Forthcoming Documentary
From Where We Stood:
AIDS and the Culture Wars
Beautiful. You tell the story as one of us who lived and loved through it all. You had the emotional courage to take us back to the horror that it was with the heroes and heroines of then and now.
The thread of love and courage in the face of discrimination, disease and death runs through it and serves as a tribute to our community for its strength during those dark times. It offers us hope as we confront dark days that threaten us now. Bravo.
~ Ron Joullian
About the Documentary
The documentary looks at the continued rise of the LGBT Movement during the 1980’s – 1990’s. A movement that had cohesion of purpose, fueled by Stonewall and ignited by Anita Bryant’s “Save Our Children” campaign in 1977.
The documentary will place into the historical record stories from the Midwest and Deep South in regard to both the political advances and setbacks of the era. Parallel and interwoven stories of HIV/AIDS are told through those who experienced and survived these tumultuous years.
The cities included are guided by the producer’s own journey – from New Orleans (1983) to Dallas, Texas (1993), Wichita Kansas (1995) and finally to Cleveland OH (2002 – present day).
The documentary frames the progress of a strong but scattered LGBT movement in the 1970s into a cohesive national force by the 1990s. This still only partially visible community of social activists took on the task of gaining their civil rights. They also took on the task of caring for people within that community who had contracted HIV/AIDS.
A vast collection of broadcast quality footage from the era is at the producer’s disposal. Beginning in 1986, and for over ten years, she created LGBT programming for a local access cable TV, shooting locally and attending national conferences. Many of the storytellers are in the original footage, providing fascinating insights into the emotionally charged political struggles of the times.
MADE IN CLEVELAND
Phill Wilson at the 1995 Creating Change Conference - NGLTF
Some stills from our video archives
