Event Date
Thursday, December 1 2011 : 6:30pm – 8:30pmLocation
The CenterDescription
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Reception 6:30 PM, Program 7 PM
Women's Film Series presents A Work-in-Progress Screening of Starlite by Kate Kunath & Sasha Wortzel in Commemoration of World AIDS Day
Recently closed Black-owned Brooklyn gay bar gets new life in this documentary screening featuring talkback with the bar’s owners and former patrons.
Commemorate World AIDS Day by joining documentarians Kate Kunath and Sasha Wortzel in conversation with Dennis Parrott and Linda King, owners of the legendary Starlite Lounge.
In 1959, a decade prior to Manhattan’s Stonewall riots, the Starlite Lounge opened in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, as a non-discriminatory establishment for gay people of color. A half-century later, the neighborhood and the gay community were shocked when the oldest, Black-owned, LGBT establishment was given notice to vacate and was ultimately forced to close in 2010.
In honor of World AIDS Day, The Center will focus on how the Starlite functioned as a safe space in the LGBTQ community of color, especially in response to the AIDS epidemic. The filmmakers will share key excerpts of their documentary-in-progress, Starlite, and talk with former resident performer Lady Jasmine, long-time patrons and the audience about what the Starlite meant to the community, especially in the early days of the epidemic, up until it closed in 2010.
For more information about the Starlite Project visit http://thestarliteproject.com
Also featured will be the organizers of the AIDS Memorial Park and learning center currently being proposed for the triangle site opposite the former St. Vincent’s Hospital. The proposed location sits in the middle of the neighborhood, the site of significant AIDS epidemic organizing: from the first AIDS ward at St. Vincent’s Hospital to the founding of ACT UP and other advocacy organizations at the Center. More at http://www.queerhistoryalliance.org
Price
$10
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Purchase Tickets Here!
Limited Seating. Please purchase your tickets in advance.
For More Information
Yojani Hernandez, yhernandez@gaycenter.org, 212-620-7310
