Ever since the 1969 riots on the streets outside New York City’s Stonewall Inn, LGBTQ communities have gathered there to express their joy, their anger, their pain and their power. This film explores what more than half a century of LGBTQ history in the United States looks like when viewed through just a few blocks in New York City’s Greenwich Village. A New York Times Op-Docs film.
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FILM FESTIVALS & SCREENINGS
June 26, 2022 – Queens World Film Festival – Queens Rising Showcases
4:30-6:30pm
Flushing Town Hall
137-35 Northern Blvd
Queens, NY 11354
https://www.flushingtownhall.org/queens-rising-showcases/
March 2020 – American Documentary and Animation Film Festival (March 27-31)
DATE/TIME TBD
Palm Springs, CA
https://www.amdocfilmfest.com/
3/20/20 – Queens World Film Festival
Friday, March 20, 2020 @ 7:45pm
Kaufman Astoria Studios – Zukor Theater
35th St, Long Island City, NY 11106 * Queens, NY
https://www.queensworldfilmfestival.com/films/detail.asp?fid=1344
3/6/20 – Spokane International Film Festival
(screens as a part of the LGBTQAI + Shorts Program)
Friday, March 6, 2020 @ 7:00pm
The Magic Lantern Theater * 25 W. Main Ave * Spokane, WA 99201
https://spokanefilmfestival.org/event/lgbtqia-shorts
12/6/19 – Special Screening at New York University
Post-screening discussion with director Cheryl Furjanic and Ann Pellegrini (Social & Cultural Analysis / Performance Studies, NYU).
Friday, December 6, 2019 @ 5:00pm
Kriser Film Room * 25 Waverly Place * New York, NY 10003
https://wp.nyu.edu/cmch/december-6-5-630-pm-stonewall-the-making-of-monument-2019-18-mins-dir-cheryl-furjanic/
10/27/19 – NewFest – New York’s LGBTQ Film Festival
(screens before the feature film The Archivettes)
Sunday, October 27, 2019 @ 1:30pm
SVA Theater 2 * 333 W 23rd St. * New York, NY 10011
https://newfest.org/film/the-archivettes/
10/13/19 – Seattle Queer Film Festival
(screens as a part of the Queer Yesteryear shorts program)
Sunday, October 13, 2019 @ 2:00pm
Gay City: Seattle’s LGBTQ Center * 517 East Pike Street* Seattle, WA, 98122
https://threedollarbillcinema.org/sqff24/films/queer-yesteryear-shorts
10/11/19 – Louisville LGBT Film Festival
(screens before feature film Gay Chorus Deep South)
Friday, October 11, 2019 @ 7:30pm * Baxter Avenue Theaters * 1250 Bardstown Road, Louisville KY 40204
https://www.louisvillelgbtfilmfest.com/
10/10/19 – Tampa Bay International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
(screens as a part of the History Lessons shorts program)
Thursday, October 10, 2019 @ 6:30 PM *Metro Wellness and Community Center * 3251 3rd Ave N * St Petersburg, FL 33713
https://tiglff.com/event/history-lessons-2/
10/2/19 – Out on Film Atlanta
(screens as a part of the Finding Their Voices short docs program)
Wednesday, October 2, 2019 @ 3:00 PM * Landmark Midtown Art Cinema * Atlanta, GA 30308
https://www.outonfilm.org/
9/20/19 & 9/22/19 – Portland Queer Film Festival
Friday, September 20, 2019 @ 5:30 PM (screens before feature film Vita & Virginia)
Sunday, September 22, 2019 @ 3:30 PM (screens before feature film José))
Cinema 21 * 616 NW 21st Avenue Portland, OR
https://www.cinema21.com/portland-queer-film-festival
6/28/19 – SSHH Mini Pride
Friday, June 28, 2019 @ 7:00pm * SSHH * 516 East 6th Street * NYC
https://sshh.nyc/event/sshhs-mini-pride/
6/28/19 – CineSLAM – Vermont’s LGBTQ Film Festival 2019
Friday, June 28, 2019 @ 6:00pm * Latchis Theater * Brattleboro, VT
http://www.cineslam.com/
6/9/19 – Pride of the Ocean Film Festival – LGBT Film Festival at Sea
https://prideoftheocean.com/
CREW
Director: Cheryl Furjanic
Producers: Will Sweeney, Cheryl Furjanic, Eric Marcus, Desireena Almoradie
Cinematographers: April Maxey & Max Skaff
Editor: Viridiana Lieberman
Original Music: JR Schwartz
Executive Producer: Joy Tomchin
Archival Producer: Mark Blane
Associate Editor: Will Garofalo
Assistant Editor: Lucas Gelwarg
Additional Camera: Matthew Cusimano, Myles David Jewell, Emily Geraghty, Ryan O’Toole
Location Sound Recording: Caleb A. Mose, Emily Strong, Matt Sutton, Ryan O’Toole
Color Correction: Daniel Orentlicher, Color Nest
Sound Design / Sound Mix: Ken Takeuchi
Additional Archival Research: Cheryl Furjanic, Shanti Avirgan, Rennie McDougall, Brian DeShazor, Brendan Fay
Production Assistants: Anne Mulford, Laura Murray, Anna Keyes, Inge De Taeye, Ariel Ottey, Robert La Rocca
INTERVIEWEES
Karla Jay
Martin Boyce
Victoria Cruz
Ken Lustbader
Tanya Walker
Shirley McKinney
Jay Shockley
Jamie Adams
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
In the early morning hours of June 25, 2011, I had just returned to New York City from a documentary film festival in Washington D.C. Just a few hours before, the New York State Legislature had voted to legalize same-sex marriage for people like me and the celebration outside the Stonewall Inn was still going strong. I took a taxi straight downtown — suitcase and all — to join in. I made it home several hours later with the excitement of our community in my heart and a pink feather stuck to the wheel of my bag.
Gatherings of LGBTQ folks near the Stonewall bar are nothing new. Beginning just one month after the June 28, 1969, Stonewall uprising, and continuing to this day, Sheridan Square and Christopher Park, just across the street from the bar, have become a place to express our joy, our anger, our grief, our pain and our power.
Inspired by the street kids, trans folks, gender-nonconforming youth, drag queens and allies who fought back at the police raid that started the uprising, activists and community members have been gathering in the shadow of the Stonewall for 50 years to say: “We are LGBTQ people. We exist. See us, hear us. We demand our rights.”
This film explores what more than half a century of LGBTQ history in the United States looks like when viewed through just a few blocks in New York City’s Greenwich Village. If this pavement could talk, what would it say? Every gathering depicted in our film (from 1969 to the present) either took place in the area around Stonewall or was an event that began or ended there. From protests, to celebrations, to vigils, to personal pilgrimages, this small piece of land has become a sacred space with a magnetic pull for LGBTQ people from around the world. It has been a monument to our resistance and our resilience, since long before the National Parks Service declared it so.
The Stonewall uprising was the match that ignited what was then a fragile civil rights movement. This film tells the story of the courageous New York City queers who have been guarding and tending the flame — on those same city blocks — ever since.
SUPPORT
The Monument was awarded a grant by the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art through the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and funded by the New York City Council’s LGBT Caucus. We also received generous support from Robby Browne, Public Square Films, and Liz Liguori and Elspeth Gilmore & the Trust Web. We are currently raising funds to support film festival submissions, distribution, and to develop an education and outreach campaign.
Tax-deductible donations can be made via our non-profit fiscal sponsor the Center for Independent Documentary to support the distribution of this film.
PRESS
OUR FILM FEATURED ON THE HOME PAGE OF THE NY TIMES WEBSITE ON 6/4/19
OUR FILM WAS AN EDITOR’S PICK IN THE NEW YORK TIMES “TODAY’S HEADLINES” EMAIL ON 6/5/19
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