Before Stonewall

Directed by Greta Schiller and Robert Rosenberg, this 1984 documentary describes how gay and lesbian life was lived in America before the Stonewall uprising. It covers a period running from the 1920s to 1969. Its value lies in the interviews with people still alive at the time of making. Harlem nightlife in the twenties, relationships formed in the military during the Second World War, the purges of the fifties and the first organising of the sixties are all relayed by the people who lived them. Most of those witnesses are no longer alive. The archive material is notable too: old news footage, army films and clips from the popular cinema of the period. Rita Mae Brown and Allen Ginsberg are among those who speak. Who it's for: those interested in LGBT history and oral history documentary. Who it's not for: viewers looking for a film about the night of Stonewall itself; the documentary stops before it and does not cover the event.