The Celluloid Closet - Trapped in the dream factory

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Movie
German title The Celluloid Closet - Trapped in the dream factory
Original title The Celluloid Closet
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1995
length 107 minutes
Rod
Director Rob Epstein
Jeffrey Friedman
script Vito Russo
Rob Epstein
Jeffrey Friedman
Sharon Wood
Armistead Maupin
production Rob Epstein
Jeffrey Friedman
Howard Rosenman
music Carter Burwell
camera Nancy Schreiber
cut Jeffrey Friedman
Arnold Glassman
occupation

Lily Tomlin (narrator)

The Celluloid Closet is a documentary by directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman from 1995 about films with homosexual content or homosexual references. It is based on the film history book The Celluloid Closet by Vito Russo , published in 1981 .

content

The documentary covers a wide arc spanning 100 years of film history and various personalities with connections to the Hollywood industry are asked to comment on various film clips and tell of their personal experiences in dealing with LGBT characters. The theme extends from queens (Engl. Sissy ) about censorship based on the Hays code , encrypted gay characters and stereotypes to progress in the early 1990s - for example, by the New Queer Cinema and the picking up of the theme in blockbusters like Philadelphia .

Meaning of Vito Russo

The film is based on the published in 1981 and 1987, newly launched general book The Celluloid Closet by Vito Russo , who examined historical, such as movies - especially in Hollywood - gays , lesbians , bisexuals and transgender represent -Characters. Russo was one of the first to convince both homosexuals and heterosexuals , with his 1981 book The Celluloid Closet , to explore the role popular culture plays in shaping our attitudes about sexual orientation and gender identity . As a young homosexual and film historian in the 1970s, Russo was disappointed that there were hardly any positive or clearly visible depictions of homosexuality in films - also since these were only allowed to be shown in encrypted form in the cinema until the 1960s due to censorship. He therefore wanted to tear LGTB figures out of the shadows and subext and thus create a more positive identification of homosexual figures. Russo's work started a genre of research that examines the representation of LGBT people in films , television shows , comics , videos and computer games .

Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman had Russo in their 1989 published documentary Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt , of the Oscar , interviewed won. Russo's partner had already died of AIDS at this point and he himself had already fallen ill. It was Vito Russo's wish that his book should be made into a film documentary, but was unable to do so with Epstein and Friedman before his death from AIDS in November 1990. Some critics noted that the film was less political than the book and ended on a more positive note. Russo, however, wanted the documentation to be entertaining and also reflect the positive changes that were emerging for the 1990s.

Well-known lesbian actress Lily Tomlin , who was close friends with Russo and also acts as the film's narrator, started a campaign to fund the film. Among other things, she organized a charity show in which Robin Williams also performed and Hugh Hefner donated a large amount. In addition to the American television broadcaster HBO , ZDF and Arte also co-financed parts of the film budget amounting to 1.4 million US dollars, which, among other things, had to be used for the approval of the rights to the film clips.

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has given the Vito Russo Award since 2003 to openly gay and lesbian people within the Hollywood industry who represent a step forward in the fight against homophobia .

Interview partner

Some very well-known interlocutors could be found for the documentation. But there were also rejections, including from Charlton Heston , who forbade showing the film Michelangelo - Inferno and Ecstasy because the painter he played was heterosexual. Michael Ontkean did not want to be interviewed and forbade the showing of scenes with him in the film Making Love (1982), but was unsuccessful.

Discussed films

Awards

Festival / price Award country year
Sundance Film Festival Freedom of Expression Award
Documentary: Grand Jury Prize (nom.) 		United States 1996
GLAAD Media Awards Vito Russo Film Award United States 1996
Teddy Award Best Documentary / Essay Film
(Together with I'll Be Your Mirror ) 		D. Berlinale 1996
Emmy Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming (3 *)
Outstanding Informational Special
President’s Award
(all nominations) 		United States 1996
National Educational Media Network Gold apple United States 1996
Peabody Awards Peabody Award United States 1997
Independent Spirit Awards Truer Than Fiction Award (nom.) United States 1997

criticism

“Conversations with authors and actors and excerpts from over 100 films are combined into a chronicle from 1895 to the present. Excellently chosen scenes and their ingenious compilation combine to create a differentiated, sometimes melancholy chronology, which is at the same time a lesson about the double standards of the puritanical Hollywood industry and a clever plea for more tolerance. "

- Lexicon of international film

DVD output

In 2001 the DVD of the documentation was released in English with an extra audio commentary by the producers, and another audio track with an interview that Russo gave in 1990. There is also a link to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and some interviews not shown in the film have been edited into a second documentary.

See also

literature

  • Vito Russo: The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies (Revised Edition), HarperCollins Publishers, September 1987, ISBN 0-06-096132-5

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Trivia of the Internet Movie Database
  2. ↑ The Celluloid Closet - Trapped in the Dream Factory. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed May 31, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used