The first trailer has just been released for Cured, a documentary which chronicles the fight to declassify homosexuality as a mental illness and the LGBTQ activists who fought the battle. The film, directed by Patrick Sammon (Codebreaker) and Bennett Singer (Brother Outsider), is not yet set for wide release, but will premiere at this year's Outfest film festival on August 24.
The film's synopsis: “In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its manual of mental illnesses. Treated as victims of a mental disorder — pathological, deviant, ‘sick' — gay and lesbian men and women could not progress towards equality in a meaningful way if their very existence was something that needed a cure. Follow the journey of this pivotal moment in queer history through newly unearthed archival footage and eyewitness accounts from the activists and allies who fought to change an insidious bias within a profession, and in doing so broke ground to reframe not only how a community was seen, but how it saw itself.”
Deadline adds: “The docu combines eyewitness testimony with never before seen archival footage as a vehicle to depict this battle. Cured illuminates the strategy and tactics that led to this pivotal yet largely unknown moment in the movement for LGBTQ equality. Indeed, following the Stonewall uprising of 1969, the campaign that culminated in the APA's 1973 decision marks the first major step on the path to first-class citizenship for LGBTQ Americans.”
As we reported earlier this week, L.A.'s annual LGBTQ film festival is going fully digital/outdoors August 20 – 30 amid the coronavirus pandemic: “Featuring 6 nights-of drive-ins, 160+ films, including 35 world premieres, 10 North American premieres and 4 U.S. premieres, this year's hybrid streaming/outdoor festival has been curated for the year 2020. Featuring Outfest's most inclusive and diverse festival in history – with over 70% of films directed by women, trans, and people-of-color filmmakers, we believe the critical voices we are craving to hear from, are represented in these films from around the world.”
