The HomoFiles (2017)

• 68%
• 2017
• Kimberly Esslinger

What was life like for gay women living in California in the 1940s, '50s, and '60s? The HomoFiles, a feature-length documentary, sparked by the research of humanities scholar, Dr. Marie Cartie examines the central role played by lesbian bars in the formation of culture and community and how it served a "sacred" function to a population of outcasts, sinners, and criminals. The documentary includes interviews of self-identified gay women, archival photos and footage, and animation to tell their stories. Through their coming out in that period and claiming the bar as public space, we see they were some of the earliest activists in the fight for gay rights, that their contributions are perhaps the most courageous forms of LGBTQ activism, and that their lives that had been marginalized for so long, have a dignity and integrity that deserve honor and a place in the light.