Bayard Rustin Documentary BAYARD & ME to Premiere at Sundance Film Festival

BAYARD & ME, a short documentary about gay civil rights leader Bayard Rustin who adopted his partner for legal rights, will premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival; Award-winning filmmaker Matt Wolf shares why he made Bayard & Me in video for the It Gets Better Project

Join Super Deluxe at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival for the premiere of Bayard & Me, a 16-minute documentary about the civil rights leader Bayard Rustin and how he adopted his partner in the era before same-sex marriage legalization.

About Bayard & Me: Bayard Rustin worked closely with Martin LUTHER King Jr. and organized THE MARCH on Washington, where Dr. King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech, but he was pushed to the margins of the civil rights movement because he was gay. In the 1980s Bayard adopted his younger boyfriend Walter Naegle to obtain the legal protections of marriage. In this intimate love story, Walter remembers Bayard and a time when gay marriage was inconceivable. He reflects on the little known phenomena of intergenerational gay adoption and its connection to the civil rights movement.

About Matt Wolf: Matt Wolf is an award-winning filmmaker based in New York whose recent projects include the HBO documentary It's Me, Hilary: The Man Who Drew Eloise, executive produced by Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner, and the film Teenage about the birth of youth culture.

Filmmaker Matt Wolf explains why he made Bayard & Me
WATCH: http://sprdlx.co/2imrd1N

As part of Bayard & Me's premiere at Sundance, Matt Wolf has collaborated with the It Gets Better Project, an organization whose mission is to communicate to LGBTQ youth around the world that it gets better, and to create and inspire the changes needed to make it better for them.

"I'm excited to collaborate with 'It Gets Better' because they're combating the isolation that so many LGBTQ youth face, despite increasing visibility in the media," says Matt Wolf. "When I was a gay teenager in the late 1990s I found a community through political activism. I was part of a movement of students starting gay-straight alliance clubs in our schools, and we lobbied state representatives for better non-discrimination policies."

"I wish I had known about Bayard Rustin back then because he laid the groundwork for my generation's activism during the civil rights movement," says Wolf. "'It Gets Better' is all about inspiring young people through intergenerational stories. I made this film because I was moved by the creative ways that Bayard Rustin and his partner Walter Naegle helped to change a system that was designed to exclude us."

"We can never underestimate the value of LGBTQ history for today's youth," says Brett Peters, Director of Media & Strategic Partnerships at the It Gets Better Project. "Bayard Rustin was a trailblazer for the LGBTQ community. His life, as told through the lens of his partner Walter Naegle, is both touching, relevant, and serves as a reminder of the sacrifices older generations have made to ensure a better future for all LGBTQ people. We are proud to be partnering with Super Deluxe to share Bayard & Me with LGBTQ young people around the world -- and to ensure that Bayard's work for the LGBTQ community is never forgotten."

World Premiere:
Friday, January 20
Redstone Cinema 1, Park City
Press line start time: 5:45 p.m.
Screening start time: 6:30 p.m.

Additional Screenings:
Sunday, January 22
Broadway Centre Cinema 6, SLC
Screening start time: 9:00 p.m.

Monday, January 23
Yarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City
Screening start time: 5:30 p.m.

Thursday, January 26
Yarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City
Screening start time: 9:00 p.m.

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