Credit: Abby Drue provided the image.
Credit: Abby Drue provided the image.
According to Atlanta Pride’s director of communications and community engagement, Steven Igarashi-Ball, Abby is literally living history and has at some point been active with almost all of the major queer organizations in our city and state. She is still quite involved in the neighborhood and knows everyone. I’m thrilled that folks will get the opportunity to hear the thoughts of someone who was present at the event.
Discussions with historians Martin Padgett and Wes Nimmo, artist Taylor Alxndr, and activists Vandy Beth Glenn and Mark S. King, among others, will be part of the summit’s remaining sessions on Saturday, which will focus on the raid’s long-term effects.
According to Igarashi-Ball, the event was inspired by this year’s Atlanta Pride theme, Rooted in Resistance.
According to him, the Atlanta Pride is celebrating its 55th anniversary this year. Therefore, we commit to improving the preservation of our history—not just as an organization, but also the history of the queer community as a whole—as part of our current strategic plan.
In order to get ready for what they would be performing for an audience, organizers just viewed the Romeo and Juliet-based Western Lonesome Cowboys for the first time, according to Igarashi-Ball.
He said, “Wow, there’s a lot to unpack in the movie.” It does not age well in many respects. However, it’s a significant time capsule. Given the social backdrop of what it signifies for our city and community, it is very significant.
“What excites me most is the chance to bring generations together, with those who lived this history and those who are just beginning to shape their own,” said Jim Farmer, director of Out on Film, in a statement. We’re leveraging the ability of film to spark discussions and create intergenerational bonds.
The occasion serves as the launchpad for Out on Film’s Reel Resistance Short Film Fellowship, a six-month initiative that will enable up to five LGBTQ+ filmmakers in Georgia to produce narrative and documentary films that explore the factors that influenced queer life in the South. The program provides a screening of the final work, $3,000 production stipends, and mentorship.
Credit: Ava Davis provided the image.
Credit: Ava Davis provided the image.
From Lonesome Cowboys to more contemporary fare, films portraying the LGBT experience have always united the community, according to filmmaker Ava Davis, a member of the Out on Film board.
According to Davis, a film’s close-up is its most powerful element. It directly targets a person, displaying their mood and enlarging it on the screen. It connects with audiences instantly. The close-up alone conveys a great deal of emotion. As a result, you can identify a movement’s emotional component. You may observe the impact it has on people’s life. You are witnessing something that you would not otherwise be able to see or be privy to, even if it is only a portion of the community.
Because of this, it is also extremely crucial that the tales are being told by the community they are about, so that when we hear and feel those stories, they are coming from that group in an authentic way.
IF YOU GO
Reel Resistance: The Southern Queer Rights Movement Was Started by the Lonesome Cowboys Raid
Andy Warhol’s Lonesome Cowboys will be screened at 7 p.m. on Friday, followed by a reception and an up-close look at activist Abby Drue’s experience in Atlanta. The community summit is scheduled for Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Martin Padgett and Drue start the day off talking about the aftermath of the raid and the history of action that followed. Six breakout sessions on the topics of drag, film, social media, politics, and more will be available throughout the afternoon. $30 to $75. Agnes Scott College, 137 S. McDonough St., Decatur, Dana Fine Arts Building.outonfilm.org.
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A member of the Atlanta Press Club, the American Theatre Critics Association, the Dramatists Guild, and the Horror Writers Association, Benjamin Carr is an editor-at-large for ArtsATL who has been contributing to the newspaper since 2019. His work has appeared online in the Guardian, onstage at the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival, and in podcasts for iHeartMedia. The Story Plant released his first book, Impacted.
Credit: ArtsATL
Credit: ArtsATL
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