Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives
| Word Is Out | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Mariposa Film Group Peter Adair Nancy Adair Andrew Brown Rob Epstein Lucy Massie Phenix Veronica Selver |
| Produced by | Peter Adair |
| Music by | Trish Nugent Buena Vista Band |
| Distributed by | New Yorker Films |
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Release date
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Running time
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124 minutes (original) 133 minutes (2008 restored version) |
| Language | English |
Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives is a 1977 documentary film featuring interviews with 26 gay men and women. It was directed by six people collectively known as the Mariposa Film Group. Peter Adair conceived and produced the film, and was one of the directors. The film premiered in November 1977 at the Castro Theater in San Francisco, and went into limited national release in 1978. It also aired on many PBS stations in 1978.
The interviews from the film were transcribed into a book of the same title, which was published in October 1978.
Word Is Out intercuts interviews with 26 people, who speak about their experiences as gay men and lesbians. The interviewees range in age from 18 to 77, in location from San Francisco to New Mexico to Boston, in type from bee-hived housewife to student to conservative businessman to sultry drag queen, and in race from Caucasian to Hispanic, African-American, and Asian. Writer Elsa Gidlow, professor Sally Gearhart, inventor John Burnside, civil rights leader Harry Hay, and avant-garde filmmaker Nathaniel Dorsky are among the interviewees.
The interviewees describe their experiences of coming out; falling in and out of love; and struggling against prejudice, stereotypes, and discriminatory laws. The participants deliver their testimony with intelligence, grace, honesty, and conviction, creating an engaging and moving oral history.
Word Is Out took five years, over 200 interviews, and six co-directors to make. Documentary filmmaker Peter Adair came up with the idea for the film. According to Adair:
The directors of the film, collectively known as the Mariposa Film Group, were Peter Adair, Nancy Adair, Andrew Brown, Rob Epstein, Lucy Massie Phenix, and Veronica Selver. An initial investment of $30,000 was raised from people who believed in the idea and wanted to see the film made, and assistants were hired and production began. The original number of interviewees was only eight people, but when the trial film was screened to test audiences, the response and interest generated indicated that a much larger and more diverse cross-section of interviewees was desirable. Several more years were then spent in filming the rest of the interviews, and intercutting them with each other to create the final product.
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