All language subtitles for Reel.in.the.Closet.2015.1080p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.x264-ZTR

I feel like I'm bringing
these people back to life.

(soft music)

(film reel clicks)

That would have been our life if

we'd been there at the time.

(film reel clicks)

The archive is our attic.

It's where we have treasures
known and unknown stored.

MAN: There was documentation
of important events.

REPORTER: Striking a
gay standing in front of

Elephant Walk, a popular
homosexual bar on Castro Street.

REPORTER: Barbara now if
you can make it out many

people were throwing rocks
and bottles at this community.

As other minorities are finding

new ways to express their identity.

♫ Mama dear mama

♫ Did I spoil your dreams

(unintelligible shouts)

(film reel clicks)

These aren't just quirky
one off personal movies,

they actually document the
lives of many different groups.

So there is a big movement
afoot right now to

discover and preserve this media.

And it's a huge effort.

It's all the little
pieces being put together

that creates this amazing
picture of our lives

and tells our story.

There's something very real
and very visceral about

a person shooting a very personal film.

It moves and I think the way a person moves

tells us at least as much,
if not more about that person

as their appearance in a photo.

WOMAN: Watch it buddy, you're on tape!

I don't care, get 'em out of the road!

We can hear them speak,
we can see them move,

we can feel like we're in the scene as the

parade moves past us, as
the protestors march by us,

as the police come and grab
someone off to our right.

Are you gonna move 'em?!

Several other groups and
Act Out members was arrested

inside for disturbing the peace.

(crowd shouts)

Film is like a, it's a
full body experience.

CROWD: Act up, fight back, fight AIDS!

(film reel clicks)

(nostalgic piano music)

There's a home movie that
was shot in about 1950

in a lesbian bar, or I
should say a bohemian bar

as it would have been called
at the time in San Francisco

called Mona's Candle Light.

We don't know who shot it.

It was found at a flea market
by an archivist who told

me about it because he
thought I'd be interested,

of course I was.

This particular home
movie has a soundtrack,

the level of the sound is kind of low

but to be able to hear it
at all is pretty fantastic.

(unintelligible singing)

And I was just blown away
when I saw that film,

I have to say my heart
was actually pounding

when I was watching that
film for the first time

because this is 1950, this
is lesbians in a bar in 1950

listening to lesbian singers.

And one of the women who
was singing in this bar

was wearing a man's suit
and had lipstick on.

You see some shots of the
crowd who were dressed

in very butch and very femme clothing.

And I just looked at that and I thought,

you know, that's where I would have been.

That would have been me on Saturday night,

I would have gone to that club.

I would have been
listening to those singers.

I would have been checking out that crowd

and that would have been my life.

And I'd never had that feeling before.

There are a lot of good
feature films, documentaries

where people have meticulously
gone through and found

still photographs but to see that film,

it just brought it to life
in a way I've never seen

anything do that before.

And that's the strength of home movies.

There just is pride in
that, that there's pride in

feeling that your people exist even

and much less in that way.

(unintelligible singing)

There's this really
remarkable collection of

home movies by this guy
named Hal, Hal O'Neil.

He started documenting his
life when he was a teenager.

He was an orphan, he was
growing up in an orphanage,

films were this big outlet for him.

He knew that he was gay as a
teenager, and you can kind of

see early on, this sort of
like queer eye for the world.

(film reel clicks)

He documented things in his
own life, things that were

just important to him.

(film reel clicks)

But then as he got older

he documented just details of a gay life.

Dinner parties or weekends with friends.

Are at nightclub performances, drag shows.

(soft quirky music)

It's a remarkable
document of something that

often goes unrecorded.

But one of the things
that Hal's movies show us

is that, yeah people had
a really rich, happy,

satisfying life, they could.

(soft quirky music)

It's not the image of
life inside the closet

that people who grew up
in the more recent past

would have expected.

(soft quirky music)

It shows us that people
find happiness and meaning

and commitment in their lives,
whatever the circumstances.

I think there's something
like 400 reels of film.

We looked at probably less then 10%.

(soft quirky music)

We are a small group
with a very small budget.

So the film scanner we're using is

a surprisingly compact and simple device.

Is there a date?

Yes, 1939.

So this was shot the same year
The Wizard of Oz was made.

This machine runs at two frames per second.

Every single frame is
turned in one reference file

and it's uncompressed, so
it's very high quality.

But it takes time, so it's a mystery.

A lot of this story
takes place in New York,

Chicago or San Francisco
but every town, every city,

every block has stories
that are just as important

and just as worthy of being saved.

I know, it's amazing.

Well a big reason is that Maine is cold

and Maine is dry.

Those are good conditions for film.

There was some footage that
surfaced through a friend

made by a woman who was born in 1888.

It was fantastic film.

Amazingly more and more footage turned up.

People would say they had some,

they knew someone who had some.

It seemed very precious to me.

Northeast Historic Film has
climate controlled storage

in Buckfoot Maine, so we took up saving it.

Maine is a very quiet,
isolated place in the winter

so it was almost as if I suddenly
had all these new friends

whom I could watch over and over again,

having these active and funny lives.

I didn't think there was footage like that.

So to find that in the
country and in places

all over the country, people had film,

it's just a treasure but the
stories often are what gets

lost and the film ends up
at a yard sale or on Ebay

and it becomes impossible
to figure out what it is.

Often families have separated
the film from the story

and suppressed the stories.

So the color on this, a lot
of the sections look okay

but some of them don't so

it'll be hard to color correct it all.

Think it's very important
that everybody document

their lives in whatever way
they can because there will

be a recognition that there was a time

when gay people had no rights.

But what that meant and
what life was like under

those circumstances will be
lost unless it's documented.

For several years the Mattachine
Society was holding an

annual picket and this is
the one from July 4th, 1968.

People were looking at us,
they did, yeah a lot of people.

There was what's her
name, again it is, oops

I shouldn't be doing this.

Well but you say what's
her name and you're patting

a picture of yourself.

I shouldn't have done that.

What's her name, Kay!

Kay Lahusen. Kay Lahusen.

LILI: Yes and you know Barbara?

Gittings? Yeah.

Human dignity, our
equality and our acceptance

as the homosexuals that we
are and have a right to be.

LILI: That's Frank, Dr Frank Kameny.

It's Lili's version of a home movie,

I mean she's sharing it with a community.

A community that she struggled
with, she represented.

(unintelligible shouts)

Gay and Proud is the first

Christopher Street Liberation
Day Parade in 1970,

which was intended to
commemorate the first anniversary

of the Stonewall Riots of June 1969.

I remember when I first saw
The Second Largest Minority

and Gay and Proud back to
back and rarely, if ever,

have two films struck me with such force.

LILI: Has the new movement
given you an added pride?

There in less then 20
minutes Lili captured this

very dramatic shift in
the Gay Rights Movement.

I mean don't get me
wrong, we have thousands,

thousands of interesting
material but there is literally

nothing else like that in our collection,

the one from 1968.

Its these very polite,
nicely dressed people

carrying signs, none of
which are confrontational.

Contrast that with Gay and Proud.

LILI: Can you tell me what you feel about

the Homophile movement?

MAN: I think it's great,
I think it's dynamite

and I think the only way to achieve it is

through force and marches like this.

WOMAN: I'm for bisexuals myself.

MAN: You recommend it.

WOMAN: Absolutely, that's
where think it's at.

In 1968 there's a shot
where you see soldiers

who don't quite understand what's going on.

But then you see the soldiers
in 1970 who, if not in the

parade, certainly seem
to be having a good time.

MAN: What do you think about gay feelings?

MAN: Great man, great.

Do your thing, that's alright.

MAN: Where you stationed?

Fort Dick. Fort Dick?

The long term people, the Homophile groups,

they wanted to slowly change the laws.

We wanted to go through every
process that was possible as

quickly as possible and so
that's what gay liberation was.

We were, we were angry.

(unintelligible shouts)

MAN: What do you think?

MAN: I think it's
disgraceful and disgusting.

It's definitely a communist proud march

and it's to separate the people.

They've done it with the Black movement,

they've done it with the Italian movement,

they've done it with the Jewish movement,

now they're doing with the
Gay movement so to speak.

This is what Hitler did in Germany.

MAN: You out to know baby!

MAN: As far as this
thing today is concerned,

I mean it's alright to say what you feel,

as long as you keep it
at an intellectual level.

I mean all of this orgy stuff and all that,

I think it's kind of ridiculous.

If straight people can do it, why can't we?

No really straight people
can do all this carrying on

and holding hands and kiss in the park,

why can't we do it?

They ain't no better then I am.

I'm not talking about kissing

and holding hands in the
park but I mean like.

He's talking about liberalization.

No I'm talking about some guy
dropping his pants alright.

So, I've seen people fuck
in the park, women and men.

Alright but that doesn't
mean we have to do it,

it gives us a bad name.

We should have the right to do it,

if they can do it we should be
able to do it if we want to.

MAN: If we want to get a bad name

for ourselves you're right.

I think that's the primary
value of the tapes for

young people anyway, they can
actually see people who were

their great grandfathers now
going through the same process.

The Liberation Front people, the ones who

do all the things like picketing my home

and sending me nasty
Christmas cards at Christmas

do not reflect the true
feelings of all homosexuals.

I think they over do
their thing in order to,

as you indicated, get
attention, to seek reforms,

to seek more tolerance of their condition.

Nobody filmed us, nobody interviewed us

and so we really thought
that in order to be recorded

it was necessary for us to do it ourselves.

The understanding is now
wide spread throughout

the United States among gay
people, lesbians and gay men,

that we must remain in the
streets until we get our rights.

I hope a lot more gays will
be attracted to gay liberation

and not afraid of the
word radical or militant

in standing up for
themselves as human beings.

WOMEN: Clear Blue Light presents.

Yes.

Excuse us, what is your name?

JOHN: Clear Blue Light
was the first out gay arts

collective that was explicitly
for making queer video.

They used the equipment that was

accessible to them at the time.

Can we get your comment to what happened

tonight at the school board?

They made documentaries,
these events that have

broad social significance.

Members of the Black
Panther Party can do all

sorts of things and are
all sorts of people.

If you've read our paper, if
you understand our position

on the gay peoples rights.

At the same time there are
insights into what was it

like to be GLBT at some point.

To me we had a gay students
union, a person coming

out of high school, especially
here in Bakersfield,

doesn't have to be a queen
that cuts it's wrists.

Are they going to meet in these rooms

and turn into sex orgies
or whatever like that?

I mean you can have them anytime you know.

I agree.

INTERVIEWER: That they shouldn't
be allowed to organize?

That they shouldn't be allowed to organize.

INTERVIEWER: Why?

Who was the audience?

I don't think we cared.

It was for history, it's
for the future really.

I'm talking about what
radical lesbians defined

as woman, identified woman and.

With Clear Blue Light there was

this intersection of three things.

There was the political
moments, changes in technology

and then there was this
whole like high art.

♫ When you call to me out in the night time

♫ Empty sea call out your name

(audience applauds)

MAN: And if you see the little red light,

there's a little one there.

People are subject to reprisals

from all corners of society.

Friends, family, employers, I am a delegate

to the Democratic National
Convention from the

fifth congressional district of California.

As far as I'm concerned they

can remove them off the program altogether.

For the 20 million of gay
women and men who are looking

for a political party that
is responsive to their needs.

And to bring in our
rights on an equal basis

with every other citizen.

Crawford Barton was a
photographer from a very small

rural town in northwest Georgia.

He very much believed gay
people were gathering in cities.

When something was possible now

that had never been possible before.

So before he left he already
looked like this right?

There are some films
that really capture that

image of freedom that
you would think about.

We are incorporating into this art

or you might call public history.

People move to these big cities,
they live out their lives

and they leave all their
stuff there, making it appear

as if queer lives all happen in metropolis.

We were wondering what it
would it mean as Wesley say's,

to take their archival
material kicking and screaming,

back to the places they left.

I remember Andy calling me up and saying,

"Joey there's one that's
called "On The Way Out."

"There's one that's called "On The Road."

"We have to get that."

ANDY: And all of a sudden we were faced

with the film called "Self Portrait."

He's there and it's Crawford
looking at the camera

for the length of the
three minute roll of film.

Everybody wants to be a pioneer.

♫ Go west life is peaceful there

♫ Go west you will do just fine

♫ Go west

I feel slightly strange when
I'm out of this neighborhood,

I feel less secure.

♫ Together we will love the beach

♫ Together we will learn and teach

As it turned out Crawford
Barton photo-documented

the Castro District from the '70s and '80s.

There's a really famous
photograph he took of two

gay men kissing on the stairs
with stogy in comparison

white couple kind of chagrining.

Well I love it.

It's wonderful, all of
our people get together

and we're all just
screaming and carrying on.

Showing everybody that this is our city.

This is our lives and whatever.

I just hope that everybody comes out for it

and gets really out there,
especially the drag queens.

I want to encourage all
the drag queens to come out

and wear your best clothing.

Really show everybody where it's at.

I mean after all we
started the whole thing,

at Stonewall and everything,
so they should go out

there and really show it.

They probably think that's
about where it's at.

When video comes out and
it's cheaper then film

and you can erase things,
it's like yeah it really did

change what people were documenting.

People weren't quite so
stingy with their film stock.

They just left the camera on
and kept it running a lot.

I've lived, I've lived a
life of culture, of dance

People tell me that I
look like Liza Minnelli.

There are hundreds of tapes.

I don't know, was it gay
people like to make tapes.

You wonder about, why is there so much?

We take it for granted
that you can walk around

with your phone and in the
past it takes some money

to acquire the equipment and the media.

In the past there tended to be more men

who had the income to make
movies or to make video tapes.

And white men right.

In home movie archives
there are a lot of films

made by doctors and dentists,

huge collections of films
made by doctors and dentists.

You have that Bob Hope
nose, did you know that?

No.

You do, you have that Bob Hope nose.

See what I mean?

It really looks good.

(unintelligible chanting)

Pride parades were when
everyone took out their cameras

right, so we have a lot
of pride parade footage.

Which of course is valuable.

What we don't have so much of
are peoples everyday lives.

WOMAN: Lets have just
before we sign off here

one really sumptuous splash.

ANDY: Those are the things that

people don't think to document.

And if they do.

Well it's a busy day here on Castro Street.

Other people don't think to save.

Lots of activity down the
street at the Twin Peaks bar.

And will they look up here in your window

and see the fella in the blue.

MAN: Oh he, caught him in the act.

MAN: Of littering on someone's step!

And then he's going to the dentist' office.

He puts down his 7-Up and
walks in the dentist's office.

I can remember a few
years ago when there were

no oriental homosexuals,
we were told repeatedly

that orientals just
didn't become homosexual.

And yet now living in San Francisco.

You know the tapes were
fairly expensive to buy and

because they were re-recordable
they often did get reused.

Some of the most interesting
stuff is at the tail.

Well two years ago I was
sitting in my store one day,

got bored and decided
to entertain myself by

putting on a street fair.

I want to see a neighborhood fair,

that's why I never promoted
it outside of the area.

I think that's what a
street fair should be.

For the neighborhood,
about the neighborhood

and by the neighborhood
and someday we'll be there.

Thank you.

Why don't you take this joint?

INTERVIEWER: So what kind
of equipment have you got?

I landed a job in Harvey
Milk's camera store.

That place was like the hub of the Castro.

There you go.

That's it, okay look at me.

I think if you just make
a nice type of tapes

it'll be very good historical
document of gay ideas and.

I can't watch this.

Life's rich pageant was
just unfolding before me

and I meeting people that
were getting that same idea

and like wow, we are
here creating community.

It just seemed like an obvious choice to do

as much film making as I possibly could.

But I was in this environment
where Harvey was constantly

talking about "Come out to your parents,

"come out to your parents."

CROWD: Out of the closet
and into the streets!

Out of the closet and into the streets!

But in fact I was very
intimidated by that prospect.

(unintelligible voices)

I just thought, you know
I'm just gonna do it.

When I would visit my
family in summer I would

show my films, to a
garage full of my parents

and their friends, my friends,
some of my high school

teachers would attend.

But I didn't warn anybody
there was this kiss in there.

My mother hit the ceiling, she
went flying out of the room,

she slammed the door behind her.

And then years later she say's,

I still love you, it was
just that the big reveal

that I was a homosexual
was done in this way.

I've done about 150 reels of film.

(soft quirky music)

They have regular lives and full lives

and they're interested in the
same things as everybody else.

Where they went on vacation
and Aunt Minny came to visit.

(soft quirky music)

But after a while I came
to know these guys more

and look forward a little
more to their next party.

(soft quirky music)

It makes you wonder, how can I
have as much fun as you guys?

And then I explored having
Mom over, going to the zoo.

(soft quirky music)

But at the same time
there's a definite queer eye

behind the camera, what the
camera focuses on and stops on,

you can tell who it is
whose doing the shooting.

(soft quirky music)

But apparently there's nothing
that's really outrageous

because after all he's sending

this film out to be developed.

(soft quirky music)

There are probably about three more boxes,

yeah three more boxes.

100% orange juice from
Florida puts a little

bit of sunshine into everyday,

even where the sun doesn't always shine.

I want you to know that
I do drink it every day

but you know something
I'm talking about tonight,

something that's even better
then Florida orange juice

and I'm sure that 30
Commissioners here tonight

are growers, you'll forgive me because

what I'm talking about is Christ.

If you take him, you'll never thirst again.

Anita Bryant waged war
against the LGBT community

and that was sort of the
wake up moment of where

we all kind of said,
"Oh this is much bigger

"then what we think it
was in the first place."

And so it became a national
movement at that moment.

ANNOUNCER: VHS, the four hour system.

REPORTER: Thousands of militant anti-Anita

homosexuals took to the
streets and staged the biggest

protest marches since the anti-war

demonstrations of the 1960s.

Tonight Channel 7 News Scene takes a

special half hour look at Anita Bryant.

People have been calling
the newsroom all day

demanding that the interview not be aired.

I as a mother have a right to protect

my children anyway that I can.

You had dinner with Anita. Yes I did.

And you ordered the beer,
they paid for the dinner,

what happened?

I got the check for the beer.

I made her pay for what they bought for me

but they would not pay for the beer.

I just think it's an interesting insight.

PROTESTOR: That every
politician in San Francisco

and the state of California,
a person who began here

in San Francisco and
the only gay Supervisor.

But he's going onto
wiser and better things,

not as a gay supervisor
but as a good Supervisor,

as a good elected official, Harvey Milk!

I continued to make tapes
to help with the struggle.

It was a lot of work.

This half hour tape and
you had it on prota-pack,

you put it in a machine on the side here

and then you held the
camera up here and you could

get about a half hours worth of taping

and then you'd have to recharge
the battery for 12 hours.

It's inexcusable that anybody here today

is not knocking on doors on election day.

DANIEL: Oh my God the energy is way down.

And you've got to do it, not for yourselves

but for that 14 year old
child, you've got to get

that person, you've got
to give that person hope!

Thank you very much!

(crowd applauds)

(unintelligible shouts)

And we are here to say that
the homosexual movement

is in fact we think not equated
with human rights or civil

rights and they are not
being discriminated against.

'Cause they hold the
highest position of esteem

in public and private life.

As President of the Board of Supervisors

it's my duty to make this announcement.

Both Mayor Moscone and
Supervisor Harvey Milk

have been shot and killed.

(unintelligible shouts)

The suspect is Supervisor Dan White.

REPORTER: Is he in custody?

He's not at this time, thank you very much.

Well I mean it was shock, shock.

Dreams that were destroyed.

Hi, we're trying to get
some ideas and feelings

from people about what's happened.

I was shocked, freaked out.

I just can't believe it.

I mean I'm real upset about it you know.

I went to church, I went to church

and prayed for what happened.

It just shows that you
can't really have a big

mouth and be for the
people in this country.

From that moment forward,
for months there was

a lot of darkness and
there was a lot of fear.

CROWD: He got away with murder!

I was sitting at the bar,
the bartender got a call

and he say's, "They're riots at City Hall."

So I bopped in my car and drove as close

to City Hall as I could get.

And there was one of our
news photographers who say's,

"Put on a helmet, you're
gonna get hit with something."

And I was behind him while he
was shooting all this stuff.

It was because Dan White
was given what, seven years?

It was premeditated murder of two people.

(unintelligible shouts)

The cameraman might shoot two
or three cassettes of tape,

there's a lot more footage on the raw tapes

then there ever was on the air.

Anger and frustration surround
San Francisco's City Hall

tonight, at least 3,000
people are there right now.

BILL: The only thing we
kept was the actual show.

Manslaughter in the shooting deaths of

Mayor George Mascone and
Supervisor Harvey Milk.

And they erased the tapes and the cameraman

would use them over again.

After a couple of weeks
they'd be erased anyways.

So I took 'em home.

It was anything I could
abscond with in raw tapes

that was gay related, I took everything,

even the political stuff.

I mean that's important.

(unintelligible shouts)

MAN: Bill Longen is a film
editor for Channel Two

who occasionally tinkers with
his own film projects at home.

Oh my God, this is
pictures from my childhood.

That's my partner Stan.

WOMAN: Do you have high
hopes that this relationship

is going to be long lasting?

I don't have a question in my mind.

I edited this story, that's why there's

so much of me in it.

Output, video out.

Alright.

The early 80s was the gay
gay cancer, and we don't

know what it is and it's
only effecting gay men.

REPORTER: In and out of the
AIDS Clinic for nine months.

My partner and I, we were both HIV positive

and the wire services were
full of these horror stories.

REPORTER: He can't work anymore

and his family has disowned him.

People who couldn't get help,
people wouldn't touch them.

Almost everyday there
was some story of people

that personally I recognized.

It was very depressing to have to do that

but I saved it because
it's important to save.

It's just somebody has
to have this footage.

REPORTER: Your lover is
also infected and is sick,

sicker certainly then you are.

REPORTER: Acupuncture and Chinese herbs

helped AIDS patients Stanton Shaffer.

STAN: My fevers that I was
getting are not there anymore.

So I thought the best way to do this was to

put together a video of the
way we felt about each other

and things nobody ever knew.

(melancholy music)

I can be very struck by, by
the emotion of some of this.

There are a tremendous number of memorials.

AIDS quilt being unfurled
on the National Mall.

That is very potent to watch, very somber.

(unintelligible voices)

But it's not all doom and gloom.

How about, they started marching at

about 8:00 o'clock tonight?

Oh this was "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

So that was the protest over Clinton.

He signed a defensive marriage act too so.

He also told me tonight
that the ACLU is filing

a lawsuit in court saying
that the new policy

on gays in the military.

INTERVIEWER: You see what's
going on in the background?

Yeah, that's why I kept that.

That was the big deal.

The guys kissing in the
background of the stand off.

(laughs)

She had no idea what was going on.

Sort of a rumor that's
spreading amongst the crowd,

they literally marched from.

BILL: And then she's moving so they can get

that out of frame but they can't.

Thank you.

Seeing the raw footage gives
us a more authentic picture

of what happened out
there in the real world,

not a packaged, safe version of it.

REPORTER: So you got a second?

Sure, what's on your mind?

REPORTER: Can you explain
to me why you're here?

What's your message?

The message is that this
country is going to hell in a

faggots hand basket and San
Francisco is leading the way.

REPORTER: Your critics say you're a

man of God yet you preach hate.

Doggon right I preach hate.

The Bible's full of hate.

Wow. Yeah.

They right out. Yeah.

Imagine the idea that
that filthy lifestyle,

anal copulating like
promiscuous jack rabbits,

fornicating all, look,
if these fags don't kill

us all with AIDS they'll bankrupt us all.

These independent and uncircumcised fags,

they don't have the least
intention of repenting.

We're telling them that God hates 'em

and they're going to hell,
there isn't any other message.

Whoa that was good, I hope,
can I get a copy of that?

There you are.

My God.

And these phony pagan politicians.

It's just this little simple thing in the

back of your mind that said,

"These tapes are gonna
be important someday."

(film reel clicks)

We have a chance to find
it and we have a chance

to understand it and in
fact there may not have been

a better moment to
understand it then this one

because people are prepared to be more open

about the history of family
members, our friends,

then they would have been 10 years ago.

It's so important to make
these films available.

Lili was insistent that we make

these films more widely available.

ANNOUNCER: From the Library
of Congress in Washington DC.

I knew that I had to do it because

so many people couldn't do it.

MAN: We are homosexual human beings.

People will be seeing
those generations from now,

in the same way that we
study film that was taken

back in the 1890s.

MAN: And a person known to be a homosexual

cannot get an education in this country.

I opened up the box and
found a reel labeled

"Breakfast in San Fernando."

And I thought at first, this
doesn't sound very exciting.

So I put it on and there was a queer vibe

from the very beginning.

There was something about
this fellow in the jeans,

I don't know, something was up.

As the film unfolded slowly,
as it will at two frames

per second on this particular machine,

it was skinny dipping parties.

(soft quirky music)

So we're talking about the 1940s,

you wouldn't just take
a film with full frontal

male nudity down to your Eastman Kodak lab

and just turn it over.

So he's found some place
to get this developed

where it would not arouse any
suspicion of the authorities.

Now we have decades of a gay
man's life with his partner.

(soft quirky music)

We don't have any other record like that.

They just seemed to have had a fun life.

The exact same thing, it
was so hard for me tell

her that this girl on the ground,

that she and I were lovers
and I finally did it.

It's nice seeing that I have history.

Like the video is the closest thing

that I can get to to the real thing.

These kids aren't much older then you,

they're probably your age.

Then finding out that people fought for my

right to just walk into public safely.

It's kind of special to me.

(uplifting music)

We've had so many gains.

Usually what happens after
these gains is a backlash.

We won!

Yeah we won!

5/4. Five to four.

(upbeat music)

SHARON: It's important to
know that you can just keep on

struggling and wait it out,

just need to look at those
lives is to know that.

(upbeat music)

I'm equal, equal!

(uplifting music)

There's still nothing like home movies

and there's still nothing
that's really capturing

our experience the way
home movies capture it.

It's more endangered then the usual

home movie sitting in someone's attic.

It's more likely to be discarded.

It's more likely people will
be uncomfortable with it.

And that's the step at which
we lose a lot of stuff.

(upbeat music)

People really find comfort
in putting their stories

down on film, even if they're
the only ones who see it.

But you kind of hope that
somebody's gonna find it right.

It's like a mark on the cave wall.

(upbeat music)

ANNOUNCER: Lake Tahoe,
North America's largest

high altitude alpine lake.

Edgelake Beach Club is a
year round resort complex

on a secluded sandy beach,
with it's own private pier.

10 years ago you could find
a motel room in Lake Tahoe

for $10 to $20, today in some
areas it is as high as $125.

You can secure tomorrow's
vacation at today's prices.

International time share
sales has brought the exciting

vacation concept of timesharing
to Edgelake Beach Club.

The term timesharing was adopted
from the computer industry.

When the cost of owning a
computer became too expensive

for a single business to
afford they would each pay only

for the time they actually used.

Your selected unit will be
fully furnished and decorated,

complete with linens,
dishes, cooking utensils

and kitchen appliances,
including dishwasher,

microwave oven and even a blender.

Renovation will continue through 1982.

Whatever it is you want
to do it's here for you.

(upbeat music)