In a film series celebrating queer representation on film, we would be remiss not to include one of the most outstanding critiques of Hollywood’s representation of LGBTQ people. Based on the groundbreaking study by Vito Russo, THE CELLULOID CLOSET demonstrates the various ways queerness has been portrayed and erased throughout film history.
Though Russo passed away during the making of the film, assistant editor Jeffrey Schwarz was inspired by Russo’s work and made his own film about Russo’s life titled VITO, released in 2011. Schwarz notes, “When I was coming out, one of the first things I did was read as much as I could get my hands on about gay and lesbian history, and being in film school at the time, one of the books that jumped out at me was Russo’s The Celluloid Closet. That turned me on to a slew of movies I hadn’t heard of before, and helped me look at movies I’d already seen in a new light.
Working on the film version […] was when I really got to know Vito, as both the activist and the man. Even though he’d passed away a few years earlier, his spirit informed the making of that movie. I had access to all of his research materials and the interviews he did. Most importantly, we had all these interviews that Rob and Jeffrey did with Vito himself, shedding light on his entire life — growing up before Stonewall, his involvement in the gay rights movement, the 10-year journey of writing The Celluloid Closet and ultimately how the AIDS crisis touched his own life personally. Vito’s always been a beacon for me, and […] I was worried that his legacy might be forgotten.”
