Queer Vision 20/20: Different From the Others
Jun 04, 2015
Co-presented with Three Dollar Bill Cinema!
Happy Hour at 7pm, Screening at 8pm
Live Music by Jess Wamre!
Made in 1919, Different From the Others contains one of the earliest frank depictions of homosexuality on film, and the first to take a stand for gay rights.
Conrad Veidt (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) stars as a closeted violinist, living in a world where each potential lover is a potential blackmailer. His stirring performance provides a haunting portrait of the suffering inherent to a repressive society. In a time where openness means ruin, he is ostracized and condemned, even subjected to “reorientation therapy.”
Though the film is ultimately tragic, courageous voices populate it, speaking out against discrimination and promoting acceptance in tones far ahead of their time. These voices were silenced, however, as the film itself suffered a fate not unlike it’s protagonist. After release, it was swiftly condemned by the Weimar Republic, and then burned by the Nazis during their rise to power. A single copy survived the Nazis and WWII, and from that copy the film endures as a testament to sufferings of the past.
“A distressing reminder that sometimes things change a lot, but they also often change only a little.” - Matt Bailey, Not Coming to a Theater Near You
“This film celebrates the brief opening of that door, before it slammed shut for another fifty years.” - Jan-Christopher Horak, UCLA