''Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community '' is a 1984 American

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

about the

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

community prior to the 1969

Stonewall riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, Stonewall revolution, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous riots and demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of ...

. It was narrated by author

Rita Mae Brown Rita Mae Brown (born November 28, 1944) is an American feminist writer, best known for her coming-of-age autobiographical novel, '' Rubyfruit Jungle''. Brown was active in a number of civil rights campaigns and criticized the marginalization of l ...

, directed by Greta Schiller, co-directed by Robert Rosenberg, and co-produced by

John Scagliotti John Scagliotti is an American film director and producer, and radio broadcaster. He has received honors for his work on documentaries about LGBT issues including ''Before Stonewall'' and ''After Stonewall''. Biography During the 1970s, Scagliott ...

and Rosenberg, and Schiller. It premiered at the 1984

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

and was released in the United States on June 27, 1985. In 1999, producer Scagliotti directed a companion piece, ''

After Stonewall ''After Stonewall'' is a 1999 documentary film about the 30 years of gay rights activism since the 1969 Stonewall riots directed by John Scagliotti. It is the sequel to the Scagliotti-produced 1984 film ''Before Stonewall'' and is narrated by mus ...

''. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Teddy Awards, the film was shown at the

66th Berlin International Film Festival The 66th Berlin International Film Festival was held from 11 to 21 February 2016, with American actress Meryl Streep as the president of the jury. The Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement was presented to German cinematographer Michae ...

in February 2016. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in 2019, the film was restored and re-released by

First Run Features First Run Features is an independent film distribution company based in New York City. History First Run was founded in 1979 by a group of filmmakers in order to advance the distribution of independent film. In the 1980s, the company focused ...

in June 2019. Later in 2019, the film was selected by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

for preservation in the United States

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...

for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

People featured

Ann Bannon Ann Weldy (born September 15, 1932), better known by her pen name Ann Bannon, is an American author who, from 1957 to 1962, wrote five lesbian pulp fiction novels known as ''The Beebo Brinker Chronicles''. The books' enduring popularity and imp ...

Lisa Ben Edythe D. Eyde (November 7, 1921 – December 22, 2015) better known by her pen name Lisa Ben, was an American editor, author, active fantasy-fiction fan and fanzine contributor (often using the name Tigrina in these activities), and songwrit ...

* Gladys Bentley *

Ivy Bottini Ivy Bottini (August 15, 1926 – February 25, 2021) was an American activist for women's and LGBT rights, and a visual artist. Personal life and career Bottini was born in New York in August 1926. From 1944 until 1947, she attended Pratt Institu ...

* George Buse * Carroll Davis *

Martin Duberman Martin Bauml Duberman (born August 6, 1930) is an American historian, biographer, playwright, and gay rights activist. Duberman is Professor of History Emeritus at Lehman College in the Bronx, New York City. Early life Duberman was born into ...

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...

Barbara Gittings Barbara Gittings (July 31, 1932 – February 18, 2007) was an American LGBTQ movements, LGBTQ activist. She started the New York City, New York chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) in 1958, edited the national DOB magazine ''The Ladde ...

Barbara Grier Barbara Grier (November 4, 1933 – November 10, 2011) was an American writer and publisher. She is credited for having built the lesbian book industry. After editing ''The Ladder (magazine), The Ladder'' magazine, published by the lesbian ci ...

Mabel Hampton Mabel Hampton (May 2, 1902 – October 26, 1989) was an American lesbian activist, a dancer during the Harlem Renaissance, and a volunteer for both Black and lesbian/gay organizations. She was a significant contributor to the Lesbian Herstory Arch ...

Harry Hay Henry Hay Jr. (April 7, 1912 – October 24, 2002) was an American gay rights activist, communist, and union organizer, labor advocate. He cofounded the Mattachine Society, the first sustained gay rights group in the United States, as well as th ...

* Dorothy "Smilie" Hillaire *

Evelyn Hooker Evelyn Hooker (; née Gentry, September 2, 1907 – November 18, 1996) was an American psychologist most notable for her 1956 paper "The Adjustment of the Male Overt Homosexual" in which she administered several psychological tests to groups of s ...

* Red Jordan Arobateau *

Frank Kameny Franklin Edward Kameny (May 21, 1925 – October 11, 2011) was an American gay rights activist. He has been referred to as "one of the most significant figures" in the American gay rights movement. During the Lavender scare, in 1957, Kame ...

Jim Kepner James Lynn Kepner, Jr. (192315 November 1997) was an American journalist, author, historian, archivist and leader in the gay rights movement. His work was intertwined with One, Inc. and ''One Magazine'', and eventually contributed to the formatio ...

Audre Lorde Audre Lorde ( ; born Audrey Geraldine Lorde; February 18, 1934 – November 17, 1992) was an American writer, professor, philosopher, Intersectional feminism, intersectional feminist, poet and civil rights activist. She was a self-described "Bl ...

* Bruce Nugent * Nell "Johnnie" Phelps *

Craig Rodwell Craig L. Rodwell (October 31, 1940 – June 18, 1993) was an American gay rights activist known for founding the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop on November 24, 1967 - the first bookstore devoted to gay and lesbian authors - and as the prime mo ...

José Sarria José Julio Sarria (December 13, 1922 – August 19, 2013), also known as The Grand Mere, Absolute Empress I de San Francisco, and the Widow Norton, was an American political activist from San Francisco, California, who, in 1961, became the f ...

Awards

''Before Stonewall'' was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1985

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

. It won the Best Film Award at the Houston International Film Festival, Best Documentary Feature at

Filmex The Los Angeles International Film Exposition, also called Filmex, was an annual Los Angeles film festival held in the 1970s and early 1980s. It was co-founded by Gary Essert, George Cukor and Philip Chamberlin in 1970. In 1976, Alfred Hitchco ...

, First Place at the National Educational Film Festival, and Honorable Mention at the Global Village Documentary Festival. In 1987, the film won

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

s for Best Historical/Cultural Program and Best Research. In 1989, it won the Festival's Plate at the Torino International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.

References

External links

Before Stonewall - Trailer
(''First Run'' official YouTube channel)
Before Stonewall - Trailer
(''First Run'' official Vimeo channel)

(''First Run'': official distributor) * * {{Authority control 1984 films 1984 documentary films 1984 independent films 1984 LGBTQ-related films American independent films Documentary films about United States history Gay-related films Lesbian-related films LGBTQ historiography in the United States Films set in the 1910s Films set in the 1920s Films set in the 1930s Films set in the 1940s Films set in the 1950s Films set in the 1960s First Run Features films United States National Film Registry films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films American LGBTQ-related documentary films English-language documentary films English-language independent films

People featured

Awards

See also

References

External links