Part of Queer Qlassics.
Wed Jul 17, 7:00pm: Post-screening discussion with Marisa Richmond, MTSU women's and gender studies professor and member of the Metro Human Rights Coalition -- the first transgender city board member in Nashville history; and Abby Rubenfeld, civil rights attorney and CEO of Rubenfeld Law Office, PC. BUY TICKETS
Taking a pointillist approach to LGBTQIA lives before the flashpoint of the Stonewall Riots, BEFORE STONEWALL is a collage of primary source interviews, newsreel footage, extracts from film and television, and texts drawn from government decrees and protest signs. Wrenching as well as deeply funny, it’s a testament to the resilience of lives led on the outskirts of repressed-rather-than-respectable society. Narrated by author Rita Mae Brown, this remarkable document is a saucy and sincere portrait of the foundations of a social movement that continues to this day.
New DCP restoration supervised by Director Greta Schiller. 16mm negative scanned and digitized at Periscope Films in Los Angeles with color correction from Edition Salzgeber in Berlin.
“This is the power of the film…it makes communities feel seen.” —Mikhal Weiner, GoMag
“What’s perhaps most intriguing about watching BEFORE STONEWALL now...is that it ends on a moment of uplift…. This is a documentary that can tell the sometimes bitter truth and still conclude with an unambiguously heartening flourish.” —Eric Henderson, Slant
“BEFORE STONEWALL makes it clear that the gay liberation movement was gestating long before the 1960s.” —Louis Proyect, CounterPunch
The Belcourt Theatre does not provide advisories about subject matter or potential triggering content, as sensitivities vary from person to person.
Beyond the synopses, trailers and review links on our website, other sources of information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media and IMDb, as well as through general internet searches.
Visit the Official Website