| San Francisco Public Library

Director: Kirkman, Tim
Description: Breaking up with his boyfriend is filmmaker Tim Kirkman's excuse to take a leave of absence from life in New York to recover his roots in his native North Carolina. Kirkman fled his home state after college, due in large part to his perception of North Carolina’s pervasive homophobia as personified by the state's extremist senator, Jesse Helms. Kirkman’s return is both a quest for perspective on his own life and a nuanced exploration of social diversity in a place that is often, because of Helms, associated with straight white hate. Ironic self-deprecation, a subtle tongue-in-cheek style, and a home-grown attention to the details of Southern culture serve Kirkman well as he notes similarities between himself and Helms: they were born within three miles of one another, attended the same college, had brief careers in journalism, and "are both obsessed with gay men." By interviewing an openly-gay elected official, a conservative newspaper editor, a civil rights leader, writers, and various friends and relatives on their opinions about Helms, Kirkman offers a thoughtful and highly personal portrait of queer social issues in the New South.