Are movies your thing? Looking for a conversation about LGBTQ topics?

Join us for the LGBTQ monthly film discussion series! Each month we will discuss an LGBTQ film through the library's Kanopy collection. It's all about watching films, sharing stories, and having an honest conversation about the tough issues faced by the LGBTQ community.

This month we are watching:

Vito

94 minutes, 2011

https://phoenixpl.kanopy.com/video/vito

On June 27, 1969, a police raid on a Greenwich Village gay bar took a surprising turn when patrons decided it was time to fight back.  As a riot erupted outside the Stonewall Inn, a new era in the Gay Rights Movement was born. Vito Russo, a 23-year-old film student, was among the crowd.  Over the next twenty years until his death from AIDS in 1990, Vito would go on to become one of the most outspoken and inspiring activists in the LGBT community's fight for equal rights.  In the midst of his involvement with Act Up and the fight against AIDS, Vito was also a prolific writer.  His seminal book The Celluloid Closet explored the ways in which gays and lesbians were portrayed on film, what lessons those characters taught gay and straight audiences, and how those negative images were at the root of society's homophobia.  Even before the book was published, Vito was taking The Celluloid Closet on the road, traveling to gay film festivals and college campuses for an entertaining and informative lecture/ clip show that intertwined Vito's love of show business and radical gay politics.  He continued writing, lecturing, speaking out and acting up until just months before his death.  Directed by award-winner Jeffrey Schwarz, Vito paints a galvanizing portrait of this outspoken activist in the LGBT community's struggle for equal rights, using period footage and film clips to capture a vibrant era of gay culture.

This series allows us to explore complex topics. Due to adult content and mature themes, viewer and participant discretion is advised.

The program will be presented online using Webex. Registration is required. Registered participants will receive an email with instructions on how to join the meeting. Don't see the email? Check your spam folder.

Don’t have the Kanopy App? For instructions on how to set up a Kanopy account visit https://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/browse/elibrary/getting-started/kanopy

The Phoenix LGBTQ Employee Alliance has partnered with Burton Barr Central Library to produce a program featuring a series of award-winning films that showcases the experiences of the LGBTQ community. The series highlights the artistic contributions both nationally and internationally of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender films and filmmakers. Our goal is to create a diverse film series that educates, entertains, and offers the viewer an opportunity to experience the challenges and triumphs firsthand.