Coming to HBO tomorrow, Thursday, June 27: THE OUT LIST
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’ cross-section of LGBT life in the US has held sneak previews in New York, Salt Lake City, Miami, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, but makes its official national debut via HBO.
Continuing the set up of Greenfield-Sanders’ previous popular projects, THE BLACK LIST and THE LATINO LIST, which have gone on to spawn sequels, his latest project is effective in its simplicity: beautifully photographed interview subjects, representing both celebrities and everyday folks, directly address the camera about some facet of their lives as it intersects with the LGBT experience. Lady Bunny talks about the freedom of drag, Jake Shears embraces a sense of being an outsider, Larry Kramer reflects on the power of channeled anger in AIDS activism, and Ellen, Neil Patrick Harris, and Cynthia Nixon each address the impact of coming out on their careers. While these more familiar faces help make the project more viable, the non-celebrity participants offer often poignant examples about how their own visibility has helped validate other LGBT people – such as writer Janet Mock inspiring other trans women, sheriff Lupe Valdez being elected in traditionally conservative Republican Dallas, or Afghani-American teacher Wazina Zondon providing a role model for her students. Not surprisingly, and timed to be released the week of the Supreme Court’s decision, many of the interview subjects reference marriage equality, from Dustin Lance Black’s emotional response to the passage of Prop 8, to Suze Orman’s frustration at unfair estate taxes on same-sex surviving spouses, to Christine Quinn’s no-nonsense insistence on the importance of the word “marriage.” By the nature of the project’s survey approach, this can’t go into great depth on any one topic, and can’t hope to be representative of the entire spectrum of the LGBT community, but as a present-day overview of its leading concerns, and a celebration of identity, it serves its purpose well.
what (not) to doc 