We are very excited to hear director Roland Emmerich’s film about the 1969 Stonewall riots, is set to open in US theatres on 25 September.
Emmerich who also produced the movie, said in a statement
I was always interested and passionate about telling this important story, but I feel it has never been more timely than right now.”
Emmerich, also points out that less than 50 years ago being gay was considered a mental illness, gay people could not be employed by the government, it was illegal for gay people to congregate and police brutality against gays went unchecked.
Today, thanks to the events set in motion by the Stonewall riots, the gay rights movement continues to make incredible strides towards equality. In the past several weeks alone, the Boy Scouts of America has moved to lift its ban on gay leaders, the Pentagon will allow transgender people to serve openly in the military, and SCOTUS has declared that same-sex marriage is legal nationwide in all 50 states.”
Emmerich points to the Stonewall riots as ‘the first time gay people said “Enough!”‘
Something that really affected me when I read about Stonewall was that when the riot police showed up in their long line, these kids formed their own long line and sang a raunchy song. That, for me, was a gay riot, a gay rebellion. … It was the kids that went to this club that consisted of hustlers and Scare Queens, and all kinds of people that you think would never resist the police, and they did it.”
The film – written by openly gay writer Jon Robin Baitz, and stars Jeremy Irvine and newcomer Jonny Beauchamp – focuses on fictional young man who is kicked out of his parent’s home for being gay.
The man flees to New York, where he befriends a group of street kids in Greenwich Village who soon introduce him to the local watering hole The Stonewall Inn.
He and his friends experience discrimination and are repeatedly harassed by the police and a rage begins to build until it erupts in a storm of anger.
The film was shot in and around Montreal with an elaborate set recreating the interior and exterior of the Stonewall Inn and the entire Christopher Street neighbourhood.