Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2008
I agree with everyone stating the historic importance of this movie. Tede Matthews, the red haired hurricane in the movie was my roommate and best friend when this film came out…He knew it was important then and would be so happy to know that the rest of us are finally catching up. Like so many artist from that time period, we lost Tede to AIDS in the early 1990’s. At the same time that Tede was participating in the filming of ‘Word is Out’ and laying the foundation for many to come… I was singing my way into another historical project ‘Walls to Roses: Songs of Changing Men on Folkways Records and now part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Inst. This album was recorded by a group of gay and straight men singing songs about Sexism. It is also the first of it’s kind and this year we celebrate our 30th year anniversary. I am not writing this to take away from the movie discussion at hand but to lend support for the making of a DVD. Tede was right about the importance of this documentary and he was also right when he was quoted in ‘Time’ magazine when asked if he was a drag queen, he said, ‘We are all born naked, therefore anything we put on is drag!’
love you Tede…sincerely,
Chris VonTanner
(aka Chris Tanner)
5 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2003
This documentary is a great one. It carries the same feel as Epstein’s other documentaries, COMMON THREADS: STORIES FROM THE QUILT, THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK, and THE CELLULOID CLOSET to name a few.
The film is comprised of many gay, lesbian, and transgendered people basically talking about all aspects of their life. Epstein and his codirectors did a good job presenting a variety of lifestyles: Black, white, mothers and fathers, the very young to the quite old. This truly encompasses much of the GLBT experience, in an entirely unbiased way, with people simply speaking for themselves.
I recommend this to all people, but especially to gays and lesbians.
14 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2008
Quoted from the Word is Out Website ([…]
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of WORD IS OUT, the Mariposa Film Group has begun production of a DVD.
Thirty years ago, in 1977, Word is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives startled audiences across the country when it appeared in movie theaters and on television. The first feature-length documentary about lesbian and gay identity made by gay filmmakers, the film had a huge impact when it was released and became an icon of the emerging gay rights movement of the 1970s.
In honor of its place in our collective history, Word Is Out has been selected for the Legacy Project for GLBT Film Preservation by Outfest and the UCLA Film & Television Archive. The original film negative will be restored this year, and the re-mastered 35 mm print will be shown at public events in Los Angeles and San Francisco. It will then be available for international exhibition through Word Is Out’s longtime distributor, New Yorker Films.
The 30th anniversary DVD will include the original theatrical version of the film, exclusive updates on the cast and the filmmakers and an homage to Peter Adair, originator and inspired producer of Word is Out who died of AIDS in 1996.
Quoted from the Word is Out Website: […]
Donate to the effort if you can….
One person found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2002
This is probably the best GLBT documentary ever made. It is poignant, funny, and provocative. While somewhat dated since so much has changed in the past 20+ years, the stories hold up and still speak to the human condition in a touching way. Also, it’s probably just as necessary to give people a historical context of how far the community has come, not only since the film was made, but throughout the lives of the participants, including The Pioneer Harry Hay, who just died recently.
Anyone who has ever felt like an outsider or knows any GLBT people should appreciate this film. And any member of the GLBT community should consider this mandatory viewing as an obligation to their own history, and those who came before.
17 people found this helpful
Report
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Word Is Out | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Mariposa Film Group Peter Adair Nancy Adair Andrew Brown Rob Epstein Lucy Massie Phenix Veronica Selver |
| Produced by | Peter Adair Peter Adair Andrew Brown Rob Epstein Lucy Massie Phenix Veronica Selver |
| Cinematography | Nancy Adair Peter Adair Andrew Brown Rob Epstein Lucy Massie Phenix Veronica Selver |
| Edited by | Nancy Adair Peter Adair Andrew Brown Rob Epstein Lucy Massie Phenix Veronica Selver |
| Music by | Trish Nugent Buena Vista Band |
| Distributed by | New Yorker Films |
|
Release date |
|
|
Running time |
124 minutes (original) 133 minutes (2008 restored version) |
| Language | English |
Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives is a 1977 documentary film featuring interviews with 26 gay men and women. It was directed by six people collectively known as the Mariposa Film Group. Peter Adair conceived and produced the film, and was one of the directors. The film premiered in November 1977 at the Castro Theater in San Francisco and went into limited national release in 1978. It also aired on many PBS stations in 1978.[1][2]
The interviews from the film were transcribed into a book of the same title, which was published in October 1978.
In 2022, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being «culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant».[3]
Film description[edit]
Word Is Out intercuts interviews with 26 people, who speak about their experiences as gay men and lesbians. The interviewees range in age from 18 to 77, in locations from San Francisco to New Mexico to Boston, in types from a bee-hived housewife to student to conservative businessman to sultry drag queen, and in race from Caucasian to Hispanic, African-American, and Asian. Writer Elsa Gidlow, professor Sally Gearhart, inventor John Burnside, civil rights leader Harry Hay, actress Pat Bond, and avant-garde filmmaker Nathaniel Dorsky are among the people interviewed.
The interviewees describe their experiences of coming out; falling in and out of love; and struggling against prejudice, stereotypes, and discriminatory laws.
Production[edit]
Word Is Out took five years, over 200 interviews, and six co-directors to make.[4] Documentary filmmaker Peter Adair came up with the idea for the film. According to Adair:[5]
- In the 1970s when the modern gay movement was just beginning, our biggest problem was invisibility. Who homosexuals were was largely determined by straight people. It was bad enough that the public image of gay men and lesbians was defined largely by stereotypes — after all, I want other people to have an accurate picture of who I am. But these stereotypes created by outsiders largely defined our perceptions of who we thought we were. What a state of affairs. One’s reference for «What was Gay?» was a few nasty images, and, if you were lucky, your immediate circle of queer friends.
- Word Is Out, finished in 1977, was on its surface a very simple idea answering the simple question, «Who Are We?» For the film, I, and the five other principle [sic] people I worked with spent a year doing research interviews on videotape of 250 lesbians and gay men all across the country. In the end, twenty-two were chosen to tell their stories in the film.
The directors of the film, collectively known as the Mariposa Film Group, were Peter Adair, Nancy Adair, Andrew Brown, Rob Epstein, Lucy Massie Phenix, and Veronica Selver. An initial investment of $30,000 was raised from people who believed in the idea and wanted to see the film made, and assistants were hired and production began. The original number of interviewees was only eight people, but when the trial film was screened to test audiences, the response and interest generated indicated that a much larger and more diverse cross-section of interviewees was desirable. Several more years were then spent in filming the rest of the interviews, and intercutting them with each other to create the final product.[5]
Impact[edit]
«In 1978, Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives startled audiences across the country when it appeared in movie theaters and on PBS television. It was the first feature-length documentary about lesbian and gay identity made by gay filmmakers, and had a large and pioneering impact when it was released. The film became an icon of the emerging gay rights movement of the 1970s.»[5][6] «The silence of gay people on the screen has been broken,» Vito Russo declared in The Advocate, a national gay magazine.[4]
«When audiences saw the film, thousands wrote to the Mariposa Film Group’s post office box number listed in the end credits to express how much the film meant to them — and many of them related how viewing the film saved their lives.» «People who were alone and hopeless in Idaho, Utah and Kansas for the first time saw realistic and positive images of gay people on screen,» said production assistant Janet Cole.[5]
In the New York Times, David Dunlop wrote in 1996: «Understated though it was, Word Is Out had a remarkable impact, coming at a time when images of homosexuals as everyday people, as opposed to psychopaths or eccentrics, were rare.»[4]
In 2011, a book examining the film’s impact was published, titled Word Is Out: A Queer Film Classic by Greg Youmans.[7]
In 2022, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being «culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant».[3]
Book[edit]
Word Is Out in book form (1978)
In 1978, a book containing transcripts of the interviews was published, under the same title.[8] The book also details how the film and book were created by the successful collective.
Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives was one of the first gay-focused nonfiction books sympathetic to gays published in the U.S. The book reached many people who were unable to view the film, and remained a popular gay nonfiction text for many years, helping many gays and lesbians realize that they were not alone.
The book also helped members of the heterosexual community to relate to the normalcy of homosexual lives, and to also understand gay persons’ struggles, pain, marginalization, ostracism, professional concerns, and frustrating need for secrecy when in a climate of homophobia and illegality.
Restoration of the film and DVD release[edit]
For the 30th anniversary, a restored and remastered 133-minute version of the film, which had no viable print remaining, was produced by Outfest and the UCLA Film and Television Archive,[9] and premiered on 26 June 2008, at the Frameline Film Festival at the Castro Theater in San Francisco.
The DVD edition of the documentary, featuring the restored and remastered digital print of the original film, was released in June 2010 by Milestone Films.[10] As special features, the DVD includes exclusive updates on the cast and the filmmakers plus an homage to Peter Adair, the originator and producer of Word Is Out, who died of AIDS in 1996.
Both the restoration and the DVD release were funded by gay activist and philanthropist David Bohnett, via his David Bohnett Foundation.[11] On the DVD’s special features, Bohnett speaks briefly about the film’s impact.[12][13][14]
See also[edit]
- List of LGBT-related films
References[edit]
- ^ Kehr, Dave (28 May 2010). «Coming Out, Looking in, Summing up». The New York Times.
- ^ Parker, William (1985). Homosexuality Bibliography: 1976-1982. Second supplement. ISBN 9780810817531.
- ^ a b Ulaby, Neda (December 14, 2022). «‘Iron Man,’ ‘Super Fly’ and ‘Carrie’ are inducted into the National Film Registry». NPR. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
- ^ a b c Dunlop, David W. «Peter Adair, 53, Director, Dies; Made Films With Gay Themes.» New York Times. June 30, 1996.
- ^ a b c d Word Is Out
- ^ Mohr, Richard D. Gays/Justice: A Study of Ethics, Society, and Law. Columbia University Press, 1988. pp. 280–283.
- ^ «Book». 29 January 2018.
- ^ Adair, Nancy. Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives. Delacorte Press, 1978.
- ^ Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives Archived 2013-05-21 at the Wayback Machine. Outfest. Outfest.org. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
- ^ Word Is Out DVD
- ^ Word Is Out 30th Anniversary Commemorative DVD. WordIsOutMovie.com. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
- ^ «Missing Record».
- ^ «DVD Savant Review: Word is Out».
- ^ «Word is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives DVD – Oscilloscope Laboratories». store.oscilloscope.net. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
External links[edit]
- Word Is Out – Official website
- Word Is Out at AllMovie
- Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives at IMDb
- Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives at the TCM Movie Database
- Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives at the American Film Institute Catalog
- Word Is Out – informational PDF
Forty years ago, in 1978, Word is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives startled audiences across the country when it appeared in movie theaters and on television. The first feature-length documentary about lesbian and gay identity made by gay filmmakers, the film had a huge impact when it was released and became an icon of the emerging gay rights movement of the 1970s.
In honor of its place in our collective history, Word is Out was selected for the Legacy Project for GLBT Film Preservation by Outfest and the UCLA Film & Television Archive. The original film negative was recently restored, and the re-mastered 35 mm print was shown at gala festival events at Outfest in Los Angeles and Frameline in San Francisco.
The 30th anniversary DVD has been mastered from the restored 35mm theatrical version of the film and supervised by Ross Lipman of the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Mariposa Film Group. The DVD also includes exclusive updates on the cast and the filmmakers, and an homage to Peter Adair, originator and inspired producer of Word is Out, who died of AIDS in 1996.
«Word Is Out impacted audiences around the world in 1978 by destroying stereotypes of the gay experience. Today, the power of this film lies not only in its disarming interviews but in how these beautifully woven interviews stand as a watershed to our history. These stories are a record of our struggles, our dissension, our joys, our loves and our lives.
«The filmmakers capture the innocence and charm of 26 people—ranging in age from 18 to 77, from San Francisco to New Mexico to Boston, from beehived housewife to sultry drag queen. You will laugh at the irony as one woman explains how doctors put her on a diet of two salads a day to cure her ‘sickness.’ You might feel humbled or grateful as one ex-member of the Women’s Army Corps tells how the women expected to get beat up for dancing in gay bars by angry servicemen in the late 1940s and early 50s. Either way, you will leave the theater affected by the fierce courage and love emanating from these stories, our stories.» — Kristin Pepe, Outfest Legacy Project Manager
-
-
Word Is Out Press Kit
350 KB
An Explanation of Home, Classroom, and Public Performance Rights
Individuals and non-profit institutions purchasing DVDs, DVD-Rs, or Blu-rays — or streaming — at published home-use sale and rental prices are authorized to use the film only for private home screenings and legitimate classroom showings (a regularly scheduled class with an instructor present), per the United States Copyright Law. You can learn more about the distinction between classroom and public performance screenings here.
Through our distribution partner, Kino Lorber, Milestone provides a variety of licensing to suit all needs. Our standard institutional licensing packages are designed to provide colleges, universities and qualified non-profits with the best value for multiple uses, and our one-time community screening licenses allow any organization to exhibit high-quality films for a reasonable fee. Please note that all licensing carries restrictions on audience numbers and/or geographic range.
STANDARD INSTITUTIONAL LICENSING
- CLASSROOM RIGHTS allow unlimited use in face-to-face classroom situations for the life of the media, restricted to a single campus or location. Please note that this license doesn’t include public screenings or digital transmission of any kind.
- PUBLIC PERFORMANCE RIGHTS (PPR) allow educational and nonprofit groups to exhibit our films to groups of 100 or fewer individuals where admission is not charged. The term of the public performance license is for the life of the DVD. However, if you intend to charge admission, expect an audience over 100, or publicly advertise the screening, then we ask that you contact us regarding an exhibition fee. Films purchased without Public Performance Rights are restricted for individual viewing or face-to-face teaching in the classroom only.
- DIGITAL SITE LICENSES (DSL) allow colleges, universities and nonprofits to locally host and stream to their community on a closed, password-protected system for the life of the digital file.
- K-12 PPR comes with limited performance rights so films can be shown in classrooms, at PTA meetings, during after school programs, and transmitted on a closed-circuit system within a K-12 school building or on a single campus.
For all educational licenses and screenings, please Estelle Grosso, Director of Educational and Non-Theatrical Sales & Distribution at Kino Lorber (Milestone’s distribution partner) at: egrosso@kinolorber.com.
The purchase of DVDs, DVD-Rs, and Blu-rays at the institutional rate by anyone outside of a North American non-profit educational institution does not grant rights for public performance or streaming.
Any continuous or loop screenings as part of a museum exhibition must also be licensed separately. Inquiries must be negotiated directly by emailing egrosso@kinolorber.com.
Information for Exhibitors Screening DCPs and Film Prints
All bookings must be made by email correspondence with George Schmalz, Director of Theatrical Sales at Kino Lorber (Milestone’s distribution partner) at: gschmalz@kinolorber.com to negotiate terms and insure a screening copy is available. An order is only finalized when Kino Lorber sends written confirmation.
DCPs are shipped insured for their cost via Federal Express or UPS and must be returned the same way or by an equivalent method. Shipping and handling charges for outgoing DCPs appear on your invoice. The immediate return or transshipment (as directed) of all DCPs is your responsibility.
DCPs should be returned to:
Milestone Film & Video
38 George Street
Harrington Park, New Jersey 07640-0128
United States
35mm and 16mm prints are shipped insured for their cost via Federal Express or UPS and must be returned the same way or by an equivalent method. Please do not ship prints back via US Mail. Exhibitor pays to ship both ways. Shipping and handling charges for outgoing prints appear on your invoice. The immediate return of all prints is your responsibility.
Prints should be returned insured for $1,000 to:
Iron Mountain
Attn: Milestone Account
235 Main Street
Little Falls, NJ 07424
201.944.3700
For public screenings, advertising materials can be requested by contacting jhertzberg@kinolorber.com.
Milestone is the exclusive licensor for all the titles in this catalog, all of which are available from Milestone’s distribution partner Kino Lorber. in their complete versions.
| Слово отсутствует | |
|---|---|
|
Афиша театрального релиза |
|
| Режиссер | Mariposa Film Group Питер Адэр Нэнси Адэр Эндрю Браун Роб Эпштейн Люси Мэсси Феникс Вероника Селвер |
| Произведено | Питер Адэр |
| Музыка от | Группа Триш Нуджент Буэна Виста |
| Распространяется | New Yorker Films |
|
Дата выпуска |
|
|
Продолжительность |
124 минуты (оригинал) 133 минуты (восстановленная версия 2008 г.) |
| Язык | английский |
Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives — документальный фильм 1977 года, в котором представлены интервью с 26мужчинами и женщинами- геями . Его поставили шесть человек, известных под общим названием Mariposa Film Group. Питер Адэр задумал и продюсировал фильм и был одним из режиссеров. Премьера фильма состоялась в ноябре 1977 года в театре Кастро в Сан-Франциско, а в 1978 году он вышел в ограниченный национальный прокат. В 1978 году он также транслировался на многихстанциях PBS .
Интервью из фильма были записаны в одноименную книгу, которая вышла в октябре 1978 года.
Описание фильма
Word Is Out берет интервью с 26 людьми, которые рассказывают о своем опыте геев и лесбиянок . Возраст респондентов от 18 до 77, от Сан-Франциско до Нью-Мексико и Бостона, от домохозяйки с пчелиными ульями до студента, консервативного бизнесмена и знойной трансвеститы, а также от европеоидной расы до латиноамериканцев и афроамериканцев. , и азиатский. Писательница Эльза Гидлоу , профессор Салли Гирхарт , изобретатель Джон Бернсайд , лидер движения за гражданские права Гарри Хэй , актриса Пэт Бонд и авангардный режиссер Натаниэль Дорски входят в число опрошенных.
Респонденты описывают свой опыт откровения; влюбиться и разлюбить; и борьба с предрассудками, стереотипами и дискриминационными законами.
Производство
На «Word Is Out» потребовалось пять лет, более 200 интервью и шесть содиректоров. Идея фильма принадлежит режиссеру-документалисту Питеру Адэру . По словам Адаира:
- В 1970-х, когда современное гей-движение только зарождалось, нашей самой большой проблемой была невидимость. Кто такие гомосексуалы, во многом определяли натуралы. Достаточно плохо, что общественный образ геев и лесбиянок определялся в основном стереотипами — в конце концов, я хочу, чтобы у других людей было точное представление о том, кто я. Но эти стереотипы, созданные посторонними, во многом определили наше восприятие того, кем мы себя считали. Какое положение дел. Одна ссылка на «Что было Гей?» было несколько неприятных образов и, если повезет, ваш ближайший круг странных друзей.
- Word Is Out , законченный в 1977 году, был на поверхности очень простой идеей, ответившей на простой вопрос: «Кто мы?» Что касается фильма, я и пять других [sic] людей, с которыми я работал, в течение года проводили исследовательские интервью на видеозаписи с 250 лесбиянками и геями по всей стране. В итоге было выбрано двадцать два человека, которые рассказали свои истории в фильме.
Режиссерами фильма, известного под общим названием Mariposa Film Group, были Питер Адэр, Нэнси Адэр, Эндрю Браун, Роб Эпштейн , Люси Мэсси Феникс и Вероника Селвер. Первоначальные инвестиции в размере 30 000 долларов были получены от людей, которые верили в идею и хотели посмотреть фильм, были наняты помощники и началось производство. Первоначальное количество опрошенных составляло всего восемь человек, но когда пробный фильм был показан для тестирования аудитории, реакция и интерес показали, что желательно гораздо большее и более разнообразное сечение опрошенных. Затем было потрачено еще несколько лет на то, чтобы снимать остальные интервью и перерезать их друг с другом для создания конечного продукта.
Влияние
В 1978 году « Слово вышло: истории некоторых из наших жизней» поразило публику по всей стране, когда оно появилось в кинотеатрах и на телевидении PBS. Это был первый полнометражный документальный фильм о лесбиянках и геях, снятый геями-кинематографистами, и оказал большое новаторское влияние, когда был выпущен. Фильм стал иконой зарождающегося движения за права геев 1970-х годов. «Молчание геев на экране было нарушено», — заявил Вито Руссо в национальном журнале для геев The Advocate .
Когда зрители смотрели фильм, тысячи писали на номер почтового ящика Mariposa Film Group, указанный в конце титров, чтобы выразить, насколько фильм значил для них, и многие из них рассказали, как просмотр фильма спас им жизнь. «Одинокие и безнадежные люди в Айдахо, Юте и Канзасе впервые увидели реалистичные и позитивные изображения геев на экране», — сказала помощник режиссера Джанет Коул.
В New York Times Дэвид Данлоп написал в 1996 году: «Каким бы недооцененным он ни был, Word Is Out оказал замечательное влияние, поскольку пришел в то время, когда изображения гомосексуалистов как обычных людей, в отличие от психопатов или эксцентриков, были редкостью».
В 2011 году была опубликована книга Грега Йоманса, посвященная влиянию этого фильма, под названием « Слово вышло : классика квир-фильма ».
Книга
Word Is Out в книжной форме (1978)
В 1978 году под тем же названием была опубликована книга, содержащая стенограммы интервью. В книге также рассказывается, как успешный коллектив создавал фильм и книгу.
Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives была одной из первых научно-популярных книг, посвященных геям и сочувствующей геям, опубликованных в США. Книга достигла многих людей, которые не могли смотреть фильм, и долгие годы оставалась популярным изданием для геев. , помогая многим геям и лесбиянкам понять, что они не одни.
Книга также помогла членам гетеросексуального сообщества понять нормальность гомосексуальной жизни, а также понять борьбу геев, боль, маргинализацию, остракизм, профессиональные проблемы и разочаровывающую потребность в секретности в атмосфере гомофобии и незаконности .
Реставрация фильма и выпуск DVD
К 30-летнему юбилею отреставрированная и обновленная 133-минутная версия фильма, от которой не осталось тиража, была произведена Outfest и UCLA Film and Television Archive , а премьера состоялась 26 июня 2008 года на фестивале Frameline Film Festival в Театр Кастро в Сан-Франциско.
DVD-издание документального фильма с восстановленной и переработанной цифровой печатью оригинального фильма было выпущено в июне 2010 года компанией Milestone Films . В качестве специальных материалов DVD включает эксклюзивные обновления об актерском составе и создателях фильма, а также дань уважения Питеру Адэру , создателю и продюсеру Word Is Out , который умер от СПИДа в 1996 году.
Реставрация и выпуск DVD финансировались гей-активистом и филантропом Дэвидом Бонеттом через его Фонд Дэвида Бонетта . Говоря об особенностях DVD, Бонетт кратко рассказывает о влиянии фильма.
Смотрите также
- Список фильмов, связанных с ЛГБТ
использованная литература
внешние ссылки
- Word Is Out — Официальный сайт
- Слово Is Out в AllMovie
- Слухи разошлись: рассказы о некоторых из наших жизней на IMDb
- Word Is Out — информационный PDF