Vito

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‘Born activist’ Vito Russo was a New York film critic, screenwriter and LGBT activist. Over decades he was to become one of the most charismatic, eloquent and inspiring personalities of the American gay movement post-Stonewall. He gained fame for his live lecture performances of his 1981 book The Celluloid Closet which explored the representation of homosexuality in film and has today become a standard work on this topic, in which Russo could ideally combine his love of show business with radical gay politics. He was a guest of the Berlinale’s Panorama in 1984 for the screening of the film of the same title for which directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman won a Teddy Award in 1996 and subsequently an Academy Award. Russo was the driving force behind three influential organisations which merged politics, agitation, art and performance: the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA), the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and ACT UP, an imaginative, subversive group engaging in the fight against Aids. A rich selection of archive material and statements from friends and activists has been brought together to form this portrait of an energetic and indefatigably active individual who remains an indispensable figure of queer memory. Vito Russo died of Aids in 1990.

details

  • Runtime

    93 min
  • Country

    United States
  • Year of Presentation

    2012
  • Year of Production

    2011
  • Director

    Jeffrey Schwarz
  • Cast

  • Production Company

    Automat Pictures Production
  • Berlinale Section

    Panorama
  • Berlinale Category

    Documentary Film

Biography Jeffrey Schwarz

Jeffrey Schwarz is an Emmy Award-winning producer, director and editor based in Los Angeles. His latest documentary is "The Fabulous Allan Carr," which premiered at the 2017 Seattle International Film Festival. Previous work includes the 2015 SXSW premiere "Tab Hunter Confidential," the Emmy Award-winning HBO Documentary Films' "Vito," "I Am Divine," "Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon," and the 2007 AFI Fest Documentary Audience Award winner "Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story." He is also a producer of studio EPKs (electronic press kit), Blu-ray and DVD content, and original television programming through his company, Automat Pictures. Hailed as an "EPK samurai" by Variety, he has produced content on major studio releases for directors such as Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, Jonathan Demme, Wes Craven, Rob Reiner, Barry Sonnenfeld, Adam Shankman, Paul Verhoeven, Chris Columbus, and the Coen Brothers.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Automat Pictures

Filmography Jeffrey Schwarz

2008 Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon | 2013 I Am Divine | 2015 Tab Hunter Confidential | 2017 The Fabulous Allan Carr