Milwaukee LGBT Film/Video Fest To Screen Stonewall Uprising

Stonewall Uprising, the 2010 documentary about the uprising that ignited the movement for LGBT civil rights, will screen for free Thursday, April 14, at 7pm at the UWM Union Theatre. Immediately following the screening, the panel discussion Who Needs Stonewall? will explore the relevance of the Stonewall riots to local LGBT histories, then and now.

The event is free and open to the public. The screening and panel discussion will be held in the UWM Union Theatre, 2nd level of the UWM Student Union, 2200 E. Kenwood Blvd.

Presented as part of the Milwaukee LGBT Film/Video Festival's monthly screening series, the event is co-hosted by UWM Libraries, the UWM LGBT Resource Center, the Milwaukee LGBT History Project, Milwaukee Public Television, and the Milwaukee LGBT Film/Video Festival.

Stonewall Uprising
The 2010 documentary from filmmakers Kate Davis and David Heilbroner recounts, and considers the context for, riots in June 1969 that followed police attempts to raid the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village. Members of community fought back against this sanctioned harassment, patrons resisting the police round-up. Three days of riots ensueD. Davis and Heilbroner's documentary re-presents archival footage -- Mike Wallace on CBS Reports claiming "The average homosexual, if there be such, is promiscuous. He is not interested in, nor capable of, a lasting relationship like that of a heterosexual marriage." - and shares a range of interviews - with bar patrons, Village Voice reporters, and a police office who led the raid -- to provide a portrait of this landmark event.

This special free screening is being held in advance of the film's PBS premiere, as part of the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE series, on local PBS affiliate MPTV on April 25. Find more information on the broadcast of the film here.

Who Needs Stonewall?
Immediately following the screening,a panel discussion entitled Who Needs Stonewall? will engage audience members in a consideration of the impact of the Stonewall riots - on LGBT history and the writing of LGBT history then and now. How did the events around Stonewall impact LGBT life and ongoing LGBT activism in Milwaukee in 1969? How do those events resonate today?

Local historian Will Fellows will moderate a panel comprised of Cheryl Kader, Senior Lecturer in Women's Studies and LGBT Studies at UWM; Brice Smith, a transgender historian and coordinator of the Milwaukee Transgender Oral History Project; and Jan Warren, Co-Chair of Connexus, an African-American LGBT initiative. (Full bios of the participants below.)

For more information on the event, please contact Carl Bogner of the Milwaukee LGBT Film/Video Festival at 414 229 4758 or lgbtfilm@uwm.edu.

Panel Participants:
Will Fellows is an independent researcher and writer whose work explores the lives of gay men in the U.S. during the past century. His books include Farm Boys, A Passion to Preserve, and Gay Bar, all published by University of Wisconsin Press. Will and his partner, Bronze Quinton, operate Bronze Optical, a VIP sponsor of the Milwaukee LGBT Film and Video Festival.

Cheryl Kader is a Senior Lecturer in Women's Studies and LGBT Studies at UWM.She teaches courses in Feminist Theory and Queer Theory and is currently teaching "The Closet and The Wardrobe," which looks at practices of dressing and cross-dressing and their contributions to the production and consolidation of identities.

Brice Smith, PhD, is a transgender historian and biographer of world-renowned transgender activist Lou Sullivan (1951-1991). Brice is also the coordinator of the Milwaukee Transgender Oral History Project.

Jan Warren serves as Co-Chair of Connexus, an African-American LGBT program which brings healthy, educational programming to the community and currently works in administration at UW-Milwaukee in the Graduate School.

Event details:
Stonewall Uprising
(Kate Davis and David Heilbroner, 82min., 2010)
+
Who Needs Stonewall?, a panel discussion on the impact of the Stonewall uprising on local histories then and now

Thursday, April 14, 7pm
UWM Union Theatre, 2nd Level, UWM Student Union 2200 E. Kenwood Blvd.
FREE!

Presented by UWM Libraries, the UWM LGBT Resource Center, the Milwaukee LGBT History Project, Milwaukee Public Television, and the Milwaukee LGBT Film/Video Festival.

The Milwaukee LGBT Film/Video Festival's Monthly Screening series is presented by the Film Department in the Peck School of the Arts and made possible thanks to Joseph R. Pabst; The Greater Milwaukee Foundation's Eldon E. Murray Foundation Fund; Jack H. Smith of Shorewest Realtors; Equality Wisconsin, Milwaukee PrideFest, UWM Union Programming, Bronze Optical, UWM LGBT Resource Center, UWM Women's Resource Center, Quest, 88Nine RadioMilwaukee, and WMSE 91.7FM.

To post a comment, you must register and login.