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| Milk: The Harvey Milk Story casting poster (photo: Steve Rhodes) |
Update: Now that the much-awaited film Milk has premiered, many politically astute observers have noted the parallels between the recent marriage equality demonstrations and the Gay Rights movement of the 1970s that Harvey Milk had come to represent. I will be seeing Milk at the Castro Theatre this weekend, but having participated in both the making of the movie and many of the recent anti-Proposition 8 demonstrations, I feel as though I’ve already seen it. What follows is my story of being one of many extras during the riotous crowd scenes.
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The Castro District in San Francisco, just down the hill from where I live, is abuzz. It’s the most exciting time for the neighborhood since the annual Halloween street party (before it was recently banned) or LGBT Pride weekend, when tourists from all over the world make a pilgrimage to the famous "Gay Mecca." It’s as if the 1970s — when the Castro emerged as the world’s epicenter of the gay liberation movement — is coming alive again. And, in a sense, it is.
Filmmaker Gus Van Sant is in the middle of realizing his long-time dream of directing a biopic of Harvey Milk, a political activist instrumental in creating the gay community and culture of the Castro, as well as the first openly gay man to serve in a substantial political office as San Francisco city supervisor.
- Uncle Donald’s Castro Street: Harvey Milk
- Uncle Donald’s Castro Street: Gay Parades of the Seventies
- The Times of Harvey Milk, a documentary by Rob Epstein (IMDb info)
- TIME 100: Harvey Milk
- Images of America: San Francisco’s Castro, by Strange De Jim
- White Night Riots (Wikipedia info, original footage)
- Dianne Feinstein interview
Posted November 25, 2008 by Mariva in city, community, fashion, movies, social
