Walsh, Jack

1992

To sir with love: an intentionally digressive letter to Rock Hudson.

Diamon, Nikos

1992

Kitty Tsui and other Bay Area interviewees speak about the experience of being gay and Asian.

Chamberlain, Anne

1992

A lesbian safe-sex message.

Wong, Paul

1992

This film is not ostensibly about homosexuality. It is a hybrid narrative that progresses from an investigation into the naming of a geographical site to the remembrance of forebearers and lost friends, linked conceptually by the Chinese practice of Hanng San—walking the mountain—a ritualistic act that provides continuity between the past, present, and future, between the living and those in the spirit world. However, the act of mourning here evokes the parallel in lesbian and gay communities of remembering those who are lost to the AIDS pandemic.

Schmiechen, Richard

1992

For lesbians and gay men, our history is still an undiscovered country. In Changing Our Minds, director Richard Schmiechen—producer of the Academy Award–winning Times of Harvey Milk—brings to film the compelling historical story of the trailblazing psychologist whose research proved that homosexuality is not a mental illness. It's a powerful and affecting drama, moving from the 1940s to the present day, using archival footage and illuminating interviews.  Eye-opening period films and photos evoke the repressive period of her research: lesbian and gay love was illegal, and hysteria over the McCarthy hearings prompted the prosecution of "perverts." For decades the medical community had been using appalling treatments on gay men and women: lobotomy, castration, hysterectomy, and electroshock therapy. Through her friendship with a student who introduced her to Los Angeles' secret gay world, Dr. Hooker began pioneering studies which resulted—in 1974—in the removal of homosexuality from the American Psychiatric Association's official list of mental disorders. Changing Our Minds is a brilliant tribute to an important pioneer whose work has impacted the lives of all American lesbians and gay men. Winner of the 1992 San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary.

Schmiechen, Richard

1992

For lesbians and gay men, our history is still an undiscovered country. In Changing Our Minds, director Richard Schmiechen—producer of the Academy Award–winning Times of Harvey Milk—brings to film the compelling historical story of the trailblazing psychologist whose research proved that homosexuality is not a mental illness. It's a powerful and affecting drama, moving from the 1940s to the present day, using archival footage and illuminating interviews.  Eye-opening period films and photos evoke the repressive period of her research: lesbian and gay love was illegal, and hysteria over the McCarthy hearings prompted the prosecution of "perverts." For decades the medical community had been using appalling treatments on gay men and women: lobotomy, castration, hysterectomy, and electroshock therapy. Through her friendship with a student who introduced her to Los Angeles' secret gay world, Dr. Hooker began pioneering studies which resulted—in 1974—in the removal of homosexuality from the American Psychiatric Association's official list of mental disorders. Changing Our Minds is a brilliant tribute to an important pioneer whose work has impacted the lives of all American lesbians and gay men. Winner of the 1992 San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary.

Kates, Nancy D.

1992

Marshall, Stuart

1992

Distinctive, clever history of British obscenity laws, from the maker of 1991's Over Our Dead Bodies.

Brehm, Dietmar

1992

An arty found-footage horror film made from worn-out Super-8 S&M porno and surgery footage.

Julien, Isaac

1992

Black and White in Color documents the involvement of black people in British Broadcasting from its earliest days. This tangy two-parter offers a concise social history of English race relations as well as some distinctly campy blasts from the past.

Part One deals with British TV from the BBC's 1936 opening night (featuring American song and dance duo Buck and Bubbles) through "the excitement and variety of negro entertainment" to the late ‘50s. In Part Two, Julien investigates the rise of social realism and the achievements of Channel Four in the ‘80s and ‘90s. ( Hanif Kureishi describes the development of My Beautiful Laundrette.)

Black and White in Color is a fascinating counterpoint to Marlon Riggs's Color Adjustment, which tackled similar terrain in relationship to American TV. Julien's remarkable raid on the archives proves that there's more to British broadcasting than Masterpiece Theatre.