Word Is Out
Peter Adair
»So I asked what was a lesbian, and everybody laughed. ›That‘s a girl who likes other girls instead of boys‹, and I thought ›uh-oh, that sounds like me.‹«
– Whitey Fladden
Word Is Out was premiered in 1977 in San Francisco and was the first film to create a self image that countered the media image of homosexuals in the USA. In many interviews, told in parallel and assembled as a mosaic, 26 gays and lesbians talk about their experiences of love, the loss of love, their own coming out and the struggle against prejudice and discriminatory laws. Those interviewed are between 18 and 77-years old and come from all kinds of social milieus. Housewife, drag queen, poetess, political activist, inventor, civil rights activist and avant-garde film director – all have their say. Their stories are a piece of oral history and present a collective portrait of the gay-lesbian movement in the USA 30 years ago.
The making of the film was heavily influenced by a collective approach. Under the name of Mariposa Film Group, Peter Adair, Veronica Selver, Andrew Brown, Lucy Massie Phenix, Nancy Adair and Rob Epstein conducted interviews that they subsequently evaluated, discussed and edited in a lengthy process. The simultaneous narrative style of individual plot strands was considered at the end of the 1970s to be a new and radical film aesthetic. The current 35mm copy was a result of the UCLAs Outfest Legacy Project.
Film Programme If You Don’t Fight Back
Peter Adair
Zwischen 1975 und 1977 arbeitete Peter Adair mit seiner Schwester Nancy und den Mitgliedern der Mariposa Film Group gemeinsam an Word Is Out. Er lieferte die Idee zu diesem Film, der zugleich Teil seines eigenen Coming-out war. 1984 war er Berater und zusätzlicher Bildgestalter in Rob Epsteins Film über den amerikanischen Bürgerrechtler Harvey Milk. Im gleichen Jahr produzierte er für das Projekt Read Adult Literacy der San Francisco Public Library eine Serie von Lernvideos. Mit The AIDS Show: Artists Involved in Death and Survival thematisierte er mit Rob Epstein 1986 schon sehr früh die Auswirkungen von AIDS auf die Künstlerszene. Als er selbst an AIDS erkrankte, schrieb und produzierte er den Film Absolutely Positive. Peter Adair starb 1996 in San Francisco im Alter von 52 Jahren.
Filme von Peter Adair
Absolutely Positive 1986 | The AIDS Show: Artists Involved in Death and Survival 1986 | Stopping History 1983 | Holy Ghost People 1967
