Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt

Dec 1, 1989

1h 20m

★ 6.9

Overview

On the eve of 1987's Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, surviving families and friends of people who have died of AIDS prepare panels to be added to a large-scale memorial quilt project. Drawing from the sea of names memorialized, director Robert Epstein focuses on the lives of six people. Alongside the intimate profiles offered, through news footage and interviews, Epstein puts the AIDS crisis in the larger context of social and government response to the disease.

Genres

History

Documentary

Production Companies

Sandollar Productions

New Yorker Films

Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt Trailers

Cast

Narrator (voice)

Dustin Hoffman

Storyteller (Story Subject: Dr. Tom Waddell)

Sara Lewinstein

Storyteller (Story Subject: David Mandell Jr.)

David Mandell

Storyteller (Story Subject: David Mandell Jr.)

Suzi Mandell

Storyteller (Story Subject: Robert Perryman)

Sallie Perryman

Storyteller (Story Subject: Jeffrey Sevcik)

Vito Russo

Storyteller (Story Subject: Self and David C. Campbell)

Tracy Torrey

Self - News Reporter (archive footage)

Gregg Baker

Self - Policy Advisor to the President (archive footage)

Gary Bauer

Self - News Reporter (archive footage)

Robert Bazell

Self - News Reporter (archive footage)

Kevin Boyle

Self - Assistant Secretary for Health (archive footage)

Edward Brandt

Gus Van Sant tells the story of a young African American man named Jamal who confronts his talents while living on the streets of the Bronx. He accidentally runs into an old writer named Forrester who discovers his passion for writing. With help from his new mentor Jamal receives a scholarship to a private school.

5.2

An Actor's Revenge

Jun 27, 1935

An onnagata (female impersonator) of a Kabuki troupe avenges his parents' deaths. Remade in 1963 as Yukinojô Henge.

10.0

Australia Says Yes

Nov 16, 2018

Packed with drama, high emotions and cliff-hanger moments, Australia Says Yes is the intimate and personal history of struggle and perseverance that propelled Australia to say Yes to marriage equality. The film shows how a group of determined individuals fought tirelessly against unjust laws that treated LGBTIQ people as second-class citizens, creating a movement that saw them go from criminals to legally equal over the course of five decades.

3.8

Montgomery Clift

Jan 1, 1983

A documentary incorporating footage of Montgomery Clift’s most memorable films; interviews with family and friends, and rare archival material stretching back to his childhood. What develops is the story of an intense young boy who yearned for stardom, achieved notable success in such classic films as From Here to Eternity and I Confess, only to be ruined by alcohol addiction and his inability to face his own fears and homosexual desires. Montgomery Clift, as this film portrays him, may not have been a happy man but he never compromised his acting talents for Hollywood.

6.0

Alexander

Nov 21, 2004

Alexander, the King of Macedonia, leads his legions against the giant Persian Empire. After defeating the Persians, he leads his army across the then known world, venturing farther than any westerner had ever gone, all the way to India.

4.3

Uncle Bob

Jun 26, 2010

Robert Oppel's documentary about the life and murder of his uncle and namesake, Robert Opel, the man who streaked the Academy Awards in 1974.

5.1

The Gift

Apr 8, 2003

Controversial documentary about gay men purposely contracting the AIDS virus.

6.6

Rize

Jan 15, 2005

A documentary film that highlights two street derived dance styles, Clowning and Krumping, that came out of the low income neighborhoods of L.A.. Director David LaChapelle interviews each dance crew about how their unique dances evolved. A new and positive activity away from the drugs, guns, and gangs that ruled their neighborhood. A raw film about a growing sub-culture movements in America.

0.0

Go Figure

Aug 20, 2020

Two-time Olympian and World Champion, the legendary Randy Gardner, explores his true identity through figure skating and his one man show. With his skating partner of over fifty years, Tai Babilonia, the pair experienced the heights of worldwide glory and devastating personal tragedy. Now that the intense glare of the public spotlight softens, he is free to finally reveal his untold magical and meaningful journey... on and off the ice.

2.0

Richard Fontaine's Days of Greek Gods

Jan 1, 1988

Richard Fontaine and Bob Mizer started the current exploration of the male nude in film and photography. The two shared ideas props and models and reinvented some of the sexual icons that we all still recognise today. The gladiator the sailor, the cowboy… Starting with posing-straps and graduating to nudes their "art studies" enlisted the talents of up-and-coming actors and bodybuilders. This film recalls that era.

3.4

Butch Jamie

Nov 18, 2008

The film follows the story of Jamie, a struggling butch lesbian actress who gets cast as a man in a film. The main plot is a romantic comedy between Jamie's male alter-ego, "Male Jamie," and Jill, a heterosexual woman on set. The film's subplots include Jamie's bisexual roommate Lola and her cat actor Howard, Lola's abrasive butch German girlfriend Andi, and Jamie's gay Asian friend David.

9.0

Sweetheart Dancers

Feb 23, 2019

Sean and Adrian, a Two-Spirit couple, are determined to rewrite the rules of Native American culture through their participation in the “Sweetheart Dance.” This celebratory contest is held at powwows across the country, primarily for heterosexual couples … until now.

6.6

Benedetta

Jul 9, 2021

A 17th-century nun becomes entangled in a forbidden lesbian affair with a novice. But it is Benedetta's shocking religious visions that threaten to shake the Church to its core.

5.5

Michael Lost and Found

May 27, 2017

When a feature film is made about them seven years after their break-up, Benjie Nycum visits his ex-boyfriend Michael Glatze and finally tries to get answers about his bewildering shift from gay activist to ex-gay evangelical.

4.5

Secrets of the Gay Sauna

Mar 2, 2016

Gay saunas are places where men meet strangers to have sex. With exclusive access to one Nottingham business, this candid one-off documentary enters the often controversial and always secretive world of the gay sauna for the very first time. The programme meets the people who go there for sexual pleasure - from teachers to plumbers to Tory councillors - and the staff who clean up after them.

9.0

L'Adieu à Solférino

Feb 16, 2019

No overview available.

7.0

Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution

Jun 12, 2017

A documentary on Queercore, the cultural and social movement that began as an offshoot of punk and was distinguished by its discontent with society's disapproval of the gay, bisexual, lesbian and transgender communities.

No Image Available

0.0

Pfui, Rosa!

Oct 26, 2002

German iconoclast filmmaker and gay-rights activist Rosa vonPraunheim examines his own life and career in the documentary Phooey Rosa! With a quickly paced editing style, the film is a mix of personal banter, candid interviews, and clips from his filmography. It also includes footage from his early film Bed Sausage to his later work Neurosia. At the age of 60, vonPraunheim reveals intimate details about his past relationships and his childhood growing up after WWII. He also implicates some of his friends and inspirations, including Luzi Kryn and Rainer Kranach.