UPSTAIRS INFERNO - Out at the Movies

Co-Presented by L.I. Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

Showings

Cinema Arts Centre - Cinema 1 Thu, Aug 25, 2016 7:30 PM

Description

Out at the Movies
Co-Presented by L.I.
Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

UPSTAIRS INFERNO
Thursday, August 25 at 7:30 pm
$10 CAC & LIGLFF Members | $15 Public | Includes Reception
Partial proceeds from this event will be donated to the victims
in Orlando

On June 24, 1973, the Up Stairs Lounge in New Orleans is deliberately set on fire, resulting in the largest mass murder of gay people in U.S. history prior to the recent tragedy in Orlando.

A forty-year-old mass-murder-mystery is at the center of this captivating and thoughtful documentary from filmmaker Robert L. Camina. In 1973, a devastating fire consumed the UpStairs Lounge, a New Orleans gay bar and occasional church. Thirty-two people died. Despite a conspicuous can of discarded lighter fluid at the scene, law enforcement officials turned away from evidence of foul play. Meanwhile, the community at large chose to ignore what was clearly a hate crime. No one was ever prosecuted, and the crime lives on as a tragic chapter in New Orleans history.
Camina combines emotional interviews with survivors with intense archival footage to capture a very specific time and place for LGBT people. While the horrible crime helped to unite the New Orleans gay community, the bigoted and uncomfortable reaction of the straight world was a disturbing reminder of what it meant to be out in the South in 1973. Narrated by New York Times best-selling author Christopher Rice, this festival audience award–winning film is a mesmerizing mix of crime drama and human connections that brilliantly captures the heartbreaking feelings of unconditional love and overwhelming loss. An unsettling snapshot of what was, until the early hours of June 12, 2016, considered the largest mass murder targeting gays in American history, Upstairs Inferno gets inside the hearts and minds of a handful of vibrant people who are connected by tragedy and compassion. — Brendan Peterson, Frameline (USA, 2015, 96 Min. | Dir. Robert L. Camina) This film contains graphic images that may be disturbing to some viewers.