THE CULT OF JT LEROY

Showings

Roxie Theatre Sun, Feb 8, 2015 7:16 PM
Film Info
Director:Marjorie Sturm
Running Time:90
Country:USA
Year of Release:2014
Premiere:West Coast Premiere

Description

JT LeRoy was a teen prostitute, addicted to heroin and infected with HIV, when a therapist encouraged him to write his life story. Buoyed by a cadre of celebrities, he published three critically acclaimed books, including Sarah and The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things. But as his fame skyrocketed, the shocking truth emerged: JT was not what he seemed. What followed was a downfall as bewildering as it was tragic. Drawn into LeRoy’s inner circle before the truth came to light, filmmaker Marjorie Sturm was misled like many others. Through intimate interviews with many close to the tarnished figure, Sturm attempts to untangle what really happened, and in the process explores how his deception called into question not only the value of LeRoy’s writing absent authenticity, but our culture’s complicity with the author’s seductive cult of personality. - Chris Metzler