported an attack by a “gang of killer lesbians.” Out in the Night tells the story of the women behind these headlines. A group of African-American lesbians were harassed and assaulted by a man on the street, and when the group defended themselves, they were charged with gang assault and attempted murder. Out in the Night follows that sensational case, and shows how the justice system can have a devastating effect on those who are already marginalized for their race, gender and sexuality. A co-production of ITVS. A co-presentation with the National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC).
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Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin by Nancy Kates and Bennett Singer
During his 60-year career as an activist, organizer and “troublemaker,” Bayard Rustin formulated many of the strategies that propelled the American civil rights movement. His passionate belief in Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence drew Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders to him in the 1940’s and 50’s; his practice of those beliefs drew the attention of the FBI and police. In 1963, Rustin brought his unique skills to the crowning glory of his civil rights career: his work organizing the March on Washington, the biggest protest America had ever seen. But his open homosexuality forced him to remain in the background, marking him again and again as a “brother outsider.” Brother Outsider combines rare archival footage — some of it never before broadcast in the U.S. — with provocative interviews to illuminate the life and work of a forgotten prophet of social change.
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Off and Running by Nicole Opper
Off and Running tells the story of Brooklyn teenager Avery, a track star with a bright future. She is the adopted African-American child of white Jewish lesbians. Her older brother is black and Puerto Rican and her younger brother is Korean. Though it may not look typical, Avery’s household is like most American homes — until Avery writes to her birth mother and the response throws her into crisis. She struggles over her “true” identity, the circumstances of her adoption and her estrangement from black culture. Just when it seems as if her life is unraveling, Avery decides to pick up the pieces and make sense of her identity, with inspiring results. A co-production of ITVS in association with the National Black Programming Consortium and American Documentary/POV and the Diverse Voices Project, with major funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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From This Day Forward by Sharon Shattuck
From This Day Forward is a moving portrayal of an American family coping with one of life’s most intimate transformations. When director Sharon Shattuck’s father came out as transgender and began living as Trisha, Sharon was in the awkward throes of middle school. Her father’s transition to female was difficult for her straight-identified mother, Marcia, to accept, but her parents stayed together. Years later, Shattuck’s film seeks a deeper understanding of how her parents’ marriage, and their family, survived intact.
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