Open Letter To President Obama Concerning WH Trans Movie Night

TransGriot Note:  An open letter to President Obama concerning the upcoming Trans Movie Night on Monday from Annalise Ophelian that needs to be signal boosted

Dear Mr. President,
 
On behalf of Miss Major and everyone on the MAJOR! production team, we’re excited about the upcoming transgender movie night at the White House, as part of your LGBT Artists Champions of Change campaign. But we can’t help but notice that your media selections, The Danish Girl and episodes of Transparent, don’t offer particularly robust representation of transgender people. In particular, we’re concerned that you’ve chosen two works about trans women who are played by cisgender men, and that they focus on a limited white European perspective.
 
To help correct for this imbalance, we’d love to offer the White House an advance screening of our own documentary, MAJOR!, which follows the life and campaigns of Miss Major Griffin-Gracy. Miss Major is a 74-year-old Black transgender elder and activist, a veteran of the Stonewall Uprising and a survivor of Attica State Prison, who has been advocating for trans women of color for over 40 years.
 
We’d also like to suggest you check out the following films, which were made by trans folks or feature trans actors and actresses playing trans characters, and focus on the stories of trans folks of color. It’s not an exhaustive list by any means, but it’s a place to start, and we get that you’ve got a busy schedule.
 
You’ll notice that a lot of these films are documentaries. We think this has something to do with the incredible need for authenticity and truth telling about transgender lives.
 
STILL BLACK: a portrait of black transmen, dir. Kortney Ziegler (2008)
Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria, dir. Susan Stryker & Victor Silverman  (2005)
Remember Me in Red, dir. Hector Ceballos (2010)
Tangerine, dir. Sean S. Baker (2015)
Pay it No Mind: Marsha P. Johnson, dir. Michael Kasino (2012)
The Believers, dir. Todd Holland (2006)
Gun Hill Road, dir. Rashaad Ernesto Green (2011)
Transgender Tuesdays: A Clinic in the Tenderloin, dir. Nathaniel Walters-Koh & Mark Freeman (2012)
 
And in 2016, we hope you have the opportunity to check out Happy Birthday, Marsha! and Free CeCe!, two amazing upcoming films that center Black trans women in their own narratives of survival and resilience.
 
With warm regards,
 
Annalise Ophelian, Psy.D.
Producer/Director: MAJOR!

'Game Face' Houston Debut Happening July 26

The 19th annual QFest LGBTQ film festival will take place in several venues around Houston from July 23-27.   One of those films being shown is the classic documentary Paris Is Burning.

But QFest will also have thanks to Out & Equal Houston the local debut of the documentary Game Face that features the coming out stories of my WMMA fighting homegirl Fallon Fox and Terrence Clemens, a young, ambitious and talented college basketball player in Oklahoma, who happens to be gay.


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The Out & Equal sponsored screening of Game Face will occur at 14 Pews on July 26 starting at 3 PM CDT.   The doors at 14 Pews will open at 2:30 PM and after the film's conclusion there will be a mix and mingle event in the 14 Pews backyard. 

!4 Pews address is 800 Aurora St. in Houston. Free seating through Out & Equal Houston & QPass Holders is limited, so registration will close at 60 persons.  General admission for non-Out & Equal Houston or Q-Fest members is $10.

So hope y'all take advantage of the opportunity to see Game Face and the other exciting cinematic offering that QFest has on tap in it's 2015 edition..

Thanks Y'all For Helping MAJOR! Win Again

MAJOR! was up for IndieWire's Project Of The Week which was being voted on until the poll closed at 11 AM EDT yesterday. 

I wrote a post asking you loyal TransGriot readers to support it and help Annalise and StormMiguel win this IndieWire vote for Team Trans, and in case you were wondering what the results were for this vote, I'm about to tell you.

Out of the 608 votes cast in the poll, MAJOR! won the Project of the Week with 294 votes or 48.36% of the total!  Next closest project came in with 175 votes  (29% of the total)

So with this latest win Annalise and StormMiguel are not only in the running for IndieWire's Project of the Month, they will receive a digital distribution consultation from SnagFilms.  

Annalise and StormMiguel asked me to thank you peeps who voted for MAJOR! on their behalf.  They will let me know what happens and how the Project of the Month winner will be determined.  If they win Project of the Month, they will be awarded with a creative consultation from the peeps at the Tribeca Film Institute!  

Congrats again for another win Annalise and StormMiguel!
 

Help MAJOR! Win Again

Thanks to those of you who helped MAJOR! in its Kickstarter campaign raise over $27,000 to get the movie funded.   Now Annalise and StormMiguel are asking for your help once again, and this time it won't require any cash to do so.   

MAJOR! is in the running on Indiewire for the Project Of the Week which is determined by votes.  The winning filmmaker when the voting concludes at 11 AM EDT on October 21 will receive a digital distribution consultation from SnagFilms and will become a candidate for Project of the Month.

If MAJOR! becomes the candidate for Proect of the Month and is the winner, Annalise and StormMiguel will be awarded with a creative consultation from the peeps at the Tribeca Film Institute!

As of this writing MAJOR! has 140 votes and is in the lead, but could use some help to get it over the finish line because the next closest film project has 77 votes.   

So people, let's handle our business.  Please take a moment to vote for it, pass on and share the link to the contest in you social media circles and help get Miss Major's story on the silver screen so it gets the attention it deserves.  

MAJOR! Obliterates Fundraising Goal!

Congratulations go out to Annalise and StormMiguel who not only hit but exceeded their fundraising goal for getting the MAJOR! documentary completed and at a theater near you.

They have at this writing 541 backers who have contributed $26,122 toward getting this project done.  

See trans community and allies, we may not have a whole lot of money in the community, but when we come together and pool it, we can make some amazing things happen like getting a POTUS elected and reelected, a trans hackathon funded, and now a documentary movie funded.  

They still have in this Kickstarter campaign until 6:00 PM PT-9:00 PM ET Tuesday night to raise those much needed production funds.  Since they cleared their goal, they'll get everything they raised, now let's help them keep going and see if we can get them to $30,000!

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy's story is too important, NEEDS to be told, and needs to be preserved for history's sake and for future generations of trans people.   Every dollar still matters. Please continue to support them with $1, $5, $10, $20 or whatever you wish to contribute until the clock runs out to get this much needed movie made!

'The New Black' Film Festival Tour

The New Black is a documentary film I was cognizant was in the process of being shot, and I'm happy to discover it has been completed and is about to hit the summer film festival circuit.

NBJC is traveling across the country to celebrate an authentic and illuminating depiction of the tension, triumphs and victories that take place at the intersection of religious beliefs and civil rights with the launch of The New Black

It is a provocative new documentary film that powerfully illustrates the story of how the African-American community is grappling with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in light of the marriage equality movement and the fight over civil rights.

It chronicles the recent marriage battle in Maryland and shows activists, families and clergy on both sides of last year's campaign to legalize gay marriage in the state.   It examines homophobia in the African-American community's institutional pillar ---The Black Church-- and reveals the Christian right wing's reprehensible strategy of exploiting this cultural phenomenon in order to pursue their anti-gay political agenda.  

There are some familiar faces in this film like NBJC Executive Director and CEO Sharon Lettman-Hicks and several NBJC emerging leaders such as Samantha Master and Karess Taylor-Hughes and I'm looking forward to seeing it.

The New Black is directed by internationally renowned documentary filmmaker Yoruba Richen, who teams with notable producers Yvonne Welbon, producer of Living with Pride: Ruth Ellis @ 100, and Emmy nominated Angela Tucker to bring us this story anchored at the intersection of Black American culture and the LGBT equality movement..

So for those of you residing in Los Angeles (June14-16) New York  (June 19-20), Washington D.C. (June 22-23) and San Francisco (June 29)  you'll get the opportunity to check out Tne New Black at your local film festivals this summer.

Unfortunately I'll have to wait until it hits an H-town multiplex near me.

Love Is All You Need?

This is a short film in which the societal script is flipped and being gay or lesbian is considered the norm and heterosexuality is seen as 'sinful' or 'awful'.  It focuses on a young teen named Ashley who is growing up in that world as hetero and is being verbally and physically bullied for it. 

The film has won 19 film festival awards(and counting)  

There are some graphic scenes in this short film and trigger alerts, but it realistically simulates what gay and trans kids go through in terms of dealing with a world they are at odds with and feeling alone and unsupported in it.  

Black Trans History-Ajita Wilson

Stumbled across an interesting piece of Black trans history while searching for something trans related to write about.   It concerns the surprising note that cult film actress Ajita Wilson was a trans woman.   But then again, why should I be surprised about what I discover when it comes to women like us?

It's simply another fascinating piece of Black trans history that I'm bringing to your attention.     

She was born in Brooklyn, New York around 1950 and started out as a female illusionist and entertainer in New York's red light district   She had her sex realignment surgery in the mid 1970's and not long after that occurred began appearing in underground adult films being produced in the New York area. 

She was discovered by a European film producer who got her roles in French, Italian, Greek and Spanish films.  By 1978 Wilson had built up quite a following and name recognition in doing so.  
She appeared in a seemingly nonstop series of films during the 1970s and 1980's that ranged from soft and hardcore porn films to mainstream horror, light comedy, anachronistic historical epics and espionage thrillers.  

Interestingly enough one of the people she worked with during her film career was The Exorcist actress Linda Blair in the movie Savage Island.

To add another interesting note to this post about her, she was a Jet Magazine pin up girl.  Ajita Wilson appeared in the August 20, 1981 issue of the iconic Jet Magazine as their Beauty of The Week    That may make her possibly the first trans woman to hold that distinction.

While her acting career was still going strong and in a positive direction for her she was involved in a horrific automobile accident in Rome, Italy.   She passed away from a brain hemorrhage on May 26, 1987 that resulted from that accident.

After Wilson's death, speculation about her trans status began to emerge.  When director Carlos Aured was asked to comment on it, he said this in reply.to the interviewer's question.

"She was charming, beautiful and very professional. The rest is not important." he said. 

Indeed.  Ajita Wilson was as director Aured said, charming, beautiful and professional as an actress.  But I'd disagree about the second part of his comment.  

In that time period there were very few out Black transfeminine role models.  While I understand what the transition protocols were at that time and she was a product of that era, it sure would have been nice to know that Ajita Wilson was also a girl like us, too.

Red Hook Summer And Why Spike Lee Isn't A Racist.

Guest Post by Renee, the talented and thoughtful editor of Womanist Musings.


At the Sundance film festival, Spike recently premiered his independent movie, Red Hook Summer.  Spike has had several problems over the years getting funding for his films, and I firmly believe that at least part of the issue, is Spike's commitment to telling our stories without the coonery that is featured in the typical Tyler Perry film.  To be clear, Spike's male privilege has at times made some of his work problematic and in fact, other than She's Gotta Have It, strong female roles have been few and far between. Even She's Gotta Have It, includes a rape as punishment for failing to agree to a monogamous relationship.

The reviews for Red Hook Summer have been decidedly bad. I have not seen the movie, so I cannot argue any faults or biases the reviews may contain.  In the question and answer period, Spike Lee and Chris Rock had a verbal scuffle.

Rock, who appeared to be joking around, said, "You spent your own money ... What would you have done differently if you'd actually gotten studio money? What else would have happened? Would you have blown up some (bleep)?"

Lee, apparently unamused, responded, "We never went to the studios with this film. I bought a camera and said we're gonna do this mother(bleeping) film ourselves. I didn't need a mother(bleeping) studio telling me something about Red Hook! They know nothing about black people! Nothing!" Lee then added, "And they're gonna give me notes about what a 13-year-old black boy and girl do in Red Hook? (Bleep) no!" [Source]

I have to agree with Spike when he points out that no White studio head has the slightest clue of what it to be a 13-year-old Black boy and girl.  This is especially true if we consider the class aspect that the movie seeks to interrogate.  These White men of class privilege are only interested in the bottom line, and not about depicting the true experiences of kids of colour, or even why such movies are desperately needed.

A negative reaction has become common place to much of what Spike says or does. The following are some comments on the discussion between Spike and Chris Rock.

Bluelife4: I like Chris Rock. He pokes fun at any race. But Spike Lee? He's a racist.

Wallace:  Spike Lee is one of the biggest racist I have ever seen. Man I'm tired of his low budget films. Enough already. Yes I am a black man. Racism from any person is wrong. I think this guy sucks. I'm a middle class worker who live one of the most racist states in the US (S.C.) and to hear this guy speak is crazy. Man grow up. Please. I think his anger comes from his height. Blame ur parents not the world.

Nicolas:  Spike Lee is an angry, racist little bigot. Always has been. No such thing as "reverse racism". The whole idea that you can say racist things about your own race is laughable. Racism is racism, black, white, yellow, brown, red, blue, etc....

The Love Doctor: I've been wondering for more than 20 years, when are we going to start saying that being racist towards white people is wrong too????

I was always taught that racism is wrong period. But it seems in our modern culture, discriminating against and being racist towards white people seems to be accepted in our culture...

Duntov: Seems like an Angry African-American that continues to prey on racism for his own gain and agenda. Go away until you can talk like an intelligent human. Stop the hate and move on.

Jack Plummer: Why is it okay for a black person to be a racist?

Hustonman:  On the Yahoo homepage it said Spike Lee went on a surprising tirade. Who is surprised? This agitator has had one tirade after another for twenty plus years. No class, no truth, just a little disgruntled man. A racist with a Napoleon complex.

These comments all appeared on the first page of the article, and as you might imagine, they continue in the same vein no matter how deeply into the article you go. Spike speaks without apology about race and racism in the U.S., and this makes people uncomfortable.  Many either have bought into the bullshit idea that the world is now colourblind, or they very firmly believe that their thoughts, or actions, are not part of the problem -- and this includes the sell out negro -- who made sure to announce that he is Black.

Whiteness may not like to admit it, but Blacks of the African diaspora are entitled to our continued rage, and the very suggestion that we should moderate our speech to suit their comfort level is only an indicator of how far we still have to go, rather than the unreasonableness of our position.  Spike Lee is not a perfect man, but he is most certainly not a racist.  No Black person speaking out against White supremacy will ever be a racist.

These commenters are not the first to refer to Spike Lee as racist for his approach to race and film, and they most certainly will not be the last. Whiteness would very much love the definition of racism to be prejudicial thoughts, acts, or language against another race.  It's a nice and simple definition, which allows Whiteness to be able to claim to be oppressed by people of colour.   It allows Whiteness to be able to circumvent our rage, and once again center themselves in the conversation.  Most importantly, it allows Whiteness to deny and alternately censure our speech on the alleged grounds that we are all equal. This is why the co-option of the term racist, is an absolute disservice to people of colour.  It's ahistorical, in that it ignores the ongoing inequality in power relations between Black and White.  When a White person acts, ze does so with the full institutional weight of Whiteness at their behest. An analysis of race without an acknowledgement of power is an incomplete and faulty analysis.  This is specifically why it is necessary to understand and accept that racism equals privilege plus power.  No matter how angry, or hate filled a person of colour may be, they do not exist with the institutional power to act on their feelings. For all of the class privilege that Spike Lee has managed to amass over the years, the fact remains that he still a Black man in America and that makes him an oppressed person.

Spike's status as a racially oppressed Black man means that his speech is not welcome, and that is particularly so when he is confronting racism.  While I may not agree with everything that he says and does, there can no be denial that he continues to be relevant.  He has forged ahead to make movies that White run studios have not seen as important, and it is because of this struggle that he is so derided.  When he spoke of being tired of yet another White WWII war movie, Clint Eastwood's response was to tell Spike to "shut his face".  If you cannot acknowledge that Black blood was shed in the battle fields of WWII, only to come home to Jim Crow, then you fail to see the truth. When he spoke about the coonery and buffonery engaged in by Tyler Perry, Mr. Perry was affronted.  He was happy to ignore the tradition in which his movies were made and the negative effect that they have had on Blacks.

There are certainly many criticism that can and should be levied at Spike Lee, but being a racist is not now or ever will be a legitimate charge.  The truth of the matter is that Whiteness loves to engage in revisionist history, and at times it is supported by Blacks, but finding even hundreds or thousands of Blacks to agree to their own continued colonization and oppression does not make the truth less true, or any less relevant.  Truth tellers are never embraced in their lifetimes and as Dr. King has shown us through his life and death, in the end, until their speech can be used to bolster the oppressor they are relegated to being understood as angry, disgruntled and hateful.  By this statement I am not saying that Spike Lee is the equivalent of Dr. King, only that truth when told without embellishment, to favor the ruling class will always be unwelcome.

'Photos Of Angie' Debuts At Denver Film Festival

Angie Zapata was brutally taken away from us three years ago, but her brief life and the people she touched during that time will live on.   

A documentary produced by Denver based filmmakers Alan and David Dominguez premiered last night at the 13th XicanIndie Film Festival in Denver.  

The film, 'Photos of Angie' moves between Angie’s life and self-discovery told through family and friends, to the trial of her killer, Allen Andrade, and how prosecutors used national hate crime legislation to prosecute him in 2009.

“Many aspects of this story struck me — Angie’s struggle to discover who she was and her courage to do right by herself, the fact that human sexuality is not nearly as neatly packaged as we like to think, and how common anti-transgender violence is,” said director Alan Dominguez in a news release. “Angie’s family took me on a very personal journey through their lives, and it led me to realize that only through compassion and understanding, all of us have to work together to write the end of the story — to create a world governed by freedom to be who we are, without fear.”

The Dominguez brothers through their Denver based production company called Loco Lane Filmworks shows films in festivals throughout the United States and Latin America.

Hopefully I'll get to see 'Photos Of Angie' at one near me soon.

Prodigal Sons

This is a documentary by Kimberly Reed as she returns to her Montana home town for her 20th high school reunion.

There's been a few changes since she left, starting with her. In addition to being nervous about reuniting with her classmates, she's also hoping to reconcile with her estranged adopted brother.

There are also some interesting twists and turns along the way as the film unfolds along with some revealed family heritage secrets.

Prodigal Sons has been getting some buzz in the transgender web, and has been screed at several film festivals with positive reviews.

I'm planning on checking it out as soon as it hits a theater or film festival near me.

In the meantime, enjoy the interview

Homo Harlem Film Retrospective

TransGriot Note: Received this interesting e-mail from the Maysles Institute in NYC about a TBLG film retrospective slated to kick off on Juneteenth (June 19) at the Maysles Cinema.

With arguments often eerily reminiscent of old rationales for black oppression, gays and lesbians remain openly, legally and even, 'righteously', discriminated against.

For LGBT people of all races, knowing ourselves, making our extraordinary history known to others, much as with blacks, becomes a key component to liberation. If LGBT heritage remains often obscured and belittled, achievements of African American lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people, are less well known still.

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, the film festival, Homo-Harlem: A Film Retrospective, Friday, June 19th-Saturday, June 27th, cosponsored by the Maysles Cinema at 343 Malcolm X Boulevard with Men of All Colors Together, seeks to help to remedy this lack of recognition.

Through a series of coordinated screenings, critical discussions and walking tours, Homo-Harlem for the first time officially brings Stonewall observations uptown to focus on and honor, figures as diverse as poets Audre Lorde and Langston Hughes, social justice activist Bayard Rustin, composer Billy Strayhorn, photographer Marvin Smith and living legend Storme DeLarverie, whose courageous stand at the Stonewall Bar, 40 years ago, literally helped set in motion the entire Gay Pride Movement.

We LGBT people have always been busy making Harlem better, as one resident reported in 1928, "Never no wells of loneliness in Harlem..." Space is limited for this exhilarating experience, so be sure to make a reservation in advance and get ready to be enlightened, to be amazed and to party hard!

Homo-Harlem Curator and Author Michael Henry Adams

Please direct all press and requests for reservations to cinema@mayslesinstitute.org
Homo Harlem: A Film Retrospective

$10 Suggested Donation For All Screenings

Friday, June 19th
Opening Night at the Museum of the City of New York
(1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd St, Enter at 104th St)

6:00pm Cocktail Reception

7:00pm Discussion: Kirk Shannon-Butts, Michael Henry Adams

7:30pm Screening
Blueprint (Short Preview)
Kirk Shannon-Butts, 2008
Harlem shot and set, Blueprint is the story of Keith and Nathan - two New York City college freshmen trying to make a connection.

Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life
Robert Levi,1999, 83 min.
Today, historians and scholars agree that Billy Strayhorn remains one of the most under-recognized American composers in history. Born in 1915, Strayhorn chose to live openly as a gay black man. It was perhaps this decision-and his lifelong devotion to Duke Ellington-which contributed to his near anonymity as a major American composer. While Ellington is arguably the most influential and celebrated jazz composer of the 20th century, Strayhorn is unrecognized. Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life poses answers to the question of who was Billy Strayhorn, and why is he still relatively unknown?

(Maysles Cinema, 343 Lenox Ave. between 127th & 128th Street, June 20th-27th)

Saturday, June 20th
2:00pm
The Edge of Each Other's Battles: The Vision of Audre Lorde
Jennifer Abod, 2002, 59 min.
This powerful documentary is a moving tribute to legendary black lesbian feminist poet Audre Lorde (1934-1992). One of the most celebrated icons of feminism's second wave, Lorde inspired several generations of activists with her riveting poetry, serving as a catalyst for change and uniting the communities of which she was a part: black arts and black liberation, women's liberation and lesbian and gay liberation.

Litany For Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde
Ada Griffin and Michelle Parkerson, 1995, 60 min.
From Lorde's childhood roots in Harlem to her battle with breast cancer, this moving film explores a life and a body of work and makes connections between the civil rights movement, the women's movement and the struggle for lesbian and gay rights.

Greetings from Africa
Cheryl Dunye, 1994, 8 min.
In this highly entertaining short, Cheryl Dunye uses her dry wit to ruminate on lesbian dating '90s style. Cheryl (playing herself) is searching for someone to date. Unfortunately, most of her friends are still stuck in those long-term "relationships from the '80s". Just when she thinks all is lost, she meets L, a beautiful, mysterious and captivating woman. Cheryl gets caught up in the chase and L leads her in and out of hot water.

Sunday, June 21
2:00pm
Prepare for Saints: The Making of a Modern Opera
Steven Watson, 1999, 27 mins
A chronicle of the making of the Modernist 1934 Virgil Thomson/Gertrude Stein opera, Four Saints in Three Acts, (which included an all-black cast from Harlem church choirs and nightclubs.)
Q&A with Director Steve Watson

Portrait of Jason
Shirley Clarke, 1967, 105 min.
Interview with Jason Holliday aka Aaron Payne, house boy, would be cabaret performer, and self proclaimed hustler giving one man's gin-soaked pill-popped, view of what it was like to be black and gay in 1960's America.

Monday, June 22
7:00pm
Storme: Lady of the Jewel Box
Dir. Michelle Parkerson, 1987. 21 min.
"It ain't easy...being green" is the favorite expression of Storme DeLarverie, a woman whose life flouted prescriptions of gender and race. During the 1950's and 60's she toured the black theatre circuit as a mistress of ceremonies and the sole male impersonator of the legendary Jewel Box Revue, America's first integrated female impersonation show and forerunner of La Cage aux Folles. Storme herself emerges as a remarkable woman, who came up during hard times but always "kept a touch of class." Storme was also a witness to the Stonewall Rebellion 40 years ago and is a founding member of the Stonewall Veterans Association.

How Do I Look
Wolfgang Busch, 2007, 48 min.
How Do I Look captures the Harlem "Ball" traditions that originated in the 70s, which was historically an off shot from the Harlem "Drag" Balls from the 20s. Because of the loss of hundreds of members and leaders of the "Ball" community due to the HIV epidemic, this film recorded an important aspect of history while it was still available.

Panel TBA

Tuesday, June 23
7:00pm
Brother to Brother
Rodney Evans, 2004, 87 min.
Winner of numerous awards including the 2004 Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize and the Gordon Parks Screenwriting Award, Brother to Brother follows the emotional and psychological journey of a young black gay artist as he discovers the hidden legacies of the gay and lesbian subcultures within the Harlem Renaissance.
(with a short clip of an interview with Bruce Nugent on Gay life in the 20s.)

Q&A with Tom Wirth, Literary Executor for Bruce Nugent

Wednesday, June 24
7:00pm
Brother Outsider, The Life of Bayard Rustin
Nancy Kates and Bennett Singer, 2002, 83 min.
This meditation on the parallels between racism and homophobia illuminates the life and work of Bayard Rustin, a visionary activist and strategist who has been called the "unknown hero" of the civil rights movement. Daring to live as an openly gay man during the fiercely homophobic 1940s, 50s and 60s, Brother Outsider reveals the price that Rustin paid for his openness, chronicling both the triumphs and setback of his remarkable 60-year career.

Panel:
Dir. Bennett Singer
Walter Naegle, Rustin's partner until his passing in 1987 at 75
Ernest Green, The Little Rock Nine
Adam Green, Historian, Author of "Selling the Race: Culture, Community, and Black Chicago, 1940-1955"
Moderator: Michael Henry Adams

Thursday, June 25
5:30pm
Walking Tour*

7:30pm
Paris is Burning
Jennie Livingston, 1990, 78 min.
Many consider Paris Is Burning to be an invaluable document of the end of the "Golden Age" of New York City drag balls, as well as a thoughtful exploration of race, class, and gender in America.

9:30pm
Dinner & Afterparty at Billie's Black*

*Complete package (walking tour, screening and after party) cost is $50.00
Contact- homoharlemtour@aol.com
60 person limit on tickets so get them while you can!
Tickets for the screening only can be purchased at the Maysles Cinema the night of.

Friday, June 26
5:30pm
Walking Tour*

7:30pm
Looking for Langston
Isaac Julien, 1988, 45 min.
A black and white, fantasy-like recreation of high-society gay men during the Harlem Renaissance, with archival footage and photographs intercut with a story. The text is rarely explicit, but the freedom of gay Black men in the 1920s in Harlem is suggested and celebrated visually.

James Baldwin: Witness
Angie Corcetti, 2003, 60 min.
A minister's son from Harlem, James Baldwin moved to Greenwich Village and began writing essays for left-wing journals. With the success of his first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, and dozens of non-fiction works, Baldwin became an international voice on American Black life in the 1950s and 60s. A look at this Black American Gay icon's life.

9:30pm
Dinner at Miss Maude's Spoonbread Too*

*Complete package (walking tour, screening and dinner) cost is $50.00
Contact- homoharlemtour@aol.com

Saturday, June 27
11:30am Brunch at Chez Lucien*

1:00pm
Walking Tour*

3:00pm
M&M SMITH: For Posterity's Sake
Heather Lyons, 1996, 57 min
Morgan and Marvin Smith, twin brothers and prolific African American artists, boldly moved from Kentucky to New York in 1933 to pursue artistic careers. By 1937 they had opened a photo studio next door to Harlem's renowned Apollo Theatre. Thus began 50-year-long careers as still and motion picture photographers, painters and sound recordists. This story is richly visualized through the Smiths' photos, films and paintings and poignantly told by Morgan and Marvin Smith and friends such as Eartha Kitt.

Clip of Short Conversation with Marvin Smith
40 min.

*Complete package (walking tour, screening and brunch) cost is $45.00
Contact- homoharlemtour@aol.com